Shootout Suspect Claiming Self-Defense Didn’t Have Gun, Attorney Claims

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The trial for the second combatant in a Booth Street shootout concluded Aug. 22 with defense counsel claiming self-defense, while also casting doubt that his client had a gun at all.

Jason Johnson, 23, is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction, attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment and affray for a June 6, 2023, shooting that claimed the life of, 46-year-old Kimberly Benjamin, the wife of Johnson’s alleged target. She died in the crossfire.

In defense attorney Brandon Patterson’s closing argument before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong, he argued that the substantial video evidence offered by the prosecution did not clearly show his client with a gun in his hand. Instead, he said the only known firearm in the case was found in a storm drain and discarded by the attempted murder victim, Jamal Piles.

Piles’ defense argued self-defense at trial. Piles was sentenced to 20 years for his involvement in the shooting, but was acquitted of Johnson’s attempted murder.

Of the multiple shell casings found at the crime scene on the 1300 block of Booth Street, 13 were linked to Piles’ weapon, which he was seen disposing in surveillance footage. Patterson pointed out that the forensic ballistics report stated that up to four weapons could have been involved in the shooting. Without a gun definitively linked to his client, Patterson said the prosecution could not prove Johnson shot and killed Benjamin.

Then, somewhat paradoxically, Patterson laid out to jurors why Johnson acted in self-defense against Piles. Piles shot Johnson three times in the leg and therefore was in immediate danger, he argued. Johnson was also not the aggressor because, he claimed, the video footage showed Piles had “bumped” Johnson with his car prior to the shooting. Piles, on the other hand, was uninjured.

The prosecution’s presentation meticulously tracked both Piles and Johnson before, during and after the shooting on various surveillance cameras. She showed jurors video of an individual identified as Johnson running into a small alley to allegedly retrieve a gun before running back to Piles as their altercation began. However, the majority of the shooting was visible behind the surveillance cameras’ timestamps at the upper edges of the frame.

After the defense’s closing argument, she reminded jurors that the only projectile in the car where Benjamin was killed by a through-and-through gunshot wound to the head did not match Piles’ weapon.