Defense Counsel Argues the Defendant Was Taunted and Bullied by Victim’s Husband

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An attempted murder defendant trial began with opening statements on Oct. 28 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Anthony Vittoria.

Niaja McCoy is charged with attempted first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, use of a firearm during a violent crime, having a handgun on his person, and discharging firearms in connection to an incident on Nov. 24, 2021.

The prosecutor began by urging jurors about the case’s severity and asking them to use their common sense.

He described how, on the night of the incident, the defendant could be allegedly seen inside and outside a liquor store before “casually” raising a gun to the victim and shooting her in the abdomen and hip. You will see the victim hit the ground and her husband trying to protect her in an attempt to take the gun away from the defendant, described the prosecutor.

Later in the trial, jurors were told they would hear testimony from the victim, who knew the defendant and was quickly able to identify her to the police while in the hospital. Jurors would also hear testimony from the primary detective, who would show photos of the incident and video footage.

The prosecutor noted that several witnesses identified the defendant at the scene, in addition to McCoy identifying herself.

Defense counsel Augustine Okeke described McCoy as a 39-years-old single mom with three beautiful children. He noted in his opening statement that before the incident, the defendant had been taunted and bullied by the victim’s husband.

On the day of the incident at Cherry Hill shopping center, the defendant tried to get a restraining order against the victim’s husband because he was harassing her family.

McCoy found out that the victim’s husband had a picture of her youngest son on his phone, which led to her confronting him about the picture.

McCoy then pulls out a gun to shoot the victim’s husband, but because she has no experience shooting a gun, she hits the victim instead, who was standing next to him.

At that time, McCoy never met the victim.

Okeke told the jury to heed the evidence because the prosecutor would try to convince them that the defendant attempted to kill the victim.