Critical Hearing Ahead In Next Trial of Officer Charged in Freddie Gray's Death
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A critical hearing on Wednesday will determine whether prosecutors can move forward with the next trial of a Baltimore police officer charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray.
Officer Garrett Miller arrested Gray, who suffered life-threatening injuries in custody less than an hour later. Miller was one of three bicycle officers involved in the initial confrontation with Gray. The other two have been acquitted of all charges.
In question at the special hearing is whether the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office's case against Miller has been in any way tainted or compromised by testimony he gave when he took the stand in the trial of Officer Edward Nero, who was later cleared.
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Because of Miller's took the stand as a witness in Nero's trial, new prosecutors are required to handle his trial. That means Deputy State's Attorney Janice Bledsoe and Chief Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow are out of the picture. They will be replaced in Miller's trial by Assistant State's Attorneys Sarah David and Lisa Phelps.
According to court documents filed by the State's Attorney's Office, they were "instructed not to watch any news coverage of any trials involving the testimony of Officer Miller, not to discuss any testimony of Officer Miller, and to take precautions to ensure that they would not be exposed to Officer Miller's immunized testimony."
But defense attorneys for Miller have claimed that the old prosecution team breached ethics and inappropriately discussed Miller's case with them.
"It's not often you see prosecutors called to the witness stand and have to testify under oath," said attorney Warren Alperstein, who has closely followed this case.
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Miller testified previously that he alone took Gray into custody and shackled him with metal handcuffs and leg restraints before his fellow officers placed Gray in the back of a police wagon without buckling him into a seat belt. Gray suffered spinal injuries at some point in the back of the van, which led to his death a week later.
Miller faces a list of charges including manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
But, as Alperstein noted, it's tough to see how Judge Barry Williams, who presided over the bench trials of Officer Nero, Sergeant Caesar Goodson and Lieutenant Brian Rice, would find Miller guilty.
"I don't see any way the state is going to convict Officer Miller," said Alperstein, "...particularly in light of the prior rulings and verdicts handed down by Judge Williams."
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In previous trials, Williams found the detention of Gray was not an assault as prosecutors had alleged. He also ruled that prosecutors failed to prove officers knew the dangers of failing to seat belt prisoners in police vans.
The motions hearing for prosecutors to prove that information gleaned from Miller won't be used against him is set for Wednesday morning at Courthouse East. It's not yet clear how long that hearing will take.
