Jury Finds Man Guilty of Roommate’s Murder

By Andrew Michaels - December 23, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Homicide defendant Lamont Mealy was found guilty of his roommate’s murder on Dec. 22, despite pleading his innocence on the stand.

Mealy was found guilty of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction, and making a false statement to a police officer after his jury trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock. His sentencing is currently scheduled for Feb. 16, 2023.

Near the end of his trial, Mealy took to the stand to tell jurors that he shot Andie Wilson two years ago in self-defense. The 51-year-old Baltimore man was questioned by his defense attorney, Sharon May, to give some clarity on the events that unfolded on Aug. 5, 2020, on the 700 block of Whitelock Street.

About two or three months after they met, Mealy testified, he rented a bedroom from Wilson, but very seldom slept at the apartment. The defendant said he left a bar and got a ride home from a friend who was driving by on the day in question. When he and his friend arrived at the apartment, Mealy stuck his key in the door but could tell something was blocking it from fully opening.

“Once I pushed the door open, he just appeared. He was fidgety,” Mealy said, referring to the victim, who he said had his hands inside the front of his pants.

A conversation ensued about rent money Mealy allegedly owed Wilson; however, the defendant said he had already paid that month’s rent. The defendant said Wilson then asked for drugs, possibly cocaine, so Mealy searched his bedroom.

Moments later, Mealy testified, Wilson pulled out a large machete and attacked Mealy, slicing his left hand and the left side of his head and neck.

“At that time, I turned around and the next thing you know, the gun went off,” Mealy said.

The defendant explained that he kept a gun in his pillow and fired two shots at Wilson, who he said was charging at him from the bedroom’s doorway.

During cross-examination, the prosecution said that Mealy fired at least five shots, two of which the defendant said he remembered.

“Everything happened so fast,” he muttered into the witness stand’s microphone. “I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want it to happen.”

Mealy’s friend then took him to another friend’s house, where paramedics and Baltimore Police officers arrived at the scene. The defendant testified that he initially told police he was robbed because “being a convicted felon, they see you as one thing.”

May filed a motion during the trial to have her client’s testimony struck from the record and requested an emergency competency evaluation to assess Mealy’s mental health. The judge denied the defense’s motion while addressing Mealy’s aggression toward counsel over the course of the trial.