The bench trial of Riccardo Demond King, 44, concluded before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Michael A. DiPietro on Feb. 2, following nearly three hours of closing arguments during which counsel debated the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Marvin Wooten.
Defense attorney Donald Wright maintained King did not commit murder when he fatally shot Wooten on Oct. 27, 2024, arguing his client acted out of genuine fear for himself and his family.
“There is a legitimate inquiry to be made into whether this case is manslaughter,” Wright contended.
Hours before the shooting occurred, Wright said King’s then-girlfriend had called the defendant, informing him she was at a hospital to assess a potential miscarriage. She had testified the same earlier in the trial.
Following the examination, she drove to the residence she shared with King on the 1900 block of W. Fayette Street, where Wooten, “high on cocaine” and “acting extremely aggressively toward her,” began to “bang on” her car windows and ordered her repeatedly to exit the vehicle.
“He had two horrible options – one was to neutralize Mr. Wooten, and the other was to hope for the best,” said Wright, claiming King acted out of necessity in shooting the victim. “He was not willing to make that choice.”
It was only after Wooten threatened twice to kill King’s girlfriend that King opened fire, Wright said.
The state’s attorney, however, denied Wooten ever posed a threat to King or his girlfriend, claiming the victim never once approached or attempted to touch either individual.
“Mr. Wooten was not a threat to her at any time, in any way,” she said. She pushed back on Wright’s argument that the gunfire was motivated by fear, indicating how King’s girlfriend exited the vehicle despite Wooten’s allegedly threatening behavior. “A pregnant woman in fear would not get out like that if she thought she was in danger.”
She went on to call it “ridiculous” that Wright referred to King’s girlfriend as a victim, noting Wooten “put his hands up” and continued to retreat from King, who in contrast continued “repeatedly aggressing towards” Wooten.
“When Mr. Wooten wasn’t as intimidated as the defendant wanted him to be, he escalated it,” she concluded. “These were all deliberate actions.”
Wright, meanwhile, maintained Wooten had no other choice than to open fire, noting Wooten was both acting irrationally and posing a clear and imminent threat to King and his family. By opening fire, Wright argued, King prevented an even greater harm.
“He wasn’t trying to shoot this man, he was trying to get him away from his pregnant girlfriend,” Wright said. “How much more threatening can you get than to say twice, ‘I’m gonna kill you?’”
Multiple members of King’s family were present in the courtroom throughout the trial.
Judge DiPietro is currently deliberating King’s charges in lieu of a jury trial..
