“When the jury’s composition may identify with the person who allegedly was a victim of police wrongdoing, the defense may prefer a sympathetic and empathetic judge,” said University of Maryland law professor Douglas Colbert. “Plus, there’s no question that a bench trial will move more expeditiously and with fewer delays than a jury trial.”

Nero has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office, related to Gray’s initial detention on April 12, 2015. The maximum penalty for the assault and endangerment charges is 15 years. There is no maximum penalty for the misconduct charge.

At a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, Williams ruled on 13 motions. For example, he excluded medical testimony on the fatal spinal cord injuries Gray suffered while in police custody. The judge also barred prosecutors from bringing up the legality of the knife, which was clipped to Gray’s pants pocket the day of his arrest.

“The message I believe the prosecution is sending is there have been far too many arrests in Baltimore that have occurred without probable cause,” Colbert said. “In turn, the defense will mitigate Nero’s role, saying he did what a so-called ‘reasonable’ police officer would do based upon police practice, which they say would takes precedent over a police commissioner’s directive.”

Essentially, prosecutors in the case will argue that Nero, 30, and the other officers had no probable cause to arrest Gray, and the fact that the officers didn’t restrain Gray with a seatbelt in the back of the police transport van establishes reckless endangerment. On the other hand, Marc Zayon and the rest of Nero’s defense team will argue that their client was justified to stop Gray in a high-crime area, particularly due to his decision to run and the fact that he possessed a knife.

“Freddie ran because that is what African-American men and young boys do in that community,” Baltimore NAACP president Tessa Hill-Aston told The Washington Post. “You can’t throw everybody down and then say, ‘Let’s see what they got.’ It doesn’t happen in the white neighborhoods.”

The other five officers, including William G. Porter (whose first trial ended in a hung jury) and Caesar R. Goodson Jr. (driver of the van whose trial was delayed) are scheduled to be tried consecutively over the next six months.

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Who is facing trial? Officer William G. Porter, 26, charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree negligent assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Porter has been free on $350,000 bail since charges were filed in May. He was born and raised in West Baltimore, in fact, not far from Freddie Gray grew up, and spoke about his life (but not this case) to The Washington Post in a September profile.

Porter, who joined the BPD in 2012, was not on the scene when Gray was arrested, but checked on Gray while he was being transported to Central Booking and allegedly disregarded a Gray request for medical assistance. It’s also alleged that he was negligent in not properly securing Gray in the police van with a seat belt where Gray is said to have suffered a spinal injury.

What happens today? The selection process for 12 jurors begins Monday morning at Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., Courthouse, at 100 N. Calvert Street. Last week, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams denied a proposal to sequester selected jurors, but did grant a defense request to keep the jurors’ identities anonymous. He’s also placed a gag order on attorneys involved with the case. It’s hard to predict how long jury selection will take, but it likely will be a day or couple of days—not a week or multiple weeks as has been happened in a few states involving high profile cases. The Maryland process employs a system known as “limited” voir dire—as the examination of prospective jurors is known— controlled by the judge, not the attorneys involved in the case.

The basic questionnaire for jurors can be found here. Judge Williams, however, is likely to allow a good deal of follow-up questions by prosecutors and defense attorneys given the publicity preceding the case, said longtime Maryland-based attorney Robert C. Bonsib. “In Maryland, what has to be asked is limited; what can be asked is more expansive,” Bonsib said. “Most judges are reasonable and responsive [to attorney’s inquiries of jurors] in a case like this.”

Who is the judge? The Hon. Barry G. Williams. Born in Neptune, NJ, Williams, 53, earned a B.A. in history from the University of Virginia, and his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. He’s served as a member of the Baltimore City Circuit Court since 2005. Prior to that, he served as special litigation counsel to the Civil Rights Division of U.S. Department of Justice from 2002-2005, and as a DOJ trial attorney from 1997-2002. While working for the Department of Justice, Williams gained experience prosecuting police brutality cases, as highlighted by Sun reporter Justin Fenton in a recent profile. Williams also served as an assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore City from 1989-97.

Prominent Baltimore defense lawyer William H. “Billy” Murphy, a former judge who has represented Gray’s family, described Williams on MSNBC Sunday as “an extraordinary fair human being.” He said Williams is a “no-nonsense judge,” who “won’t tolerate grandstanding” and “keep the trains running on time.”

Will there be demonstrations and street closures? While Baltimore police and the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office expect demonstrations outside the courthouse Monday morning, no streets closures have yet been planned—although that could change as events dictate, said Maj. Sabrina Tapp-Harper, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office. “We have security measures in place,” said Tapp-Harper, referring to potential disruptions downtown. “We don’t share that specific information publicly.”

However, during jury selection, parking will be prohibited, and strictly enforced, around both the Mitchell Courthouse and Courthouse East.

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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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