baltimore New trial date set for officer

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

A Baltimore judge scheduled a retrial date Monday after the mistrial of one of six officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.

A new trial for William Porter has been scheduled for June 13; the other five officers will be tried before that, meaning prosecutors no longer may go through with their initial plan to use Porter as a witness in any of those trials.

Prosecutors had said they wanted to try Porter first, and later call him to testify against at least two other officers facing criminal charges, but Porter has a Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself on the stand. He could assert that right if the state tried to call him as a witness before his retrial.

David Weinstein, a Miami-based trial attorney and former prosecutor, said the decision to schedule Porter’s trial after the other officers are tried isn’t surprising, but he noted that the hung jury certainly complicated the state’s plans.