In bombshell testimony, the name of the Baltimore Police officer who tipped off members of the department's rogue Gun Trace Task Force to the federal investigation was revealed Thursday morning.
Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor are the remaining two of eight officers originally indicted in the sweeping corruption scandal.
Opening statements in the case were delivered Tuesday and Detective Maurice Ward was the first witness called to the stand.
RELATED: First witness called in Baltimore Police corruption case
Thursday morning, Ward was still on the witness stand. During his testimony, he told the court that Sgt. Ryan Guinn at the Baltimore Police Training Academy told Sgt. Wayne Jenkins about the federal investigation.
Guinn was not named, but implicated in the indictment against Jenkins stemming from a 2010 chase and planting of evidence that involved murdered homicide detective Sean Suiter. That case is the one Suiter was scheduled to testify in the day after he was killed.
Also during his testimony, Ward said Detective Marcus Taylor also got word of the federal investigation from a "source" inside Internal Affairs.
During cross examination by defense attorneys for Taylor, Ward testified about a conversation he had with Jenkins in April or May of 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray and the riots in Baltimore. According to Ward, Jenkins told him he told then Commissioner Kevin Davis about unlimited overtime and "slash days." That's the practice of clocking in to get paid, but in reality the detective was essentially off duty. In his testimony, Ward said Batts told Jenkins to "do what you gotta do."
The testimony bolsters the defense's opening statement, which was the Gun Trace Task Force was allowed to, and even rewarded for, operating with impunity.
The trial is expected to last three to four weeks and the jury will determine whether Hersl and Taylor used the protection of their badge to rob and extort Baltimore citizens.
At least four other detectives from the GTTF have already pleaded guilty and may take the stand in this case.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story identified the commissioner that Sgt. Jenkins spoke with about "slash days" as Anthony Batts. Through further testimony, it was revealed that conversation allegedly occurred with former Commissioner Kevin Davis.
