A witness intimidation trial already derailed once when a juror felt too “scared” was postponed again Monday ? after prosecutors moved to bring additional charges of witness intimidation against two Baltimore men.
Baltimore City prosecutors have charged Yusef Winston-Bey, 28, and Victor Shuron, 31 ? two men accused of gunning down a witness ? with additional acts of intimidation against the witness, Donnie Hill.
Prosecutors allege Winston-Bey and Shuron persuaded a friend, Monique Ramseur, to swear out a false second-degree arrest warrant for Hill, whom police arrested Feb. 21 and who was held four days at Baltimore?s Central Booking and Intake Facility.
“They want to do further investigation on supposedly unfounded charges brought against Donnie Hill, the victim,” said Shuron?s attorney, Mark Van Bavel, who added that his client did not persuade Ramseur to bring any charges against Hill.
“Shuron had nothing to do with it,” he said.
Winston-Bey?s attorney, Margaret Mead, also said her client played no role in charges brought against Hill.
“He adamantly denies being involved with it,” she said.
In Maryland any resident can press misdemeanor criminal charges against another resident if the charges are approved by a court commissioner. Prosecutors then decide whether to take the case to trial.
In Hill?s case, prosecutors dropped all charges March 26.
Winston-Bey and Shuron stood trial last year on charges they shot Hill after following him in a van to the Waverly Shopping Center on Greenmount Avenue on Nov. 27, 2006.
The case had gone to a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury, only to be derailed after the jury passed Judge Robert Kershaw a note indicating one of them felt too “scared” to continue.
The female juror was waiting for a bus outside the circuit courthouse after a full day of deliberations when she spotted two men she recognized from the courtroom, according to the note.
She said one pointed, and she could read his lips saying, “There goes one of them right there.”
“She says that now she doesn?t want to vote on the charges that are left one way or the other,” the jury foreman wrote.
The retrial was slated to begin again Monday when the new allegations of witness intimidation surfaced.
Winston-Bey and Shuron?s trial has now been rescheduled for July 9. A May 30 arraignment is scheduled on the new charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice.
“The longer it goes on, the more complex it gets,” Van Bavel said. “All we want to do is go to trial.”
Mead said her client is “languishing in prison” on false charges.
“The irony is: He?s absolutely innocent,” she said. “We have two alibi witnesses that put him in a pool hall when the alleged shooting occurred. He didn?t do it.”
Examiner Staff Writer Jaime Malarkey contributed to this report.
