Defendant Was an Accomplice for the Triggerman in Double Homicide, Prosecutor Argues

By Andrew Michaels - October 2, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Homicide defendant Lamarr Candia wasn’t the triggerman in the murders of 33-year-old Robert Carter and 27-year-old Kennard Wilds, but his actions made him an accomplice, according to the Baltimore City prosecutor trying the case.

Candia’s trial came to a close on Oct. 2 when counsel presented closing arguments. Jurors began their deliberations that afternoon to determine the defendant’s fate as to charges of first and second-degree murder, conspiracy to first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and first and second-degree assault.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Christopher L. Panos presided over the trial.

“Even to this day, we do not know who the shooter is and we may never know,” the prosecutor said.

He explained how Candia, 28, got into a fight with Carter and Wilds outside the Carroll Motor Fuels gas station on the 3300 block of Garrison Boulevard on April 29, 2022. After the pair “got the better of him,” Candia went to his car and allegedly called the triggerman.

An FBI witness, who specializes in cell phone records analysis, testified Candia and the unidentified shooter’s phones placed them in the vicinity of the crime scene around the time of the incident based on pings from nearby cell towers.

Four-and-a-half minutes after Candia’s call, gas station surveillance footage appears to show the shooter arrive and talk with the defendant by his car.

In the prosecution’s version, Candia moved his car across the street next to the shooter’s vehicle, leaving the car running with the headlights on before returning to the gas station to continue the fight.

Why would the defendant do this if not to have a getaway vehicle at the ready, the prosecutor asked?

Video surveillance footage also captured Candia allegedly telling the shooter to “whoop all three of them,” including an unidentified person known as “Mookie” as well as “Rob and Nardy,” apparently referring to Carter and Wilds.

“He didn’t want to be the trigger puller,” he said. “He wanted someone else to be the trigger puller. …[In] every single video clip, [the shooter] and the defendant are working together.”

Lawrence Rosenberg, Candia’s defense counsel, countered the prosecution left too many questions unanswered. Referring to the video footage, Rosenberg said it was clear there were eight to nine people present during the trio’s initial confrontation just outside the gas station’s doors. However, none of them testified at trial.

“These people were still there” after Carter was shot, the defense attorney said. “Couldn’t they tell who the shooter was?”

The gunman also did not take out his firearm until Carter rushed the shooter and Candia, Rosenberg said, questioning whether the shooter was trying to protect the defendant.

Thinking Candia is guilty is not enough, he concluded, as he asked jurors to “let justice be done.”