It doesn?t happen often in Carroll County, but a man goes on trial for murder today.
Jury selection is slated to begin this morning in Carroll County Circuit Court for the trial of Shawn Anthony Jones, 28, of Westminster, who was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Donnie D. Bowman, 43, of Westminster, and the wounding of Lamont Dew, 39, of Baltimore, in 2005.
The 10-day trial before Judge Thomas Stansfield is the first murder trial in Carroll in more than two years, said David Daggett, chief deputy state?s attorney.
Dew, who knew Jones for a decade, told police he considered himself the intended victim because he owed Jones money, according to court records. Dew and Bowman were shot just after 8 p.m. Dec. 7, 2005, as they sat in a car parked behind Little Jay?s convenience store in the heart of Westminster.
After Jones allegedly fired a shotgun into Dew?s Honda Accord, killing Bowman and injuring Dew, he got into the car and held the 12-gauge to Dew?s head, telling him, “Drive if you wanna live,” a statement of charges shows.
Dew drove two miles to the Jiffy Mart on Route 97 and Magna Way, where he ran into the convenience store, announced he had been shot and asked for someone to call 911. Jones fled, police said, leaving Bowman?s body in the car.
Two of Jones? relatives await sentencing on charges related to the double shooting, which rocked the Tri-Street neighborhood of Pennsylvania Avenue, Union Street and Main Street.
Jones? relative, Vera Rennie Rogers, of Westminster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit assault for organizing a potential drug deal with Dew that night.
Jones? cousin, Anthony Cornelius Jones, of Westminster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery for providing the shotgun.
Darcel Harris, a Pennsylvania Avenue resident, said she was “disappointed” that a drug-related homicide fed into an already negative misconception about her neighborhood as crime-ridden.
“It?s like people bringing their garbage and dumping it here ? it?s illegal,” she said.
