The trial of Eshawn Jones, 25, concluded Sept. 22 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong, with a debate over whether the defendant was the one seen wearing a red sweatshirt during a shooting.
Although Jones changed his version of events during the trial, he claimed he was mistakenly identified as wearing the garment.
Jones is charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, attempted carjacking, armed robbery, conspiracy, and multiple gun offenses.
The counts stem from a shooting that occurred on Feb. 10, 2022 on the 100 block of N. Smallwood Street.
According to court documents, the victim was sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle when he was shot three times. He attempted to flee but crashed his vehicle into a vacant building leaving his arms and legs paralyzed.
Prosecutors leveraged video evidence from the night of the incident allegedly to show Jones in a red sweatshirt walking up to the victim’s vehicle and shooting him.
Surveillance footage from Gomez Grocery store earlier that morning showed Jones wearing what investigators described as the same red hoodie, and Jones reportedly identified himself in the footage during his recorded police interview.
Recovered footage from a Ring camera in the vicinity revealed that on Feb 12, 2022, two days after the shooting, an unnamed male suspect, supposedly related to the defendant, approached the Ring camera and shot at it before fleeing towards Vine Street.
Defense attorney William Porter argued that there was no proof provided for the prosecutor’s assumption that the person in the red sweatshirt was the defendant.
The prosecutor says text messages between Jones’ co-defendant Markia Vaughn, 22, and her boyfriend reveal them planning the crime. In February, she accepted a plea for murder in a separate case and is serving a 40 year sentence.
At one point, Jones claimed that Vaughn’s boyfriend was the one wearing the red sweatshirt during the incident. However, his whereabouts are unknown.
The jury is deliberating the case.
