WASHINGTON — Maryland's highest court on Tuesday ordered a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray to testify against five of his fellow officers, clearing the way for the state to move ahead with long-stalled prosecutions in a case that set off racial unrest last year.
In a simple four-paragraph order that did not lay out the court's reasoning, the Maryland Court of Appeals announced its decision to compel Officer William G. Porter to testify. The court said the ruling would be explained in an opinion to be issued later.
Porter's trial on charges of manslaughter and assault in the death of Gray, a 25-year-old black man who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody, ended with a hung jury in December. The state sought to retry Porter in June while first compelling him to testify against the others.
Porter's lawyers fought the move, leading to delays in the other trials.