Five months after Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges against six police officers related to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray due to injuries suffered while in custody, prosecutors and defense attorneys will present pre-trail motions Wednesday.
The hearing at the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, located at 111 N. Calvert St., is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
A demonstration, organized by the Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, which has been leading social justice and police brutality protests around the city, has been planned for 8 a.m. outside the courthouse. So far, more than 400 people have indicated on the group’s Facebook page that they intend to join the rally.
The Baltimore City Department of Transportation said it expects traffic and parking to be impacted Wednesday morning and throughout the day. The Baltimore City Police Department has cancelled all leave for Wednesday in preparation for expected demonstrations.
“We have hindsight, and we would rather err on the side of caution and have people ready, if needed. We certainly hope we don’t need them,” Baltimore interim police commissioner Kevin Davis told WBAL-TV. “This time around, we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can possibly do to protect the citizens, the businesses and police officers and demonstrate preparedness and commitment to public safety.”
Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson, who drove the van that transported Gray—and where his fatal injury is said to have occurred—is charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter, second-degree assault, vehicular manslaughter, and misconduct in office. Officer William Porter, Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Alicia White are each charged wih involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, and misconduct.
Police officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller face second-degree assault and misconduct charges.
None of the police officers are expected to attend the hearing. All have pled not guilty to the charges.
The State of Maryland Commission on Civil Rights recently posted the following fact sheet on upcoming criminal proceedings in the Freddie Gray case:
SEPTEMBER 2, 2015: HEARING ON MOTIONS
-Motion to disqualify Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore City State’s Attorney) from prosecuting/trying the case based on alleged conflict of interest.
-Motion seeking a special prosecutor whose sole responsibility will be to prosecute/try this case in court.
-Motion to seal and/or disclose various documents and other evidence.
-Motion to dismiss one or more of the charges against one or more of the defendants on various grounds.
-Motion to have separate trials as opposed to a single consolidated trial against all six defendants at the same time.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2015: HEARING ON MOTION
-Change motion to “remove” the case from Baltimore City based on the assertion that media coverage makes it difficult/impossible to seat an impartial and unbiased jury. If the Judge grants this motion he would then order the case to be tried before a jury in another Maryland jurisdiction selected by the Administrative Judge for the Circuit Court.
The Judge could decide any or all of the above motions during or at the end of the September hearings, or he could defer ruling on some or all of them at his discretion.
OCTOBER 13, 2015: START OF THE TRIAL
The trial date could change depending on the various rulings on the above-mentioned motions.