Victim’s Daughter Testifies At Murder Trial 

By Cynthia Eapen [former] - September 21, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Victims |

The trial of a 58-year-old Baltimore man who allegedly killed his wife continued on Sep. 20 with testimony from the daughter of the deceased, a close friend, and the medical examiner. 

Cleveland Deshields is facing a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly assaulting 54-year-old Wanda Diggins on on Nov. 2, 2018, inside a residential home on the 1700 block of N. Bentalou Street. Wiggins died on May 5, 2019.

The prosecutor first called the daughter of Wanda Diggins to the stand to give her testimony. She said that when she received a call from her brother at 2 a.m., about her mother, this prompted her to drive to the hospital, where she saw her mother swollen and bleeding. 

The day before the incident, Diggins called her daughter to discuss sweet potatoes, but her daughter could tell that Diggins was worried about something. However, they never got the chance to talk about it. 

Shortly after the incident, the daughter met up with other members of her family to learn what happened. 

One of the family members mentioned to her that they were sleeping on a couch at the residence where the murder took place on the night of the incident. The family member saw Cleveland on top of Wanda beating her. 

During cross examination, the daughter initially said she didn’t tell detectives that she thought two other family members were planning to get Deshields in trouble. 

Defense attorney Maureen Rowland offered to present a recorded script of the daughter’s conversation with the detectives, and this is when the daughter accepted that what she said to them was originally true. 

During a redirect by Rowland, the daughter switched her story once more and denied the allegation that she said her family members were planning something against Deshields. 

The next witness for the prosecution was a close friend of Diggins for about 20 years. She said there was a history of arguments and problems between the couple prior to the night of the incident. She said she also heard, from Diggins, that Deshields was threatening her at certain times. 

On the date of the incident, the witness said she saw the couple arguing about a piece of chicken. 

The witness described the room that the incident took place in as “dark but not pitch black, with nobody else in the room except her, another family member, Diggins, and Cleveland.”

“I could definitely see what was going on,” the witness said.

On November 3, 2018, the close friend worked with the police and completed a photo array identifying Cleveland as the man responsible. 

The prosecution then proceeded to show a video of the photo array being conducted along with the witness signing a statement regarding the procedure. 

During cross-examination, it was brought to light that the witness had been smoking marijuana and drinking beer. The witness claimed that she was not drunk at the time.

Additionally, the witness admitted to telling the police that she believed it was Cleveland who committed the assault and Rowland added that the police no longer considered alternative suspects from that point. 

Prior to recess, the prosecution called a third witness, a medical examiner for the state of Maryland. 

The examiner said he determined the date of death to be May 5, 2019. He provided several details regarding Diggins’ injuries, which included abrasions on the back of her neck, bruises and contusions on her lips, eyelid bruising, complex facial lacerations, bleeding from her nose, and fluid in her chest cavities. 

These injuries led to more serious problems such as acute respiratory failure, pneumonia, and seizures, some of which could last up to 30 minutes. 

When asked what the believed cause of the injuries that led to Diggins death, the medical examiner attributed her death and the various ailments to the assault that took place on November 2, 2018.