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By
McKenna Yoder
- December 11, 2024
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The prosecution said an on-and-off again boyfriend’s claim of self-defense doesn’t justify murder in a Dec. 6 trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Alan C. Lazarow.
Reginald Peay III, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a violent crime, having a stolen gun, a gun on person, and a gun in a vehicle.
The incident occurred on March 15 with surveillance footage showing an individual identified as Peay alleging shooting, 35-year-old Lenora Alston, as she got out of his white Chevy Malibu in front of her mother’s home.
Peay claims he felt threatened, so he took a gun from Alston’s purse and allegedly shot her ten times. The prosecution characterized Alston as a short woman afflicted with sickle cell anemia who was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
Surveillance footage captured the moment Alston got out of the car and Peay allegedly shooting her in the face. The suspect then closed the door and after a pause, backed up his car, rolled down the window and shot nine more rounds, the prosecutor said during her closing.
According to the prosecutor, Alston texted Peay to smoke weed hours after the two had a verbal argument. However, Alston’s toxicology report, did not show she had marijuana in her system.
The prosecution questioned both the intent of the shooting and the claim of self defense, stating that Peay could’ve driven away or called police, “but he chose to silence her forever.”
In her rebuttal, Peay’s defense attorney, Natalie Finegar, said that when people are under threat they do not think clearly. And because of the surveillance camera angle, Alston’s actions are blocked from view so it’s impossible to know what she was doing.
Finegar insisted that Alston was addicted to pain killers, became agitated, and threatened Peay.
The prosecution responded by saying that even if that was true, shooting someone ten times is way beyond self-defense.
The trial is slated to continue on Dec. 9.