Not Unanticipated, but a Bummer None the Less

Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams has rejected a request for a subpoena to compell Officer William Porter to testify against his co-conspirators on the Baltimore Police Force:

A Baltimore judge on Wednesday rejected prosecutors' request to force an officer whose trial ended in a hung jury to testify against three of his fellow officers facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams refused the state's motion to force William Porter to testify against Edward Nero, Garrett Miller and Lt. Brian Rice, who were the officers who initially arrested and detained Gray last April.

It was not until this month that prosecutors indicated that they wanted Porter to testify against the three officers. Previously, they identified him as a material witness only in the trials of two other officers, Caesar Goodson and Sgt. Alicia White.

………

Judge Williams ruled in December that Porter must testify against Goodson, despite Porter's own pending retrial. Porter's attorneys appealed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, which postponed Goodson's trial until it decides whether to uphold or overturn the order. A hearing is scheduled for March 4.

Williams said he rejected the state's request to compel Porter to testify against Nero, Miller and Rice because it would result in all of the officers' trials being pushed back while the appeals court mulled whatever decision he made. Lawyers for the three officers had objected to pushing back their clients' trials.

I really hope that the fix isn't in.