Homicide Trial Begins for Man Accused of Murder While Attempting to Carjack A Father and Son

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On April 12, a 28-year-old homicide defendant’s trial began with opening statements and testimony from the surviving victim from an attempted carjacking nearly two years ago before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong.

William Holland is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, attempted robbery, attempted carjacking, and firearms violations in connection to an incident that occurred on Dec. 12, 2020.

Defense attorney Angela Shelton said the investigation was not thorough and lacked evidence. She told jurors they would hear a lot of things that were not done during this investigation. In addition, the witness that called 911 could not describe the shooter to the police, she said.

“The defendant wants you to examine everything and find him not guilty because the prosecution has no evidence against him,” says Shelton.

In regard to evidence collection, the lead detective told the technician on the scene to photograph everything in and around the car as well as for the car to be processed in the forensics lab.

The belongings of both victims and any DNA from the surviving victim’s fingernails were also collected.

In addition, the lead detective also collected receipts from two prior visits the defendant made to the station.

A crime lab technician said she also collected a yellow shirt with blood on it, a shoe, and five cartridges. She said she swabbed for suspected blood at the crime. Surveillance video footage from around the scene of the crime was also collected.

The victim’s clothes were not tested for the shooter’s DNA, nor was the defendant’s DNA collected. Although phones can be live tracked, the lead detective did not feel the need to check the location on Holland’s phone to see where he was at the time of the incident.

The technician mentioned that after collecting evidence outside the store, the lead detective told her to focus on evidence from within the station store behind the register specifically. She tested for fingerprints from the tobacco wraps that the shooter allegedly touched while in the store but could not retrieve anything.

Shelton questioned if the technician attempted to collect a print from a tobacco wrap near the blood on the scene in which she responded that she did not because she was not told to process prints that were closer to the where the incident took place. The defendant allegedly bought tobacco wraps at the gas station that morning.

The prosecutor mentioned how everyone has their own routines during her opening statement. The defendant visited the gas station on Dundalk Ave to buy cigarettes almost every day. Both victims went to that same gas station every morning to purchase gas as they headed to work.

They’ve never crossed paths until this incident occurred one early morning on Dec.14, 2020, around 5 a.m., says the prosecutor. Attempting to carjack both victims, the defendant shot four rounds at the driver seat window, killing the surviving victim’s son, after failing to secure the car due to a language barrier between the three people involved.

The entire incident was caught on surveillance footage. The prosecutor presented photos and a 10-minute video of the incident to the jurors.

The victim’s father testified that on Dec. 14, 2020, he and his son, 21-year-old Henry Orella, were headed to work in Washington D.C. His son was driving a Honda Accord, taking the same route they always did, and stopping at the gas station arriving around 4:40-4:45 a.m.

The victim’s father said he saw a man approaching him on the left side of the car. The man said a few words in English, but the father did not know what the man was saying because he only speaks Spanish. The victim’s father said his son was looking at his phone when the man approached them.

The victim’s father also said that when he could not understand the man, the man stretched out his hand and shot his son. Initially, when he saw the man approach the witness said he did not see the gun.

Following the shooting, the victim’s father said he jumped on top of the shooter, which resulted in both people falling to ground. The father sustained three injuries to his head and became unconscious.

The victim’s father described the shooter as a black man wearing a black hoodie covering his head along with a mask.

The victim’s father said he remembered trying to grab the gun from the shooter after he shot his son. The witness said he also remembered being in the hospital talking to police and the nurses and the police taking his clothes and trying to get as much information out of him as possible.

An employee at the gas station who made the 911 call and witnessed the incident said there are a total of eight cameras around the gas station. The witness also said he remembered hearing gunshots and seeing two people fighting.

Initially, the witness said he was in shock when he saw the victim lying on the ground because he knew the customers as his regulars.

The witness was shown a photo array by the police a few days following the incident, which resulted in him identifying the shooter as Holland.

The defendant’s mother, a lieutenant for the Baltimore Police Department, testified that she called the police on her son because she recognized his face on a flier.

Holland was arrested in North Carolina.

According to Shore News Network, on Dec. 14, 2020, at approximately 5:02 a.m., officers were called to the 1100 block of Dundalk Avenue to investigate a reported shooting, where they found a 21-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds. The medics took the victim to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Holland’s trial is scheduled to continue on April 13.