Attorneys are expected to make opening statements Tuesday in the trial of a Baltimore police officer charged with attempted murder in the shooting of an unarmed burglary suspect.
Officer Wesley Cagle, 46, faces charges of attempted first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault and a firearm violation in connection with the December 2014 shooting in the 3000 block of E. Monument St. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors accuse Cagle of shooting Michael Johansen, now 47, in the groin and cursing at him. They say Johansen had already been shot by two other officers and was not a threat.
Both Cagle and Johansen are white.
About 70 potential jurors crowded into a courtroom Monday morning for jury selection. During the process known as voir dire, Baltimore Circuit Judge Wanda K. Heard asked questions designed to determine whether they could be impartial.
Heard asked, for instance, whether any potential jurors have a bias in favor of or against police officers. She also asked whether they have relatives who work in law enforcement, and whether they have fixed opinions about the Baltimore Police Department that would interfere with their ability to render a fair verdict.
The jury selection process is set to continue Tuesday morning, and the trial is expected to last about five days.
Cagle, a member of the Police Department since November 2001, has been suspended without pay, police spokesman T.J. Smith said.
Cagle is the first city officer to face criminal charges in an on-duty shooting since 2008, when Officer Tommy Sanders III was charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man. A jury acquitted Sanders.
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby's office determined that the other officers who shot Johansen were justified, saying he reached toward his waistband and refused their commands.
Cagle's attorneys, Chaz Ball and Joe Murtha, have represented officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old who died after suffering a severe spinal injury while in police custody in April 2015.
Ball represented Lt. Brian Rice and Murtha represented Officer William Porter. Rice was acquitted last week of all charges. Porter is scheduled to be retried in September after his trial ended in a mistrial last year.
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