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By
Andrew Michaels
- December 13, 2024
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Victims
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A jury has found 31-year-old Reginald Peay III guilty of fatally shooting his on-again, off-again girlfriend on Dec. 6. That despite defense counsel’s claims of self-defense about what happened on an early March morning this year in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood.
Represented by defense attorney Natalie Finegar, Peay was convicted of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction and possession of a stolen handgun. The defendant was found not guilty of having a loaded handgun on his person or in a vehicle.
Defense counsel’s argument of self-defense hinged on Peay’s claims that he felt threatened by 35-year-old Lenora Alston, who, the defendant testified, he would smoke marijuana with when they “hung out a couple of times.”
On March 15, Peay and Alston had an argument, only for the latter to text Peay to join her to smoke marijuana two hours later.
The prosecutor told jurors that Peay arrived outside Alston’s mother’s home shortly after 2:15 a.m. near the 1000 block of Fulton Avenue. The defendant and victim were inside Peay’s white Chevy Malibu when the prosecution said he shot Alston in the face as she was getting out of the vehicle. Moments later, Peay shot the victim another nine times before driving away.
Peay claimed he felt threatened and took Alston’s purse, where she kept a legally-owned handgun for her job in security, the prosecutor noted.
Finegar said the area’s surveillance camera’s position did not capture Alston’s actions, making it impossible to know what she was doing at the time of the shooting. The defense attorney also said the victim was addicted to pain killers and was agitated when she allegedly threatened Peay.
Peay is currently scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 28, 2025, before Baltimore City Circuit Court trial Judge Alan C. Lazerow.