--- title: Freddie Gray Case Officer Declines to Testify Against Cop description: The first of six Baltimore police officers to be tried in Freddie Gray’s death filed a motion to get out of testifying against a colleague. canonical: https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-06T01:20:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:03:46.637Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Officer in Freddie Gray Case Refuses to Testify Against Cop og:description: William Porter asked a judge to throw out a subpoena for his testimony og:url: https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06a3f7b8af38adf9/698877b8ab6d7731d36a7d67/william-porter-freddie-gray.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: First Officer Goes To Trial In Death Of Freddie Gray In Baltimore og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Officer in Freddie Gray Case Refuses to Testify Against Cop twitter:description: William Porter asked a judge to throw out a subpoena for his testimony twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06a3f7b8af38adf9/698877b8ab6d7731d36a7d67/william-porter-freddie-gray.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Officer in Freddie Gray Case Declines to Testify Against Fellow Cop  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 6, 2016 1:20 AM CUT  BALTIMORE, MD - NOVEMBER 30: William Porter, one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray earlier in the year, walks to a courthouse for jury selection in his trial on November 30, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Porter is the first to go to trial in the death of Gray who died from an injury incured in the back of a police transport van on April 19\. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) BALTIMORE, MD - NOVEMBER 30: William Porter, one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray earlier in the year, walks to a courthouse for jury selection in his trial on November 30, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Porter is the first to go to trial in the death of Gray who died from an injury incured in the back of a police transport van on April 19\. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)Rob Carr—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 6, 2016 1:20 AM CUT 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](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officer-testify-colleague-gray-case-36107081 "undefined") 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_](http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-porter-quash-subpoena-20160105-story.html "undefined"). 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](http://time.com/4152270/freddie-gray-hung-jury-william-porter/ "undefined") 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.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/"},"headline":"Officer in Freddie Gray Case Declines to Testify Against Fellow Cop","datePublished":"2016-01-06T01:20:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:03:46.637Z","description":"William Porter asked a judge to throw out a subpoena for his testimony","url":"https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06a3f7b8af38adf9/698877b8ab6d7731d36a7d67/william-porter-freddie-gray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06a3f7b8af38adf9/698877b8ab6d7731d36a7d67/william-porter-freddie-gray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"First Officer Goes To Trial In Death Of Freddie Gray In Baltimore","caption":"First Officer Goes To Trial In Death Of Freddie Gray In Baltimore","creditText":"Rob Carr—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4168850/freddie-gray-trial-officer-porter-trial-testify/","name":"Officer in Freddie Gray Case Declines to Testify Against Fellow Cop"}}]}] ```