The jury deliberating on the fate of two former jail guards charged with murder must answer a fundamental question: Was there a conspiracy among witnesses?
Defense attorneys argued that every correctional officer who accused Dameon Woods and James Hatcher of beating inmate Raymond Smoot, 51, to death came forward only after meeting together and deciding to lie against the two men to shift the blame from themselves.
“Yes, it is a conspiracy,” Hatcher?s attorney, Andrew Alperstein, told the Baltimore City Circuit Court jury Thursday during his closing arguments. “I?ll stand on the roof of the courthouse and scream it at the top of my lungs.”
Smoot died May 14, 2005, after guards beat him repeatedly at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center. But prosecutor Lisa Phelps told jurors to disregard any statements about the state?s witnesses conspiring to lie together.
She pointed out that the guards who testified against Woods and Hatcher all told slightly different stories ? meaning they couldn?t have memorized and repeated the same lie together.
“Reject the conspiracy theory,” she said. Phelps told the jury that it is “understandable” that co-workers were initially reluctant to come forward against the men, but they eventually did so after meeting together.
“They told it because it?s what they saw and because it?s the truth,” she said of their testimony.
Phelps pointed out that inmates also testified against Woods, and they couldn?t possibly be involved in a conspiracy.
One inmate, Thomas Price, Smoot?s roommate, told the jury that he saw Woods stomp Smoot about 12 times.
“Woods braced himself on the bed and stomped Mr. Smoot,” Phelps said. “… This is murder. It is intentional murder.”
But Woods? attorney, Margaret Mead, said the two accused men were in an elevator at the time of Smoot?s death.
“Everything was over for poor Mr. Smoot before the elevator doors opened and the other officers arrived,” she said.
Mead added that neither Woods nor Hatcher had any blood or human tissue found on their clothes, while other guards did.
“The blood, you cannot ignore,” she said. “The human tissue, you cannot ignore.”
John Glynn on Wednesday threw out charges against former correctional officer Nathan Colbert in the case, citing a lack of evidence. Woods and Hatcher face counts of second-degree murder and assault.
