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Squeegee teen may plead guilty to manslaughter in Baltimore bat wielding motorist case

A teenager who squeegeed vehicle windshields for money is accused of fatally shooting a bat wielding motorist after an altercation in downtown Baltimore City.
Julio Cortez/AP
/
AP
A teenager who squeegeed vehicle windshields for money is accused of fatally shooting a bat wielding motorist after an altercation in downtown Baltimore City.

The teenager facing first-degree murder charges for the fatal shooting of a motorist in downtown Baltimore is expected to plead guilty to manslaughter, according to his attorney Warren Brown, The Baltimore Sunreports. The teen is accused of fatally shooting 48-year-old Hampden resident Timothy Reynolds in July. Reynolds wielded a bat in a confrontation at the busy downtown intersection of Conway and Light streets before being shot several times. Attorneys for the teenager previously claimed self-defense.

The 15-year-old teen, who was 14 years old at the time of the incident, would be tried as a juvenile rather than an adult under the proposed deal with Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s office.

Reynolds’ family complained on Monday that they were not notified of a plea deal until recently and wants to see the youth tried as an adult for murder. His widow, Shannon Reynolds said she was “blindsided” by the plea deal and wanted Mosby to recuse herself from the case.

The family is being represented in the criminal case for free by attorney Thiru Vignarajah, a former deputy attorney general for Maryland that lost the primary election race against Ivan Bates and Mosby in July.

Vignarajah said the typical juvenile sentence for manslaughter of 9 months in custody was a “joke” during a press conference on Monday.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, Mosby said that juvenile court is the right decision.

"While the actions of this juvenile are wholly unacceptable and inexcusable, we stand firm in our ultimate recommendation to the judge that this case be held in the juvenile court system," according to the statement.

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge is expected to decide on Thursday whether to accept the city prosecutor’s plea deal.

“The juvenile system’s offerings may not be all that great, but they’re better than what the adult system has to offer,” Brown told The Baltimore Sun. “It wasn’t a diabolical scheme to kill someone.”

Kristen Mosbrucker is a digital news editor and producer for WYPR. @k_mosbrucker
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