The case of two Baltimore men accused in a May 2005 shootout went to the jury Monday, with a defense attorney calling the state?s crucial witness inconsistent and the police incomplete in their search for suspects.
Daron West is charged with attempted murder, and co-defendant Antoine Hudson is charged with illegal gun possession. The case stems from a May 16 shootout in Northwest Baltimore that left West with four bullet wounds.
According to the state, West shot at Hudson nine times and missed. Hudson then picked up a gun and shot back, according to police reports and a state?s witness, hitting West in the legs and buttock. Hudson isn?t charged with attempted murder, despite state?s witness Mia Morris? claim that he was the one who caused physical injury.
During his closing argument, defense attorney James L. Scott questioned the credibility of Morris, a neighbor who testified that she stood on her porch that afternoon and witnessed the shooting. Morris couldn?t have seen what she said she saw, in part because she was too far away from the scene, Scott said.
Morris at first incorrectly identified West as one of the shooters when she was shown a photo array at the police department, according to court testimony. Witnesses were similarly inconsistent about how Morris reported the crime to police in the minutes after the shooting, Scott said.
But prosecutor Robyne Szokoly called Morris a “hero” for appearing in court.
“It is very rare in Baltimore City” for a witness to come forward, Szokoly said, in an apparent reference to the witness intimidation that the city?s state?s attorney has said afflicts the criminal justice system.
Scott also said the police didn?t look hard enough after the shooting to find others who might have been involved or known what happened. He pointed out that the state produced no evidence of gunshot residue taken off either defendant, no fingerprints and no guns.
“My client is innocent,” Scott said of West after giving his closing argument. “He was been very unfairly charged.”
