Surprise revelation threatens to derail latest Freddie Gray trial

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Jazz Shaw

June 11, 2016

 

There’s been a bit of a bombshell dropped in the trial of Ceasar Goodson, the police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray sustained his eventually fatal injuries. We previously discussed the decision by Goodson’s team to opt for a bench trial and allow Judge Barrie Williams to decide his fate rather than facing a jury, along with how that might impact his fate. Now, the early signs are that it might have been a wise choice. Williams is reported to have appeared “visibly angry” on the second day of the trial when it was revealed that prosecutors had intentionally withheld evidence which could seriously tip the case in Goodson’s favor. (ABC News)

 

The judge overseeing the trial of a police officer charged with murdering Freddie Gray has determined that prosecutors withheld information that would have been beneficial to the defense.

 

Judge Barry Williams was visibly angry in the Baltimore court but he did not dismiss the charges against police officer Caesar Goodson, as his attorneys had requested. Williams is giving prosecutors until Monday to disclose any other relevant evidence they have withheld. Goodson was the driver of the van during the arrest of Gray, 25, last year.

 

Goodson’s attorneys have argued that prosecutors withheld statements made last year by Donta Allen, a key witness. Allen was picked up by the Baltimore police van after Gray.

 

The testimony of Donta Allen could essentially invalidate the entire premise of the prosecution and the timeline of events which they are presenting for the day in question. Allen was picked up on the final leg of the van’s trip, well after Gray’s injuries were alleged to have been suffered. He was in the back of the van on the other side of the barrier from Freddie Gray and, according to the Baltimore Sun, told police during two interviews that he heard Gray moving around and “banging” against the partition while he was in the van. He also testified that the trip was a “smooth ride” while he was in the van, contradicting claims that Gray has been intentionally given a “rough ride” to injure him.

 

(Snip)

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

[Valin]

Why one Baltimore attorney thinks all of the Freddie Gray trials may be about to collapse
Jazz Shaw
June 13, 2016

(Snip)
Now, as revealed in an interview at The Daily Caller, one Baltimore Attorney observing the case seems to feel that if Goodson is found not guilty, the entire sequence of trials is essentially headed for the scrap heap.

Officer Caesar Goodson drove the police vehicle transporting Gray before his death and is accused of giving Gray a “rough ride,” where a driver intentionally drives recklessly to cause an unbuckled passenger to slide around in the back. Prosecutors are trying to prove Goodson drove dangerously enough to to cause Gray’s fatal injuries and thus warrants a criminal conviction. One Baltimore attorney says the whole case hinges on Goodson’s trial.

“If they can’t prove that they can’t prove anything,” local Baltimore attorney Steve Silverman, who is not representing anyone in the case, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The whole point is they put him in the back of a paddy wagon and they roughed him up and that’s why he died. If you can’t even prove causation for the basic theory of the case for the driver of the vehicle and the injury then how can you prove all these ancillary officers did something wrong?”

“Goodson is the center of the universe when it comes to this case,” he added. “If they cant’ prove this case, I don’t know what they’re going to do. If they can’t convict Goodson then they can’t convict anybody.”

(Snip)

In the event that this trial plays out that way, does it lend any more strength to the civil cases being brought against Mosby for targeting the cops? After all, another officer filed suit against her on that assumption just this month.

 

(Snip)

 

We’ll have an answer soon enough. This trial should be wrapping up in another week or two at most. And being a bench trial, the judge can come back with a decision in fairly short order rather than waiting around for a jury.

[Draggingtree]

Freddie Gray: The Relevance of Donte Allen’s Changing Earwitness Testimony

Posted by Andrew Branca Monday, June 13, 2016 at 3:30pm

 

Donte Allen’s changing narrative suffers in light of the known evidence

 

Last week we posted about how prosecutors in the current Freddie Gray trial of van driver Caesar Goodson had concealed from Goodson’s defense attorneys an interview they had conducted with one Donte Allen. Accordingly, the defense filed a motion for the dismissal of the charges against Goodson, a motion denied by trial Judge Barry Williams.

 

In order to understand the relevance of witness Donte Allen, it is worth recalling exactly his role in the events surrounding the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, and accordingly how his testimony might be relevant to determining the criminal liability, if any, of Officer Goodson.

 

Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Carol Allan provided the most detailed accounting of the events surrounding Freddie Gray’s transport in the police van, including his physical condition during that transport and especially at specific stops along the route, in her report.

 

Although this autopsy report has not been made public, on June 24, 2015 the Baltimore Sun published relevant sections of the report from a copy that they managed to obtain. The quotes embedded below come from a single contiguous section of that report as published by the Sun.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/06/freddie-gray-the-relevance-of-donte-allens-changing-earwitness-testimony/