Officer Requests New Venue for Freddie Gray Trial

The first police officer to be tried in connection with the death of a Baltimore man in police custody is asking that his trial be moved out of the city, his lawyers stating that prejudicial information about him has been released, according to Fox 45.

Officer William Porter, 26, is scheduled to appear in Baltimore City Circuit Court on Nov. 30 on charges of manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.

Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man, was arrested in mid April and died a week later from what officials said was a spinal injury in police custody.

Judge Barry Williams ruled on Sept. 10 that the six officers involved in Gray’s detainment would be tried in Baltimore.

However, Porter’s lawyers argue that since then, The Baltimore Sun released ”new information” in a Sept. 26 article including officer statements the Sun claims “have never been publicly revealed,” indicating that Porter knew Gray needed a medic but questioned whether the man was feigning injury to avoid central booking.

The newspaper says it obtained the information through “exclusive access to the police department’s investigation” before charges were filed against the officers.

“The fact that the Baltimore Sun is now publishing prejudicial information...supports removal of this case from Baltimore City,” Porter’s lawyers argue in a motion obtained by Fox 45.

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Although Porter’s lawyers note that the police department—not the state’s attorney’s office—allowed the media into the investigation, they say the issue is now the responsibility of the state: “...since it was the Baltimore City Police Department, which is an entity of the state, that allowed the access to meetings where they discussed only portions of the statements....”

Porter will reportedly be called as a witness in the cases against two other officers, whose trials are scheduled for 2016.

“We’ll litigate this in the courtroom,” Rochelle Ritchie, spokeswoman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, told Patch Wednesday.