A legal analyst says police Officer William Porter has some very important questions to answer when his attorneys begin their defense of him Wednesday morning.
Doug Colbert, law professor at the University of Maryland Carey Law School, has been watching the trial since opening statements a week ago.
He says one of those questions will be why didn’t Porter do more to help Gray after the van’s fourth stop at Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street.
“From all appearances from the evidence, jurors may conclude that Officer Porter had sufficient information that should have altered him to doing more than just leaving him without restraint; without protection,” says Colbert.
Porter has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, second degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in officer for the April death of Freddie Gray. Gray died from a broken neck he suffered while being transported in the back of a police wagon.
Prosecutors say Porter neglected his job by not doing enough to help Gray. They argue at the very least he should have known the policy requiring all detainees to be in a seat-belt. Prosecution witnesses say Gray might have survived had he received medical help.
Porter is expected to take the stand in his own defense. But Colbert does not expect him to testify right away.
“They’re going to have expert witnesses to counter the prosecution’s doctors,” Colbert says. “They’re going to have character witnesses to attest to Officer Porter’s character for veracity, for truthfulness and also for peacefulness as a police officer.”
The defense said in a previous motion they plan to call 25 character witnesses.
They are also planning on calling Donta Allen. He was another passenger in the police van that transported Freddie Gray on April 19.
Allen said previously he believed Gray tried to injure himself on purpose, but later recanted that story.
The 23-year-old Allen will be brought down from York County, Pa. where he is in custody for forgery and theft-by-deception charges.