A Howard County Circuit Court judge on Friday dismissed a motion for expungement from the man who shot Columbia resident Oscar Antonio Lopez in 2000 and left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Judge Dennis Sweeney ruled that DeShawn Ricky Clement, 22, should have asked for thejuvenile court to clear his record, instead of the Circuit Court, and therefore threw out his petition for a clean record.
Clement was found involved ? the juvenile equivalent of guilty ? of shooting and paralyzing Oscar Antonio Lopez, 28, of Columbia, a Salvadoran immigrant who was walking home from his minimum-wage job at Wendy?s in Columbia. The bullet from Clement?s gun is still lodged in Lopez?s spine. Lopez?s attorney, Del. Neil Quinter, a Columbia Democrat, said he and Lopez were happy with Sweeney?s ruling.
“Antonio is very pleased with the judge?s decision,” Quinter said. “We?ll take any victory we can get in this case.”
Lopez, through an interpreter, said he believed Clement should not be allowed to have his criminal record erased.
“If he can erase what he did to me, then I think his record should be erased,” Lopez said.
Lopez added that he was surprised to learn of Friday?s hearing on Thursday. Quinter said that a phone call from The Examiner informed him of the day?s proceedings.
After Quinter told Sweeney of the lack of communication with prosecutors, the judge then instructed the Howard County State?s Attorney?s Office to keep Lopez and Quinter in the loop as the case continues into juvenile court, should Clement file a motion for expungement there.
Clement, who left the court house in a hurry, refused to apologize for his actions or comment on the case. Lopez said, in an interview, that an apology would be welcome.
Lopez was the impetus for a new state law, sponsored by Quinter, that gave victims of juvenile violent crime the right of appeal. Lopez, who said the Howard County Circuit Court had denied him his rights as a victim by not consulting him during portions of Clement?s criminal proceedings in 2002, appealed his case to the Court of Appeals, Maryland?s highest court. The Court of Appeals denied Lopez the right of appeal in 2005because Clement was a juvenile. Maryland?s new victims rights law, which takes effect Oct. 1, trumps that ruling.
