BALTIMORE (AP) — The Latest on the Baltimore trial of a police officer on trial for murder in the death of a black prisoner whose neck was broken in a police transport van (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
A prosecutor in the trial of a Baltimore police officer charged with murdering a prisoner says he tried to have the lead police detective removed from the case last year, because he believed she was “sabotaging the investigation” by holding back information.
Michael Schatzow, chief deputy state’s attorney, made the comments Thursday during a contentious cross-examination of Detective Dawnyell Taylor. He said Taylor had problems with Janice Bledsoe, another prosecutor in the case.
Taylor said she had problems “about her integrity,” referring to Bledsoe. Schatzow suggested the feeling was mutual between the two.
He questioned whether Taylor gave information to defense attorneys that she wouldn’t provide prosecutors, relating to notes about her conversations with an assistant medical examiner and the cause of Freddie Gray’s death last year.
The exchange came on the sixth day of policer officer Caesar Goodson’s trial on charges stemming from Gray’s death.
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Noon
A Baltimore police detective has testified that an assistant medical examiner said last year that the death of a black prisoner whose neck was broken in a police transport van was an accident.
Detective Dawnyell Taylor’s testimony contradicts that of the doctor.
Taylor said Thursday that she met with Dr. Carol Allan twice in April 2015, and that Allan called Freddie Gray’s death an accident.
Taylor said that in the second meeting, Allen added that it was “a freakish accident” and that “no human hands” could have caused his death.
Allan has testified that she had an open mind about Gray’s cause of death, but after reading the medical records and performing the autopsy, she determined it was a homicide, not an accident.
Taylor’s testimony set her at odds with the prosecutor.
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10:50 a.m.
A judge is refusing to dismiss charges against a Baltimore police officer on trial for murder in the death of a black prisoner whose neck was broken in a police transport van.
Judge Barry Williams made the ruling to move forward with the case Thursday, a day after prosecutors rested their case and defense attorneys filed to dismiss the charges.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors failed to prove that Officer Caesar Goodson, the van driver, gave Freddie Gray a “rough ride” that caused his injury. But prosecutors contended that there was enough evidence to move forward. They say Goodson had multiple chances to put Gray in a seatbelt, instead of leaving him handcuffed and shackled on the floor of the van.
Goodson’s attorneys will now move ahead with their defense, on the sixth day of trial.
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4:14 a.m.
Attorneys for a Baltimore police officer on trial for murder in the death of a black prisoner whose neck was broken in a police transport van are set to push hard for acquittal.
Lawyers for Officer Caesar Goodson will be arguing their case Thursday in a Baltimore courtroom. Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday afternoon.
Lawyers for the state suffered a setback earlier in the day when a judge found they had violated discovery rules. That’s because they didn’t turn over notes from a detective that indicate an assistant medical examiner at none point considered that the death of Freddie Gray might have been an accident. That could contradict earlier testimony from Dr. Carol Allan, who determined Gray’s death was a homicide and not an accident.
The post The Latest: Lawyer says detective tried to sabotage probe appeared first on WTOP.
