Judge Approves Defense Strike Motions in Highway Murder Case

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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy presided during a motions hearing on June 9 in which the defense moved to strike expert testimony by three prosecution witnesses.

Defendant Christopher Lee, 28, is charged with first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony crime of violence in connection to the Jan. 14, 2024 death of his girlfriend, 30-year-old Jazmyn Reed.

At approximately 12:59 a.m. the day of the incident, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers responded to Lee’s call that Reed was shot on the third northbound exit of I-83. Lee was cooperative with police. He advised he and Reed were arguing in his car, when Reed allededly tried to grab his handgun from a holster under his carseat. The two struggled for the weapon and it discharged, hitting Reed in the left side of the face. Officers rushed her to an area hospital, but she was declared deceased at 1:40 a.m.

The clash between defense attorney Lawrence Greenberg and the prosecution centered around the relevance of the prosecution’s witnesses. Reed was reportedly intoxicated during the incident and had a high blood alcohol level at her time of death.

A BPD lieutenant summoned by the prosecution to give expert testimony on intoxicated behavior admitted he only examined Reed’s blood alcohol content (BAC) after her death.

During cross examination, Greenberg noted Reed’s BAC levels would have been inflated following her death. He maintained the lieutenant’s testimony should be stricken from the record, as any values measured after Reed’s death would not have been accurate.

The prosecution argued the lieutenant’s knowledge of intoxication’s effects on a person’s behavior were invaluable to helping a jury understand the context of the case, but Judge Handy ultimately agreed with Greenberg and approved his motion to strike the lieutenant’s testimony.

Greenberg also moved to strike the testimony of two forensic pathologists – one who was summoned to testify as an expert on gun residue, and the other who was called to speak about Reed’s autopsy report.

Greenberg said that the former elected not to show at trial. Despite the prosecution’s attempts to argue that the witness’ prior experience as a crime lab technician familiarized her with gun residue, Judge Handy once again sided with Greenberg and struck said witness.

However, she rejected Greenberg’s attempts to strike the second forensic pathologist and was frustrated by asking if he plans to make a strike motion for every medical examiner who testifies. Greenberg had moved to strike on the grounds that he did not know what the pathologist would testify to, but the prosecution successfully argued that Greenberg had the autopsy report for months and thus knew what the testimony would entail.

Lee is currently set to stand trial beginning July 8 before Judge Handy.