A Baltimore circuit judge ruled Tuesday that the jury in the first Freddie Gray trial will not be sequestered. Judge Barry Williams did rule that they will remain anonymous, however.
That was one of several rulings on pre-trial motions Williams made before the trial of Officer William Porter begins on Monday.
Williams’ ruling on jurors came as he was issuing an order from the bench guiding the jury selection process.
He also denied another request from defense attorney’s to move Porter’s trial out of Baltimore. Gary Proctor, one of Porter’s attorneys, pointed to a University of Baltimore study that found city residents “were more likely to say that either they or a family member had been treated unfairly by a police officer in the past twelve months.” He also presented a recent Baltimore Sun story about Freddie Gray being “remembered as a jokester who struggled to leave the drug trade.”
Williams asked if The Sun article could be read by residents outside of the city before denying the request.
The judge granted a defense motion to prevent prosecutors from bringing up the legality issue of Gray’s arrest; but denied a defense request to block prosecutors from bringing up police procedures that require a detainee be placed in a seatbelt.
Williams also denied a defense motion to increase the number of challenges to jurors. Porter’s attorney’s argued that he was entitled to more challenges because misconduct in office a common law offense. But Williams did not agree and said each side will have four challenges.
The judge granted prosecutor’s requests to allow the jury to see the police van and to use two of four cell phone videos of Gray’s arrest shot by citizens. But Williams did not grant a request to limit the number of character witnesses Porter’s attorneys want to call.