Defense Counsel Requests Witness Not be Called

By Alyssia Davis [former] - June 2, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A 35-year-old homicide defendant’s defense counsel motioned that a vital witness not to be called as the prosecutor did not disclose all of the information for the upcoming trial in a timely manner.

Damien Woods is charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm during a violent crime, and possession of a firearm with a felony conviction in connection to an incident on Nov. 4, 2018.

On May 23, Woods’ defense counsel, Amy Stone, filed the motion pertaining to the primary witness. Stone said the witness was on federal probation at the time of the incident, suggesting that the prosecution knew about the probation.

Stone also said she reviewed a file with the prosecutor and received progress reports of the redacted statement made by the witness on May 9. 

There was also a lot of evidence given to defense counsel too late, she said.

During the prosecutor’s rebuttal, she argued that she was not holding any of the information hostage that was needed for the trial. The prosecutor said she turned over all of the statements. 

The prosecutor said the statement in question was mis-tagged. It was the Baltimore Police Department’s mistake that they made on the evidence website, she explained.  

Once the prosecution realized the mistake, she said she worked to quickly fixed the problem and sent the statement to defense counsel. 

Lastly, the prosecutor mentioned that the detective who interviewed the witness spoke with his probation officer to find him in order to conduct the interview. 

After listening to counsel Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones denied the motion to exclude the witness even though the prosecutor violated the rule of discovery.

Judge Jones also said the prosecutor has until tomorrow to provide the detective’s information to defense counsel.