Woman Present During Alleged Murder Testifies at Trial

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

The murder trial of Cleveland DeShields continued in the afternoon on Sept. 17 with the testimony of a woman who said she was passed out drunk and high in the same room when the victim was murdered.

DeShields, 58, is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the alleged assault and murder of his wife, Wanda Diggins, on the night of Nov. 2, 2018. According to the prosecution, officers with the Baltimore Police Department found Diggins, 54, around 11:30 p.m. inside a home on the 1700 block of N. Bentalou Street.

Following opening statements on Friday morning, the prosecutor called a woman to the stand who said she was a friend of one of Diggins’ family members. The woman testified that she was hanging out with her friend at the residence and called 911 the night of the alleged murder.

According to the police department’s video interview with the woman in April 2019, which was played for the jury on Friday, the woman said she was asleep in a chair five to six feet away from the couch where Diggins was found. The woman told police she was drunk and high on marijuana and heard a repeated thumping sound when she woke up, saw Diggins and ran out of the home.

The woman later identified DeShields, who she referred to as Tony, in a photo line-up with police.

Defense attorney Maureen Rowland reiterated that the woman was intoxicated at the time of Diggins’ alleged murder. While the woman testified that she didn’t know what the thumping sound was, Rowland said that police attempted to tell the woman what she heard sounded like slapping, referring to the alleged assault.

During the prosecutor’s counterargument, the woman said DeShields was at the home when she and Diggins fell asleep but wasn’t there when she woke up. She also identified DeShields as Tony in the courtroom.

Three other people were also called to testify on Friday, including one of the two officers who responded to the scene after the 911 call. The officer’s body camera footage was played for the jury.

The officer informed the prosecutor that when he arrived at the residence, there was a woman outside who was “frantic, concerned and scared” for Diggins. The officer said he and another officer went inside the home and saw Diggins on the couch.

The victim’s face was disfigured and bleeding, the officer said, and she was unresponsive and occasionally twitching. She was taken to Shock Trauma.

The officers searched the home but did not find any suspects, and crime lab technicians arrived shortly after. When questioned by the prosecutor, the officer said there were no signs of forced entry; however, evidence of the assault included a hoodie and a hat found near the victim.

Rowland questioned whether police officers ever collect evidence in such cases. Although the officer said they do in some cases, they did not collect the evidence from the Diggins’ case themselves. When police do collect evidence, he said, it is bagged, collected, and processed.

The officer confirmed that the woman he previously spoke to upon arrival told the other officer, not him, that DeShields was a possible suspect.

A forensic science analyst who collected the evidence from the crime scene was next to testify. At the time of the alleged murder, the analyst said he was working as a crime lab technician for the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his testimony, the analyst said he arrived around 12:20 a.m. the night of Diggins’ assault, and again, saw no signs of forced entry. He proceeded to describe the pictures he took of the crime scene, which were submitted into evidence and shown to the jury. The photos included the couch where Diggins was found as well as a pink hoodie, a multi-colored hat, and blood on the couch cushions and wall behind the couch.

Following his investigation of the crime scene, the analyst said he went to Shock Trauma around 1 a.m. and took photos of Diggins in a hospital bed. The analyst testified that he saw lots of dried blood, swelling and trauma to Diggins’ head as well as several lacerations.

The analyst said that since Diggins and DeShields frequented the area, finding their prints “wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.”

The final person to testify on Friday was a special agent with the FBI in Baltimore who works with the cell analysis team. The cell analyst said he generated a report from a cell phone registered to DeShields, which linked the alleged murderer to the “general area” of their residence.

The cell analyst testified that phone calls were made from DeShields’ cell phone on the night Diggins was killed and the next day. The cell phone put DeShields in the area of the crime scene at least three times around 7 p.m. before the incident, he said, and nearby around 11:30 p.m. afterwards.

Calls were also made from DeShields’ cell phone around 5 a.m. the following day, the cell analyst said.

Rowland argued that although the cell records were able to provide a generalized location, they provide no narrative as to what happened.

Following the cell analyst’s testimony, Judge Philip S. Jackson said the trial would continue on Sept. 20.