Nearly four years after a great-grandfather was accidentally shot to death during a dispute over egg-throwing, a Baltimore County jury convicted the man police say pulled the trigger of second-degree murder.
On Wednesday, the jury acquitted Jose Bassat, 30, of the most serious charge of first-degree murder in the Oct. 30, 2004, shooting death of George King. Police described the Dundalk resident and Korean War veteran as an innocent victim walking down the street.
“It?s been a long time coming for this family,” prosecutor Stephanie Porter said. “There?s been questions for two years over what happened,” referring to police?s 2006 arrests. “How could someone be shot over some eggs?”
After the jury rendered its verdict, King?s granddaughters embraced and cried in the courtroom. They declined to comment.
Bassat faces up to 30 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9. In a note to the judge, jurors asked that their identities not be made public. Two witnesses testified that Bassat had threatened their lives before he was arrested.
“We are concerned for our safety,” jurors wrote.
Defense attorney Larry Polen said the maximum sentence his client faces is less than the 50-year plea deal prosecutors had offered him.
“The jury was obviously frightened and it affected their decision,” he said.
On the evening before Halloween, a group of teens threw eggs at a house where Bassat?s friends were having a party. Someone at the party called Bassat and Jose Emmanuel Otero, 24, who drove to Avondale Road to settle the score, prosecutors said.
The men fired at the group of teens, but missed as they ran away, Porter said.
A short time later, Bassat spotted King, mistook him for a boy, and opened fire, she said.
King was hit in the leg and bled extensively. He died at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital.
“Do you think Jose Bassat harbored any ill will toward George King? No. Poor Mr. George was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Porter said.
Otero pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
