The lives of two families are forever changed after a deadly confrontation in downtown Baltimore last summer. Now, a former teenage squeegee worker could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty of fatally shooting 48-year-old Timothy Reynolds at the intersection of Light and Conway. WYPR is not naming the defendant because he is a minor.
Prosecution
The prosecution rested its case Thursday afternoon. Prior to that, more than a dozen witnesses testified. Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Banks has relied on testimony from eyewitnesses, such as a UPS driver making a delivery at the time of the incident and a motorist who captured part of the incident on his dashcam. She has also called on police, forensic technicians and the assistant medical examiner to testify.
According to the prosecution, the defendant leaned into Reynolds car and said something that infuriated Reynolds so much that he parked his car and approached a group of squeegee workers with a baseball bat.
“The family wishes as much as anyone that he hadn't gotten [out] that car,” said Thiru Vignarajah, an attorney representing the Reynolds family. “But the result of that should not be that you get gunned down execution style. That's not right.”
Banks said the defendant picked up a book bag when he realized Reynolds was approaching. That book bag, she claimed, contained a 9mm Polymer80. The defendant retrieved the handgun, concealed his face and shot at Reynolds as he walked away according to Banks.
The medical examiner testified that Reynolds was shot five times, with three of those shots piercing his back.
“The other two wounds,” said Dr. Pamela Ferreira, “would have been non-fatal, if they were his only injuries.”
Defense
The defense sees what transpired on July 7, 2022 differently.
Throughout the trial, the defense has humanized the defendant while vilifying Reynolds. J. Wyndal Gordon, one of the defense attorneys, said his client had goals of becoming an engineer or lawyer. “He is a real human being,” said Gordon. “He’s not just some squeegee worker.”
Gordon has branded the trial as a case of “road rage at the highest level.” The defense has also put Reynolds on trial, saying the 6'3, 329lb man executed bad intentions when he left his car running and crossed several lanes of traffic wielding a bat at a group of children.
According to the defense, the teen (who was 14 at the time) defended himself and others if he was the shooter. They say the mysterious shooter had no other choice but to protect himself and others, when Reynolds swung his bat. “It was a tense, rapidly-evolving situation,“ said Gordon.
Judge Jennifer Schiffer said she would make a ruling on whether the simultaneous defense can stand.
“If you're claiming you weren't there,” said Vignarajah, the Reynolds family spokesman, “you can't also claim that you were there and you were afraid.”
So far, the defendant has exercised his right not to testify. The defense has opted not to call any witnesses as the burden of proof is on the prosecution. Instead the defense grilled the state’s witnesses during cross-examination and honed in on the autopsy’s toxicology report.
That report revealed that Reynolds blood alcohol level was 0.03%, well below the legal limit. However, the defense asserted that Reynolds was fueled by rage and alcohol, pointing to his postmortem alcohol level or in vitreous level 0.10%, higher than the legal limit. Dr. Ferreira testified that vitreous alcohol level is of little value.
The defense also admitted into evidence photos of Reynolds tattoos from the autopsy report. Police testified that the tattoos were of comic book monikers, but the defense alleged racial undertones. The defense also attempted to admit Reynolds tweets from 2019 that expressed “disparaging feelings about squeegee workers,” said Warren Brown, the other defense attorney. Judge Schiffer disallowed it.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations after closing arguments are delivered Monday.
