Acquitted: Mother of Victim’s Girlfriend Testifies at Murder Trial

By Cynthia Eapen [former] - November 8, 2021
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Editor’s note: The defendant was acquitted of charges in this case. 

The trial of a 33-year-old Baltimore man who allegedly killed a man continued on Nov. 5 with testimony from the mother of the victim’s girlfriend, who said she returned home to find her daughter “distraught, crying, and drinking.”

William Andrew Wright is facing a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly shooting and killing Gregory Cason on Sept. 11, 2018, on the 2900 block of E. Monument Street. He is also facing charges for felony use of a firearm in a violent crime, having a handgun on his person, and reckless endangerment. 

On Friday, the mother of the victim’s girlfriend said that on the day of the incident, she went to the store with her boyfriend and returned to find her daughter in hysterics.

When she started talking with her daughter, the daughter cried out and said, “Mom, Money just shot Greg,” referring to the defendant by his nickname. 

The mother told defense counsel that Cason would get angry at others in the neighborhood and would even fight with her daughter.

Defense attorneys Shannon Heery and Matthew Connell disclosed that the girlfriend’s mother had two prior convictions, which could possibly suppress her testimony. 

But, Judge Yvette M. Bryant allowed the mother’s testimony. 

During cross examination, a firearms examiner said that all of the bullets did not necessarily come from the same weapon. He additionally said that the cartridge cases came from a semi-automatic pistol, not a revolver, as described by the victim’s girlfriend during her testimony. 

Prior to counsel resting arguments, the prosecution called their last witness, the lead detective. 

The lead detective said that when he had his initial conversation with the victim’s girlfriend, she gave no names of a potential suspect. However, a few days later, the daughter came to the homicide unit where she identified the defendant as the shooter in a photo array. 

At the time, the lead detective said, the victim’s girlfriend requested that he put her in witness relocation because she had a feared retaliation.

Body camera footage from one of the patrol officers at the scene was shown to the jury. This footage showed the shooter leaving the scene and heading toward Potomac Street, where the defendant lived with his family. 

The lead detective confirmed that he had not reviewed all of the information presented to him, including most of the body camera footage.

Heery questioned the accuracy of the detective’s statements and said that it should have been important for him to review this information along with the available phone records.

The lead detective also testified that when officers searched the defendant’s home, after serving a search warrant, they did not find any weapons, bullets, or clothes that matched the description of the shooter. 

The prosecution and defense rested their cases, with Wright’s trial set for closing arguments on Nov. 8.