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Edward Nero, 30,
is the second officer to face trial in Baltimore City Circuit
Court over Gray's death from a broken neck suffered in a police
transport van.
The death sparked rioting and protests across the majority black
city of 620,000 people. The incident is one of those highlighted
by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Nero waived his right to a trial by jury during a pre-trial
hearing on Tuesday. Judge Barry Williams will decide his fate in
a bench trial.
Nero is charged with second-degree assault, two counts of
misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. All are
misdemeanors.
Five other officers face charges, ranging from misconduct in
office to second-degree murder.
Legal experts have said police officers normally waive their
rights to a jury because they think judges are more likely to
render a not guilty verdict or impose a lighter sentence.
Defense lawyers had tried to have the trials moved from
Baltimore. They contended that media coverage and the unrest had
made it impossible to find an impartial jury.
Williams has said the trial could run through at least Wednesday
of next week.
Nero was among officers who arrested Gray, 25, in April 2015
when he ran from them unprovoked. Gray was not secured by a
seatbelt in the police van and an autopsy showed he died from a
spinal injury that happened during transport.
The first trial, that of Officer William Porter, ended in a hung
jury in December.
Porter and another officer, Garrett Miller, are expected to be
called as prosecution witnesses. Both have been granted immunity
from having their testimony used in their trials.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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