On the third day of trial of a teenage squeegee worker accused of fatally shooting a man in downtown Baltimore last summer, the prosecutor entered various items into evidence while the defense objected — albeit unsuccessfully — to those entries. That includes two key pieces of evidence admitted Wednesday featured below.
Scroll to read the starkly different interpretations of evidence entered. But first, a recap:
Prosecutors say the defendant, who was 14 at the time of the incident, shot Timothy Reynolds, 48, five times.
WYPR is not naming the defendant, because he is a minor.
Assistant States Attorney Cynthia Banks said Reynolds was walking away after confronting a group of squeegee workers with a baseball bat at the intersection of Light and Conway, on July 7, 2022.
Defense attorneys say Reynolds acted recklessly when he left his Volkswagen Atlas unattended, crossed several lanes of traffic then swung a baseball bat at a group of children.
“We are born looking like our parents,” said J. Wyndal Gordon, defense attorney. “But we die looking like our decisions and Timothy Reynolds died tragically from poor decision-making.”
#1 Key piece of evidence: Video footage
Prosecution: Jurors reviewed CCTV and body worn camera footage from Baltimore City police. The jurors also heard from investigators. ASA Banks played the shooting scene in slow motion and asked police to narrate frame-by-frame. In the footage, the shooter is seen wearing a pink t-shirt, black pants with white stripes and is carrying a black backpack.
Defense: Attorney Gordon said presenting the evidence in that manner was problematic. “You're slowing down the video to make it seem as though these events occurred in a time lapse manner. We're talking about a split second situation, that was tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving. The video played in front of the jury does not represent that.”
#2 Key piece of evidence: Black backpack
Prosecution: ASA Banks said police found a black backpack near the crime scene. She focused on some of the contents inside the backpack like; a blue bandana wrapped around the grip of the ghost gun, fired in the shooting. She also said the defendant’s DNA was discovered on the backpack’s straps.
Defense: The defense focused on the competence — or lack thereof — of one of the homicide detectives, Michael Curtin. Curtin is the secondary homicide detective assigned to the case. Gordon pointed out that Curtin had only been in his role for two months when the incident occurred. During cross examination, Gordon zeroed in on Curtin’s admission that a CashApp card belonging to someone else was found inside the backpack.
WYPR is also not identifying that person, because he is a minor.
Gordon: Did you ever attempt to locate that person?
Curtin: Yes, we checked all three addresses.
Gordon: You only looked three times?
Curtin: I never said three times. I said I checked those three addresses, multiple times.
Gordon: Did you ever locate him?
Curtin: No.
“BPD is very sloppy in their investigations,” said Gordon, during a lunch recess. “He had only been a homicide detective for two months. So I wasn't expecting much from him, but he should have done a whole lot more than what he actually did.”
The trial resumes Thursday.
