Jury Finds Manslaughter Defendant Not Guilty

By Lucy Kim [former] - July 14, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Suspects | Victims |

On July 12, a jury returned with a not guilty verdict on the same day they headed to deliberations for a man charged with manslaughter.

Levar Shedrick was charged with manslaughter by boat or automobile and criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle or vessel for the death of Carnella Gibson in an incident on Nov. 28, 2018, in the death of Carnella Gibson.

The trial continued Tuesday after being postponed before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.

According to counsel the other driver ran the stop sign and continued to speed, so the defendant did what he could in that circumstance. The defense reiterated that this case is not manslaughter but rather an accident. 

The prosecutor called a police officer who handles traffic accidents and is an expert in crash data retrieval. The officer said he took photographs, interviewed witnesses, marked the places of the cars, and visited the hospital for statements. He said he was able to collect data on the defendant’s vehicle and other vehicles involved by hooking them up to a computer.  

During the prosecutor’s closing arguments, she argued that the defendant drove 70 miles per hour on a residential street and even though he had the right of way, he was way past the speed limit to react to the situation.

Anyone is aware that driving 70 miles per hour on a residential street will result in consequences, the prosecutor said. The defendant disregarded human life, which makes him appropriate to be charged with manslaughter. 

The defense questioned if there was a time when the data was corrupted for any reason, but the officer said there was not a time when the data was corrupted.

The defense also questioned whether the evidence gathered at the scene was poorly organized, referencing skid marks at the scene that were not recorded and the primary officer made no written reports. The officer added that the defendant’s car sat in the city yard for days before data could be retrieved due to a dead battery. 

The defendant testified that he is currently working as his own boss to sell cars to customers. On the day of the incident, he said he was driving to a location where his customer would be able to test drive the car.

The defendant said he saw a vehicle run a stop sign at the intersection and had to go around the vehicle, hitting the back. He said he ran into a light pole as he tried to stop his vehicle but couldn’t stop it, so he used a parked vehicle to stop the car.

The defendant broke his femur and said he couldn’t feel anything in his legs. 

Shedrick was represented by defense counsel Michael Tomko.

During the defense’s closing arguments, Tomko argued that this was an accident based on testimony from the officer and the autopsy report.

The emotion of grief for the victim’s family has to be taken out of the deliberation, Tomko said. In addition, the term manslaughter shouldn’t be used to describe this case.

The prosecutor concluded that the evidence speaks for itself, and no one is denying that this is not an accident. However, the defendant took no account of the human element and was negligent of the fact that driving 70 miles per hour on a residential street will cause consequences.