Prosecution Fell Short in Providing Evidence of Defendant’s Guilt in Laplata Avenue Shooting, Defense Argues

By Andrew Michaels - August 2, 2023
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects |

A jury acquitted 32-year-old Joshua Lawrence of all shooting-related charges on July 31, following defense counsel’s argument that witness testimony did not prove his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“You gotta make [the prosecution] do their job,” defense attorney Robert Johnson proclaimed before the jury during his closing argument on Monday afternoon.

Lawrence was accused of shooting at his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two-year-old toddler in front of both his toddler and then-12-year-old stepdaughter on Sept. 28, 2022, outside the victim’s home on the 4400 block of Laplata Avenue.

The jury returned its verdict the same day as closing arguments, finding Lawrence not guilty of first and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, firearm use in a crime of violence, having a loaded handgun on his person and in a vehicle, having a handgun on his person and in a vehicle and discharging firearms.

Prior to closing arguments, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John A. Howard granted defense counsel’s motion for judgment of acquittal pertaining to the defendant’s charges of attempted first and second-degree murder, citing insufficient evidence.

Johnson focused the jury’s attention on two of the prosecution’s witnesses: a detective with the Baltimore Police Department and the defendant’s stepdaughter. The detective who testified was not the lead detective in the case, the defense attorney explained, and “knows nothing about this case.”

Instead, he continued, the detective insisted that although he was not an expert, “he’s done this a long time, so you should listen to [him].”

“That’s all [the prosecution] had for you: nothing. It was a bunch of nothing,” Johnson said.

He also questioned the victim’s testimony, citing testimony from Lawrence’s stepdaughter that “Mommy said he had a gun,” a statement she repeated three times at trial. Despite the victim’s testimony that Lawrence fired his gun seven times, no other witnesses were brought to trial to corroborate this information.

In the eyes of the prosecution, Lawrence “flew off the handle” during his argument with the victim over bringing their children home on time. The defendant hit the victim in the face and she hit him back, he said, but the fight escalated when Lawrence retrieved a gun from his glove compartment—a gun that went off as the defendant and victim tussled over it.

“[Lawrence’s stepdaughter] had to watch that man strike her mother and almost shoot and kill her,” the prosecutor said. “There was really nothing [defense counsel] was able to get at to make you think [the victims] weren’t telling the truth.”

Although the detective who testified admitted he wasn’t an expert, the prosecutor added, he knew those were bullet holes and bullet fragments found in the defendant’s recovered black SUV rental.