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By
Racquel Bazos [former]
- March 21, 2024
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Suspects
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Victims
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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth presided over the beginning of a 41-year-old murder defendant’s third trial on March 21.
Byron Erin Lewis is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person and two counts of firearm possession with a felony conviction for the June 12, 2021, murder of 32-year-old Shammarh Jenkins.
Lewis has faced two juries before; neither were unable to come to a unanimous decision, ending in mistrials in April and September 2023.
At the beginning of Lewis’ latest trial on Thursday, the prosecutor told the jury they will see surveillance camera footage from four different cameras in the vicinity of the 2200 block of Reisterstown Road, where the shooting took place.
But crucially, there will be no direct footage of the incident itself. Jurors will instead see the defendant cross the street to the victim, muzzle flashes and the getaway car drive away.
The prosecution will also present the police interview Lewis gave six months after Jenkins’ death. The prosecutor advised jurors to pay particular attention to how many times Lewis changed his story over the course of his statement to police.
Defense attorney James Sweeting III stated firmly that this was a self-defense case centering around his client’s police interview. He told jurors to listen to the nuances in the statement and consider all the evidence presented to them as clinically as possible.