The trial of Cassandra McRae, 37, and Tavon Singleton, 35, concluded the morning of April 3 after over a week of proceedings before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Dana M. Middleton.
The former couple is charged with the first-degree murder of Antoinette Jennings, 52, on the 5400 block of York Road after a dispute at a children’s basketball game on Jan. 22, 2025. They also face multiple counts of attempted murder, as the shooting left two members of Jennings’ family injured.
On April 3, jurors heard closing arguments from Singleton’s attorney, Daniel Mooney, as well a final rebuttal from the state. Proceedings had stretched past 5 p.m. the day prior, leading Judge Middleton to reschedule remaining arguments to the next morning.
Multiple witnesses testified at trial regarding the circumstances that led up to the fatal shooting, including McRae herself. Charging documents state the incident began with a dispute at a children’s basketball game, during which McRae testified she was struck and stomped upon. Jennings then reportedly left the scene in her vehicle.
Authorities claim McRae followed the victim in her own car and that the two vehicles stopped on the 5400 block of York Road, where McRae directed a male accomplice to shoot into Jennings’ window. An eyewitness who was 11 years old at the time later identified Singleton as the shooter.
During closing arguments, Mooney cast doubt upon the eyewitness’ identification, noting she initially described the shooter as a “short and fat” man wearing a white tank top that exposed his belly.
“Mr. Singleton is neither short nor fat,” Mooney told jurors. Singleton had been wearing a shirt at the time of the shooting, he added. “You should examine the identification with great care.”
Mooney added that prior to trial, the witness had viewed an Instagram post containing alleged facts about the case, as well as photographs that included a picture of Singleton’s face. Her testimony at trial, he said, was given under “highly suggestive circumstances.”
“Eyewitness testimony is incredibly unreliable,” Mooney said, adding that detectives initially suspected two juvenile males in the shooting.
Mooney also pointed to perceived failures in the state’s investigation, alleging detectives failed to follow up on potentially useful leads. The state’s evidence against McRae and Singleton had included cellphone location data that purportedly placed the defendants near the scene of the shooting.
While McRae’s cellphone stopped receiving payments upon her arrest, Mooney noted the phone linked to Singleton continued to receive payments long after his arrest. He claimed the owner of the phone “is still out on the street” and that investigators misattributed the device to his client.
In his conclusion, Mooney argued the state failed to provide substantial direct evidence against his client and urged jurors to find Singleton not guilty of the shooting.
In rebuttal, the state’s attorney reminded jurors that circumstantial evidence holds just as much legal weight as direct evidence, and claimed Mooney and McRae’s attorney, Michael Tomko, were exercising “the art of distraction” in their arguments.
She pushed back against Mooney’s claims regarding the cellphone location data, maintaining its importance to the investigation, and accused McRae, who had testified the day prior, of characterizing herself as a “very kind” person despite having “orchestrated all of this.”
In resting her case, the state’s attorney urged jurors to focus instead on the significant amount of evidence in the investigation, and to convict both defendants of Jennings’ death.
Jurors have now entered the deliberation phase.
