Court Of Special Appeals Sets Hearing Date For March 4

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Maryland Court of Special Appeals sets a new date to decide if Officer William Porter will be forced to testify against his co-defendants in the Freddie Gray case.

Officer Caesar Goodson's trial was postponed before it began, and the trials for four other officers are in limbo.

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren with more on the decision and what it means going forward.

Officer Caesar Goodson's trial will not happen--at least until March--after Maryland's Court of Special Appeals set a timetable for a major appeal involving the prosecution's star witness.

The new order is likely to shift other trials in the Freddie Gray case.

At issue -- should a judge force Goodson's co-defendant, Officer William Porter, to testify.

"It's fair to assume that the prosecution's view is that without Porter's testimony, they have no case against Goodson," said Baltimore defense attorney Andrew Levy.

Levy has argued more than a dozen cases before Maryland's appellate courts.

"They were willing to take extraordinary action of staying a criminal case just as a jury was about to be picked. If nothing else, it shows that they realize how important this case is," said Levy.

The Court of Special Appeals, Maryland's second highest, will hear oral arguments March 4 and has three months to rule on whether Porter must take the stand.

Porter's lawyers believe he should be able to plead the fifth because he still faces criminal charges in the same case, and the state's immunity is so limited, it doesn't protect him.

Prosecutors need Officer Porter's testimony because of what he previously said he told Officer Goodson at the intersection of Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street -- that Freddie Gray needed medical attention.

But the state would have trouble introducing Porter's past statements with making him available for cross-examination by Goodson's defense.

"They need the live witness. The only witnesses to Porter, what Porter allegedly told Goodson, is Porter and Goodson," Levy said.

The State's Attorney's Office has argued that if Porter's testimony is blocked, they would like to retry him first before everyone else.