Jury Hears Closing Arguments for Gretna Court Homicide Defendant

By Amna Syed [former] - October 30, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On Oct. 30, a jury listened to closing arguments for homicide defendant Joel Ugah before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Stephen J. Sfekas.

Ugah is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of firearm use in a felony violent crime, attempted first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, having a handgun in a vehicle and having a handgun on his person in connection to an incident on April 15, 2022. 

A trial was held on July 24, however, the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict and was declared a mistrial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Hong.

The prosecutor recapped the case for the current jury. He explained that on April 14, 2022, the defendant rented a 2020 Toyota Corolla, which was observed the next day on CityWatch cameras on the 800 block of Gretna Court.

In the video footage, the victim, 32-year-old Brittany Keyser, apparently argues with a witness. As the CityWatch camera panned back and forth at the scene, it captures the suspect allegedly shooting the victim five times and the witness with whom Keyser had an altercation.

The witness later identified the suspect for Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers and said he saw the Corolla drive away.

Documents from the District Court of Maryland state that the victim was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds to her head and body, while the witness, suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of his neck, was transported to University of Maryland Shock Trauma.

The prosecutor also explained that the defendant acknowledged a possible sentence when he was arrested and taken into custody. Recordings from jail caught the defendant allegedly saying he needed to “beat” the charge and “at least try to get it down 15-to-20,” possibly referring to a plea offer.

Ugah’s attorney, Lawrence Rosenberg, emphasized there were pieces of evidence throughout the case which detectives did not submit for testing that created “reasonable doubt.” That evidence included a jacket, crocs worn by Keyser, as well as hair on her hand, nine phones recovered from the scene and notes found in the Corolla. 

Rosenberg said the detective covering the case created a theory to blame Ugah, regardless of what the evidence showed. “What they think is insignificant is very significant,” he said, referencing the lack of evidence submitted to the lab.

The assistant state’s attorney rebutted by saying that the eyewitness’ identification of the defendant and rental car records prove Ugah committed the crime. He said that the detective was doing his job, and that there was not enough evidence to submit to the lab for testing. He said forensic evidence could not be tested efficiently because the defendant had wiped his fingerprints off of the car in an attempt to “clean his mess up.”