Counsel Delivers Opening Statements for Man involved in Social Media Fight Between Women

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Counsel delivered opening statements July 10 in the trial for a 22-year-old man accused of attempted murder after an altercation that the prosecution claimed “was supposed to be just a fight between young adult women.”

Alonzo Lindsey faces 58 charges in connection to a March 21, 2023, shooting at Fort Armistead Park, including attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, first-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He is also charged with firearm use in a felony violent crime, conspiracy to use a firearm in a felony violent crime and various other firearms offenses.

Before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Troy K. Hill, the prosecutor explained to the jury that a fight that began among a group of young women on social media escalated to physical violence when the group decided to meet at Fort Armistead Park on the 4000 block of Fort Armistead Road to continue their fight.

At the park, some members of the group began to physically fight, and shots were fired from the backseat of one of the cars that had been driven to the fight, the prosecutor said. Two victims were shot and treated at Shock Trauma, and three other individuals sustained minor injuries.

According to the prosecution, one of the women involved in the altercation, Ayeshia Holland, picked up Lindsey on her way to the scene of the fight. Lindsey used a rifle to shoot at five victims from the backseat of her car. The prosecution alleged that Holland and Lindsey were close friends.

“There are a lot of nuances, a lot of names,” in the case, but that it was Lindsey’s name that Holland identified as the shooter, the prosecutor said.

Lindsey’s defense team, attorneys Koryn High and Jerome Wilson, used their opening statement to explain to the jury that the prosecution’s case against Lindsey is based on three things: a nickname, latent fingerprints and Holland’s accusation, none of which they believe proves their client guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

High told the jury that the individual Holland said that she was taking to get a gun, in social media messages between the young women involved in the altercation, was not mentioned by name. High said the individual was only referred to by a nickname.

Lindsey’s defense also explained that his fingerprint found on the outside of Holland’s car could be from any time, not necessarily the night of the shooting.

However, High stated that the third piece of the prosecution’s argument, Holland’s accusation, was the center of the case.

“This case is based on a puppet master,” High told the jury, explaining that it was Holland who orchestrated the fight and who named Lindsey as the nicknamed individual involved in the shooting.

When Holland named Lindsey as the shooter, High said the investigation was halted and that Lindsey was arrested.

“The [prosecution] wants you to jump to the same conclusion that they did,” High told the jury, asking them to instead draw their own conclusions and find Lindsey not guilty.

In December 2023, Holland pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault in connection to the March 21, 2023, incident.

The trial is expected to continue on July 11.