Man Convicted of Wife’s Murder Granted Motion to Modify Sentence Nearly 12 Years Later

By Andrew Michaels - September 17, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Victims |

A Baltimore man convicted of killing his wife while in the midst of their divorce was granted a motions hearing to modify a 50-year sentence on Sept. 17 at Baltimore City Circuit Court.

During Friday’s post-conviction hearing, defense attorney Nayda Kuachusri said she and the prosecution agreed to file the motion in the case of 41-year-old Antonio Girard Stewart, who was sentenced to 30 years for second-degree murder and a consecutive 20 years for handgun use in committing a crime for his wife’s murder on Nov. 30, 2008.

Kuachusri told Judge Althea M. Handy that Stewart’s prior counsel did not file a motion to modify his sentence despite the defendant’s request nor did counsel file additional post-conviction motions, which were not discussed on Friday.

The defense attorney also said that Stewart was only able to file for a motion to bring his case before a three-judge panel because someone in the correctional facility assisted him; however, she did not discuss the results of the panel.

“Historically, when we have the opportunity for a petitioner’s consent to withdraw other allegations and the state agrees that he can file a belated modification, that is something we will do to avoid any potential issues with other allegations,” the prosecutor said.

Judge Handy questioned counsels’ inability to contact Stewart’s previous defense attorney to learn more about the defendant’s post-conviction filings. However, after informing Stewart that this will be his only opportunity to file for post-conviction, Judge Handy approved the motion for modification.

A date for the motions hearing has not yet been scheduled.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore Police Department was called to Bel Air Road and Parkside Drive for a domestic dispute around 8:35 p.m. when the victim’s daughter told police that her mother, Dawn Williams-Stewart, was attempting to move out of their house on the 4000 block of Parkside Drive. She also told police that then 29-year-old Stewart, who was the victim’s husband, had a gun.

The city’s SWAT team responded and entered the home shortly after 11 p.m. and found Williams-Stewart with a gunshot wound to her stomach at the bottom of the basement stairwell.

The victim was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

When police found the defendant, he was unconscious and hanging from his neck by a belt off the back porch of a nearby home, holding a handgun in his left hand. He was treated at the scene and at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Suitcases packed with clothes were also found at the scene, and the investigation later revealed that the defendant was a security guard and licensed to carry a concealed handgun.

According to the prosecution, another Baltimore Sun article reported, the victim’s daughter called the couple’s home the day of the murder, heard a scuffle, and called a friend to check on them. The friend heard the victim scream and their four-year-old son say, “Daddy said he’s going to kill Mommy now.”