Thursday, December 16, 2021

Keith Davis Jr. Maryland: Ballistics: Having been tried four times in the killing of a Pimlico security guard, he has rejected a plea offer Tuesday and heads to a fifth murder trial..."His case has become a rallying cry for activists in Baltimore who maintain Davis is innocent. His defense attorneys have put forth a theory that police planted the gun on him after officers mistook him for a robber, opened fire and grievously wounded him. Davis’ supporters have protested against Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby for her repeated attempts to convict him of murder. His first trial in 2017 resulted in a hung jury. A conviction in his second trial was overturned. His third trial brought another hung jury. Then he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison in his fourth trial, but his case was overturned again. The legal saga has dragged on for six years."


BACKGROUND: From a previous post: (JULY 21, 2021):  “The truth is actually just so clear that we don’t need to embellish it. I don’t need to do anything to it. I just need to show you,” activist DeRay Mckesson told reporters in a law office downtown. He said his team has uncovered a slew of inconsistencies, problems and lies from the five-year legal saga that’s included four murder trials against Davis and one trial for armed robbery………Mckesson pointed to one example in the testimony of a firearms examiner who says he “eyeballed” the shell casings to identify the murder weapon. He also pointed to testimony in which a state witness says he had no evidence the gun found when police arrested Davis was actually fired. These discrepancies are among nearly 200 problems found in the case by Mckesson and his organization, We The Protesters. The New York-based nonprofit led by Mckesson is spearheading effort to set Davis free.

bs-md-ci-cr-campaign-zero-keith-davis-jr-20210721-oa2cjygd2ngi7kq5c3fsraqmue-story.html

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Davis’ public defender, Deborah Katz Levi, said after the hearing that prosecutors offered her client a chance to submit Alford pleas, which allow a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging there is enough evidence to convict. A spokeswoman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Prosecutors routinely offer plea deals before murder trials and they had offered Davis a plea deal of 50 years with all but 30 years suspended before his fourth murder trial."

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STORY" Keith Davis Jr. rejects 15-year plea deal from attorney - heads to fifth murder trial," by Reporter Tim Prudente, published by The Baltimore Sun, on December 14, 2021. ("Tim Prudente is a cops and courts reporter for The Baltimore Sun, and he also writes the occasional feature story.  He has covered education at The Sun and worked as a night cops reporter.)


GIST: Keith Davis Jr., who’s been tried four times in the killing of a Pimlico security guard, rejected a plea offer Tuesday and heads to a fifth murder trial.


 City prosecutors offered Davis a term of 50 years in prison with all but 15 suspended in exchange for his plea in two criminal cases.


 One case involves an alleged jailhouse fight in June 2020; the other the murder of Kevin Jones in June 2015.


During a 10-minute hearing Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, Davis, 30, rejected the offer.



His case has become a rallying cry for activists in Baltimore who maintain Davis is innocent


His defense attorneys have put forth a theory that police planted the gun on him after officers mistook him for a robber, opened fire and grievously wounded him. 


Davis’ supporters have protested against Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby for her repeated attempts to convict him of murder.


His first trial in 2017 resulted in a hung jury. A conviction in his second trial was overturned. His third trial brought another hung jury. Then he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison in his fourth trial, but his case was overturned again. The legal saga has dragged on for six years.


Now, he’s to be tried a fifth time, scheduled for May, for the murder of Jones. The Pimlico security guard was gunned down in the early morning while walking to work.


Last May, prosecutors filed new charges against Davis over a jailhouse fight that was almost a year old. The charges further escalated tensions between Mosby’s office and the vocal crowd of Davis’ supporters.


His supporters, led by his wife, Kelly Davis, have held rallies, protest marches and hounded Mosby with calls to “Free Keith Davis Jr.!” 


Mosby stirred up controversy last year when a cellphone camera captured her giving the finger to a man who confronted her at a waterfront bar with a shout of “Free Keith Davis Jr.!”


The nonprofit of Baltimore activist DeRay Mckesson has taken up Davis’ cause and produced a website examining evidence in the case."


Thee entire story can be read at"

 https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-keith-davis-plea-20211214-edrl7eisbffk7nutmigqnuxcg4-story.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WORD: "It is incredibly easy to convict an innocent person, but it's exceedingly difficult to undo such a devastating injustice. 
Jennifer Givens: DirectorL UVA Innocence Project.