Thank you for reading Baltimore Witness.
Help us continue our mission into 2025 by donating to our end of year campaign.
By
Andrew Michaels
, Inacent McKeithan [former] - April 22, 2023
Court
|
Daily Stories
|
Homicides
|
Shooting
|
Suspects
|
Victims
|
Homicide defendant Daya Jones shot and killed his girlfriend, Nikea Jackson, on April 19, 2021, a Baltimore City prosecutor said to the jury during closing arguments just over two years later on April 20.
The two were arguing over Jackson’s daughter on the 700 block of Woodbourne Avenue, where Jones shot Jackson in her left side, the prosecutor explained, reminding jurors that the defendant said he had a gun in his pocket.
On April 21, Jones was found guilty of first-degree murder and five weapons charges before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Jones. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 11.
“The defendant’s statement gives us what he can’t deny,” she said. “His story is he can’t remember. He can’t remember because he doesn’t want to.”
Over the course of the trial, a witness testified that Jones, 46, carried Jackson, 27, to a field away from the witness’ home before the shooting. Defense attorney Karyn Meriwether previously told the jury in her opening statement that the couple went to a nightclub and then to Jackson’s friend’s house on Woodbourne Avenue.
The prosecutor continued that Jones said he drove away after the shooting, which Meriwether explained culminated with a series of bad decisions.
“He didn’t want to help her,” the prosecutor noted.
However, Meriwether countered that all of the evidence showed this incident was “an unwanted accident.” Although he drove away, she said, that “doesn’t mean he intended for it to happen.”
“The [prosecution] couldn’t make up their mind on what happened because we do not know,” Meriwether said. “…Yes, he freaked out and left, but he stayed with her. Would a person go back to the scene if they just shot someone?”
At most, this was negligence, she concluded.