Stolen Car at Heart of Murder Trial Evidence

By Sage Cho - December 6, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Opening statements in a murder trial were heard before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn Stewart Mays on Dec. 5.

Dominic Miller, 29, is charged with first-degree murder, firearm usage in a felony or violent crime, and having a handgun on his person and vehicle in connection with a shooting that occurred on the 1800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue on July 11, 2023. Jonathan Williams, 37 at the time, was pronounced dead at the scene.

At approximately 2:38 a.m., surveillance footage captured a blue gray Hyundai Tucson pulling up to the location. Shortly after, ShotSpotter alerted police to gunfire. Police were later able to use the vehicle’s accessories – a pink Christmas tree-shaped air freshener, a white sticker on the vehicle’s exterior and an empty front plate frame – to indicate that the car belonged to Miller. At approximately 1:15 p.m. the same day, police determined that the vehicle was stolen in a separate incident on June 5. 

Defense attorney Michael Tomko told the jury that Williams had been parked at the location of the shooting for at least an hour before Miller’s arrival. At one point, footage captured seven people immediately at the area of Williams’ vehicle, surrounding him. 

Police found Williams lying in his vehicle’s driver’s seat with the chair reclined. Medical examination found drugs, alcohol and three different calibers of bullet casings in his body. Though investigators allegedly recovered a 45mm revolver from Miller’s house that seemed to match the rifling and markings on Williams’ car, remnants recovered from Williams’ body included evidence of 9mm, 38mm and 45mm shells. The July 11 shooting was also not the first time Williams’ car had been involved in a shooting, said Tomko.

Location data from Miller’s phone was sent to the FBI that determined that Miller had been moving near the scene of the crime around 2:15 a.m. The phone powered off at 2:48 a.m., approximately 10 minutes after the shooting. 

The phone also contained records of amicable conversations between Williams and Miller that ended abruptly on June 20. Further evidence showed that Williams and Miller spent the last two weeks of June together in North Carolina.

Tomko told the jury that forensic evidence software used in the investigation, called TrueAllele, can often produce inconsistent results linking the suspect’s DNA to the crime. “They’re going to try to convince you with DNA,” he said to the jury.

Tomko also said that most of the prosecution’s evidence was circumstantial. 

The trial is slated to continue on Dec. 6.