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Lt. Brian Rice, 42, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office in the death of the 25-year-old Gray, who died last April from injuries suffered while being transported in a police van.

To date, two officers involved with the arrest and transportation of Gray—Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson Jr.—have been acquitted of all charges in the case. Officer William Porter’s trial ended in a hung jury and he is scheduled to be tried again in September.

Nero and Goodson each sought bench trials, with Baltimore City Circuit Judge Barry Williams determining their fate, as has Rice.

Officer Garrett Miller is scheduled for trial at the end of this month. Sgt. Alicia White is scheduled for trial in October.

At issue in Rice’s case—and in each of the trials thus far—was the failure to properly secure Gray in the back of the police transport van while in custody. Defense attorneys in the other cases have argued that the officers did not receive proper training in the securing of the detainees, and that they hadn’t been aware of new departmental guidelines requiring the seatbelting of all detainees. Defense attorneys have also argued that officers are allowed to use their discretion in seatbelting detainees who may be considered a physical threat.

Prosecutors had hoped to introduce some 4,000 pages of documents—evidence related to Rice’s training, according to The Baltimore Sun—into court, but were denied this week by Williams. The judge ruled that the prosecutors had sought and turned over the documents to Rice’s lawyers too late in the process.

Rice was one of three Baltimore bicycle patrol officers who chased and detained Gray at the Gilmor Homes public housing complex in West Baltimore early Sunday morning on April 12, 2015. He was also one of the officers who first placed Gray into the back of the police transport van.

As the highest-ranking officer on duty that day at the Western District police station, Rice had authority over the officers on the scene, prosecutors argued in their opening statement. Legal observers largely agree, however, that prosecutors face an uphill battle in the Rice trial, particularly given their failure to earn a conviction on any charges against Goodson, the van driver, who had direct custody of Gray after he was placed in the transport vehicle.

Nonetheless, University of Baltimore law professor David Jaros noted that the public still has yet to hear the statement Rice gave investigators after Gray’s fatal arrest and ride.

“Because we don’t know his statement, we don’t know if there’s different support for some of the key elements that we couldn’t find in the prior trials,” Jaros told the Sun. “We also have a slightly different set of circumstances.”

It still remains unclear why Gray was arrested and ultimately placed into the back of the van—other than that he’d initially run from police in a so-called high crime area after allegedly making eye contact with an officer. Gray was eventually found to have a small knife in his possession, but whether the knife was legal or illegal in Baltimore City hasn’t been an issue in court.

Allegations of police brutality have received renewed attention this week in the wake of deadly and controversial police shootings of citizens in Louisiana and Minnesota that were captured on video.

Some have questioned City State’s Attorney General Marilyn Mosby for going forward with charges against the remaining officers in lieu of any convictions thus far. But University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor Douglas Colbert said after Goodson’s acquittal that, if nothing else, the public is learning how criminal, policing, and judicial systems function in the city.

“It’s like two totally different judicial systems, and I’m talking about white folks, in upscale neighborhoods, who generally have positive interactions with police,” Colbert said. “I think it’s important for them to see how different the interactions of people of color with law enforcement often are.”

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Goodson was the driver of the van in which Gray, according to the state medical examiner’s office, suffered a broken neck and the severe spinal cord injuries that led to his death last April.

Goodson Jr. has been charged with second-degree depraved heart murder—the most serious allegation made against the six officers involved in case—involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter by vehicle, criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment.

In two previous trials, Baltimore prosecutions failed to earn convictions in trials involving two police officers involved in Gray’s arrest and transportation.

In a bench trial last month, Judge Barry Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero of charges of assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of misconduct in office. Williams said in reading his verdict that Nero had essentially acted in a manner that “a reasonable officer” could be expected to act during his relatively minor role in Gray’s arrest and transport.

Officer William Porter’s manslaughter trial ended in December with a hung jury. He is scheduled to be tried again in September.

In both of those trials, defense attorneys and the expert witnesses they called stated that ultimate responsibility for securing detainees being transported rests with the driver of the vehicle—in this case—the 46-year-old Goodson. Like Nero, Goodson and his attorneys sought to have the case decided by Williams rather than a jury. A second-degree depraved heart murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Goodson is the only one of the six officers who did not make a statement to police investigators after Gray’s injury and death.

David Jaros, a University of Baltimore law professor who has been following the trials, told The Baltimore Sun that the outcomes of the first two trials should not be considered predictive of the outcome in the Goodson case.

“The case against Officer Nero was one that involved some very close legal questions that, I think, the defense felt favored them and so wanted a judge who appreciated the legal standards that were in question,” Jaros said. “Goodson’s case will rest less on the complexity of the legal theory and more on questions of fact and responsibility, which we consider more in the jury’s bailiwick—the questions of what happened.”

Others experts have said that proving second-degree murder after the failure to secure a detainee will be a heavy burden for prosecutors. Specifically, demonstrating that Goodson gave Gray a so-called “rough ride” without surveillance video and eyewitness testimony would be a challenge. Prosecutors indicated at the first day of the trial yesterday that they believe—and they are in possession of—such evidence.

The Baltimore Sun reported last April that Gray was not first detainee to suffer spinal chord injuries after unsecured rides in city police vans.

Tessa Hill-Aston, Baltimore chapter president of the NAACP, noted after Nero’s acquittal the difficulty for Gray’s family in going through six separate trials. She also indicated frustration that the responsibility for the failure to properly seatbelt Gray has been passed from one officer to the next thus far at the two trials.

“Police rules have at least changed for the better since [Gray’s death]—I’ve read them.” Hill-Aston said.”In the future, no officer will be able to claim it was someone else’s responsibility—a superior officer or the driver. It is everyone’s responsibility now.”

Meanwhile, five of the six police officers charged in relation to Gray’s death, including Porter, Nero, Garrett Miller, Alicia White, and Brian Rice, are known to have filed defamation suits against City State’s Attorney General Marilyn Mosby now. Nero and Miller allege, for example, that Mosby intentionally made allegations she knew “contained false statements” and spoke in a “divisive and inciting manner” when announcing the charges against the police officers at a press conference that received national media coverage.

A copy of Nero and Miller’s 28-page civil suit can be read here.

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In January, the court postponed Officer Caesar Goodson Jr.’s trial, pending the final ruling on whether Porter can be compelled to testify as a prosecution witness. Porter was the first of six officers tried and his case ended in a deadlocked jury, with a retrial set for June.

Prosecutors said that Porter is a material witness in their cases against Goodson and Sgt. Alicia White, whose trial is scheduled to follow Goodson’s. Porter’s attorneys argued that their client has a fifth amendment right against self-incrimination that he can invoke to avoid being put on the witness stand in the prosecution’s case against Goodson.

Back in December, Porter testified that Gray asked for medical help during his ride in the police transport van and that he told fellow officers about Gray’s request for medical assistance. While Porter expressed concern for Gray’s safety on the stand, he and his defense team also repeatedly said that Goodson, the driver of the transport wagon in which the 25-year-old suffered a broken neck, maintained primary responsibility for Gray.

Steven Levin, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, told the Associated Press that case against Goodson could be hard to prove without Porter’s testimony.

“I don’t think the state can come close to meeting its burden without Porter’s testimony,” Levin said. “I think it could be another hung jury.”

Tuesday’s rulings mean the cases will be sent back to a lower court and the trials can move forward throughout the next several months.

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Goodson, 46, was the driver of the police van in which Freddie Gray suffered his fatal spinal cord injury and faces the most serious charge—second-degree, depraved heart murder—of the six officers charged in Gray’s death.

Prosecutors had planned to have Porter, who checked on Gray during the 25-year-old’s 45-minute ride in the van, testify against Goodson. But now it is unclear whether Porter can be compelled to testify.

Last week, Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams ruled that Porter—whose first trial in the case ended in a hung jury—had to testify as a witness against Goodson, despite Porter’s claim of a right against self-incrimination since his charges remain up in the air with a June retrial date. Williams said in ruling that Porter could be compelled to testify because the prosecution’s granting of limited immunity would protect Porter from having his testimony used against him at his second trial.

Immediately after Williams’ decision, however, Porter’s defense team filed for an injunction to prevent their client, who is also under federal investigation, from having to take the witness stand with Maryland Court of Special Appeals. The state appellate court has temporarily blocked Williams’ decision to force Porter to testify until it can make a final ruling.

Porter’s testimony is considered crucial because he allegedly told Goodson that Gray indicated he needed medical assistance.

In staying the start of Goodson’s trial, the Court of Special Appeals wrote that “it is presumably in the interests of all parties” . . . that “the State’s motion to compel the testimony of William Porter be decided be before the commencement of the trial.”

Retired state appellate judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr. told The Baltimore Sun that the Special Court of Appeals could issue its ruling on the same day as the hearing—or a decision may take more time if the court believes further investigation and deliberation is required.

“At this point, we’re talking about doing it right, not doing it now,” Murphy said.

The appellate court’s ruling could also affect the prosecution’s case against Sgt. Alicia White, whose trial follows Goodson’s. Porter is also expected to be called as a material witness in White’s trial, which had already been pushed back to Feb. 8 and likely will be pushed back further.

The dates for the trials of officers Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, and Brian Rice—currently scheduled through February and March—could also be affected.

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Officer William Porter, whose trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office ended in a hung jury on all four counts last week, will be retried June 13.

The trial date for State of Maryland v. Caesar Goodson Jr.—the second of six officers facing charges related to the death of Gray last April from injuries suffered while in police custody—remains January 6.

Goodson, the driver of the police transport van where the 25-year-old Gray suffered ultimately fatal spinal cord injuries, according to the state medical examiner’s office, faces the most serious charges in the case, including second-degree depraved heart murder.

The new trial date for Porter was selected at a scheduling conference held in Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams’ chambers Monday with the attorneys for the case, according to a press release from the state court system. The June trial date will be formalized and approved at a brief administrative court hearing Tuesday, which Porter is not expected to attend. At the end of his first trial, Porter was advised of his right to appear in administrative court and has since waived his right to appear, according to Maryland courts communications staff.

According to a 2002 study by the National Center for State Courts, roughly 6 percent of state cases taken to jury trial end up in a “hung jury,” a slightly larger percentage than in federal court. Researchers in that study found that the level of complexity in a case, the ambiguity of evidence, police credibility, and defendant believability—all issues in the Porter trial—increase the likelihood of a jury being unable to reach a verdict.

Protests after last week’s declaration of a mistrial in Porter’s case around the courthouse and City Hall were peaceful.

Coming trials in the Freddie Gray case include that of Sgt. Alicia White, also charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. Her trial is set for January 25.

Prosecutors have said they wanted to try Porter first because he was a material witness in their cases against Goodson and White. It’s not clear how the rescheduling of Porter’s trial until June—after the trials of all the other officers now—will affect the prosecutions strategy going forward.

Each officer has pled not guilty to all of the charges filed against them.

Lt. Brian Rice also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. His trial is set for March 9.

Officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero are each charged with second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. Miller’s trial is set for February 9; Nero’s trial for February 22.

*This story will be updated

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Judge Barry Williams ruled against motions put forth by attorneys for Baltimore City police sergeant Alicia White and officer William Porter, concluding their statements were legally obtained by internal oversight investigators after White and Porter signed Miranda and state Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights waivers.

In announcing his decision, Williams said prosecutors had met the burden of proof that White and Porter—whose interviews with police internal oversight detectives were videotaped and briefly shown in court—had been made voluntarily and were not coerced by investigators.

“She had the opportunity to say, ‘No,’ to say she didn’t want to give any statements,” Williams said, referring to White.

“The interview was not done with undue influence,” Williams said in denying Porter’s motion to suppress his statements to police investigating Gray’s death from spinal cord injuries suffered while in custody.

Williams also canceled a pre-trial motion hearing set for Wednesday morning and placed a gag order on attorneys for the remainder of trials, banning prosecutors and defense lawyers from discussing the cases with the media and anyone beyond their legal teams. Among other leaks in the case to date, The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of the autopsy report.

Prosecutors from the city state’s attorney office allege that Gray asked police officers for medical attention, but that he did not receive care until he was found unresponsive upon reaching the police station after multiple stops. Prosecutors have also said—as did then police commissioner Anthony Batts earlier this year—that Gray was not secured and seat-belted in the police van, contrary to department policy.

Motions to suppress statements by three other officers charged were withdrawn by their defense attorneys Tuesday morning.

The sixth defendant, officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who faces the most serious charge, second-degree depraved heart murder, had refused to give a statement to police investigators. Goodson was the driver of the transport van in which Gray suffered his fatal spinal injury.

All the officers facing criminal charges, White, Porter, and Goodson, as well as Lt. Brian Rice and officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, appeared in court Tuesday, sitting together.

Baltimore city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who announced the charges against the police officers in a high-profile press conference last spring, was also present in the courtroom. However, Mosby sat a row behind chief deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow and deputy state’s attorney Janice Bledsoe, who handled the prosecution’s efforts in front of Williams.

Porter’s trial is scheduled first, for Nov. 30, and his statement—allegedly confirming that Gray asked for medical care, according to reporting by The Baltimore Sun—is considered critical to prosecutors’ cases against other officers. Porter is charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and second-degree assault, as is Rice.

White, as well as officers Nero and Miller, is charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office.

Goodson’s trial is set for Jan. 6 and White for Jan. 25, with the other trials scheduled for February and March. The six officers, all free on bail, have pleaded not guilty to every charge.

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Judge Barry G. Williams denied a defense motion to dismiss charges against the six police officers allegedly involved in 25-year-old Gray’s arrest and subsequent death after sustaining injuries while in custody.

Williams also rejected a motion to recuse Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby and her office from prosecuting the case.

Later, however, Williams ruled against the state’s motion to try three of the police officers together—Caesar Goodson Jr., who has been charged with second-degree depraved heart murder—and Sgt. Alicia D. White and Edward M. Nero, both of whom have been charged with reckless endangerment. As of now, all six police officers will be tried separately. Deputy state’s attorney Janice Bledsoe noted to Williams that the state may ask at a future date that one or more of the other cases be joined.

Decisions to reject state motions for joint trials are considered beneficial to defense teams. “It doesn’t allow the case against the defendant charged with the more serious crime to taint the cases against the defendants charged with the lesser crimes,” said University of Maryland law professor Douglas Colbert, who observed the motion hearings today. “It also allows the defense more time to prepare and more time to cross-examine witnesses. Now, we have to see who goes first [to trial].”

Defense attorney Andrew Graham, representing Goodson Jr., alleged Mosby’s behavior at a press conference announcing the charges—which he called “a pep rally”—as prosecutorial misconduct. Graham alleged Mosby had incited a desire for “vengeance” against the police officers and created an “impossible” environment for a fair trial in Baltimore.

Chief deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow responded that Mosby, seated in the second row at Wednesday’s hearing, had only read a probable cause statement against the six officers, and had not commented on the evidence in the case, or demanded convictions.

Williams, who at times appeared exasperated by each side, said he had read the entirety of Mosby’s May 1 press conference remarks announcing the charges against the officers. He said that he did not find reason to recuse the city state’s attorney or her office from the case, which he called a “rare” step and a decision “not to be taken lightly.”

He added that whether or not the potential jury pool in Baltimore City had been “contaminated” and other issues regarding jury selection would be addressed during the next pre-trial motion case.

During the hearing, dozens of protestors—in large part representing the Peoples Power Assembly—chanted and picketed outside the courthouse. In addition, community activist Kwame Rose, who we wrote about in July and whose debate with Geraldo Rivera went viral in April, was reportedly arrested for blocking a roadway. But there are conflicting reports about the incident.

At a press conference late Wednesday afternoon outside police headquarters, interim police commissioner Kevin Davis said Rose, “has been criminally charged with assaulting a police officer, he’s been charged with a couple counts of disorderly conduct, and he’s being charged with making a false statement. But, I’d really like to concentrate on the many, many other protestors who exercised their first amendment privilege. I don’t want the actions of one single person to serve as a distraction to an otherwise very productive day in Baltimore.”

Chant at courthouse: “Books not bombs, schools not jails” #FreddieGray
— Alison Knezevich (@aliknez) September 2, 2015

UPDATE: @KwameRose has received medical attention and is being charged with a misdemeanor w/ disobeying traffic laws #FreddieGray #Baltimore
— Rahiel Tesfamariam (@RahielT) September 2, 2015

#Baltimore cops arrest activist @KwameRose despite plea for help: “I got hit by a car; I need a medic.” #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/2ryr3oPEcx
— Urban Cusp Magazine (@UrbanCusp) September 2, 2015

Dave Devillasee says man w/protesters, stopped car in street, fell to ground but not hit. Police arrested him. pic.twitter.com/1KfdB6yidI
— Jessica Anderson (@janders5) September 2, 2015

@kwamerose being arrested as police push back the crowd #Baltimore #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/HcqunF89hh
— robbrulinski (@robbrulinski) September 2, 2015

Things now seem quiet around the courthouse, but we will continue to update the story as necessary.

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