‘They Intend to Make Him Look Like a Scary Animal,’ Says Defense Attorney During Closing Statements at Murder Trial

By Jordan Fortuna [former] - October 12, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Defense attorney Brandon Mead and the assistant state’s attorney gave closing statements on Oct. 12 in front of Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer in the first-degree murder trial of Preston Feaster.

Feaster, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, having a handgun on his person, firearm use in a felony violent crime, possessing a rifle with a mental disability and four counts of illegal possession of a regulated firearm. 

Mead said of the prosecution’s case that, “They intend to make [Feaster] look like a scary animal.” Mead continued that Feaster was not less than human and was in fact a family man with four children. According to Mead, there was no hard evidence Feaster was the shooter beyond a reasonable doubt. He claimed all the prosecution’s evidence was all circumstantial. 

The assistant state’s attorney stated that “Feaster was lying in wait.” The prosecutor argued cell phone location data combined with the license plate reader information put Feaster at the scene before the crime.

Feaster knew that the victim was in a relationship with a former partner, which was a potential motive. The attorney also said that “Feaster would have to be the unluckiest guy in the world” in reference to Mead’s comment about lack of hard evidence. She said someone would have to have had access to Feaster’s phone, car, house and guns in order to frame him.

According to documents from the District Court of Maryland, on June 2, 2022, Baltimore Police Department investigators believe Feaster shot and killed Andrew Smith. Smith, 29, was killed on the 4200 block of Saint Georges Road.

Smith was driving a truck as a part of his job and was parking when he was shot and killed. Detectives identified Feaster as a suspect because of an interview with an ex-partner of Feaster’s that was in a relationship with Smith at the time. The witness gave Feaster’s phone number, car description and license plate number to police. Police used the information to determine the location of both the car and phone. Baltimore Police Department officers later allegedly recovered five guns from the house Feaster was living in.