After six days of witness testimony and legal arguments, a Carroll County jury began deliberating Tuesday in the county?s first murder trial in more than two years.
Shawn Anthony Jones, 28, of Westminster, is accused of fatally shooting Donnie Bowman, 43, of Westminster, and wounding Lamont Dew, 39, of Baltimore, as they sat in a car parked behind Little Jay?s convenience store in the heart of Westminster a little after 8 p.m. Dec. 7, 2005.
Dew, who has known Jones for a decade, told police he considered himself the intended victim because he sold Jones some bad cocaine, according to court records and testimony.
“He?s a cold-blooded, calculating, conniving killer,” Chief Deputy State?s Attorney David Daggett said of Jones. “He planned it all out.”
But defense attorney Margaret Mead said Jones intended to discharge a couple of shots from his shotgun into Dew?s empty car to scare Dew, not kill anyone.
“There?s no plan; this is the seat of the pants,” Mead said.
Jones “just wanted $500,” she said. “The idea is intimidation. If you kill somebody, you?re not going to get your money back.”
She also raised questions about the credibility of witness testimony, including from two McDaniel College students who were walking by.
Two of Jones? relatives await sentencing on charges related to the double shooting.
Jones? aunt, Vera Rennie Rogers, of Westminster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit assault for setting up a potential drug deal with Dew that night.
Jones? cousin, Anthony Cornelius Jones, of Westminster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery for furnishing the shotgun.
