Officer in Freddie Gray Case Declines to Testify Against Fellow Cop

The first of six Baltimore police officers to be tried in Freddie Gray’s death filed a motion on Monday to get out of testifying in the upcoming trial of one of his colleagues.

William Porter’s attorneys, invoking the officer’s Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination, are asking a judge to throw out a subpoena for his testimony in Caesar Goodson’s trial, the Associated Press reports. Porter also plans to decline to testify in the trial of Sgt. Alicia White, the motion said, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Porter, who is charged with manslaughter, was the first to go on trial last month in the death of the unarmed black man whose death in police custody sparked protests in the city. A judge declared a mistrial in Porter’s case after jurors couldn’t reach a verdict.

Goodson was driving the van in which prosecutors say Gray received his fatal injuries after his arrest. His trial is scheduled for Monday, while White’s is set for Jan. 25, according to Sun. Porter’s retrial has been scheduled for June 13.

Porter’s attorneys say compelling the officer to testify before his retrial would would hurt his credibility, regardless of the outcome of the Goodson or White trials.

“If Officer Goodson or Sergeant White were to be acquitted it is all but inevitable that jurors would conclude that Porter — the star witness — was not credible,” Porter’s filing reads, according to the AP. “If convicted, the jurors will assume that Officer Porter has knowledge of inculpatory acts that he has now revealed when granted immunity.”