A 27-year-old Baltimore woman accused of opening fire at her former friend in April was acquitted of all nine counts she was charged with on Dec. 18.
As the second day of 27-year-old Destiny Janet Williams’ attempted murder trial drew to a close before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Kendra Y. Ausby, the defense presented a starkly different narrative of the events that led to the Juneway brawl at the center of the case.
Williams was initially charged with attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, and three firearm violations in connection to the incident, which unfolded minutes after 1 a.m. on April 30. She was suspected to be one of multiple individuals who conspired to physically attack the 24-year-old victim outside her front porch on the 3500 block of Juneway.
Williams was the only suspect involved in the Juneway fight who was charged with firing a gun, having allegedly discharged twice at the victim while the latter was engaged in a physical altercation with Williams’ girlfriend, 27-year-old Cashay Booth. Booth faces more serious charges, including conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and assault, as well as second-degree assault and conspiracy to use a firearm in a felony crime of violence.
The victim had testified the day prior that she and Williams were “best friends” for several years before the incident, but that grievances between them soured their friendship. She said the events that led to the fight began the day prior, on April 29, when her two younger sisters got into a fight with Booth’s younger sister at a McDonald’s restaurant located on Pulaski Highway where the latter was working.
The fight then moved to Johnston Square Elementary School, where the victim said she first noticed Williams was carrying a gun. She claimed she refused to fight during her pregnancy, and said she returned home. At 1 a.m., Booth and multiple others reportedly pulled up to her house and demanded her to come out and fight, which she said she repeatedly refused due to her pregnancy.
Williams’ defense attorney, public defender Brandon Thornton, painted an entirely different picture of events during his closing statement. He claimed the victim’s two younger sisters instigated the fight at McDonald’s, jumping Booth’s younger sister in a planned attack. He claimed one of the victim’s sisters later threw bleach at one of the involved parties’ eyes in an attempt to blind them. On the stand, the victim had claimed she was too concerned with her own situation to notice what her sisters were doing.
The victim swung during the fight at Juneway too, Thornton told jurors. When she swung, she “didn’t care about being pregnant” like she had testified, he said. He noted that despite her testimony that she suffered pregnancy-related vaginal bleeding following the Juneway fight, medics responding to the scene did not identify any when they spoke to her.
Thornton cautioned jurors against trusting the victim’s words, pointing out that none of her five housemates involved in the incident offered testimony in support of her narrative, and maintained that she provoked the others to come to her home on Juneway. He accused her of lying out of shame at having lost the fight, telling jurors, “You shouldn’t have any sympathy for her.”
Investigators were unable to recover any physical evidence of bullet strikes in the vicinity of the Juneway brawl. Though bullets were later recovered, they were found located one house away behind a vehicle – a different spot than where the victim claimed Williams was standing approximately ten feet away when she fired her gun. Williams “would not have missed” from such a short distance, Thornton said. He pointed out investigators also failed to recover evidence that Williams possessed a gun that day.
According to Thornton, in the minutes leading up to the brawl, the victim and her sisters plotted to take their revenge against Williams, Booth, and their acquaintances. They prepared bleach and boiling grease to throw, and placed a machete by their front door – an allegation later supported by a man who resided in the victim’s basement at the time.
At the station while being interviewed by detectives, the victim reportedly screamed at officers, “I want them all locked up, and I want their kids locked up, too.”
She then implicated two other individuals in the fight, both of whom sustained criminal charges.
“She cannot be trusted with what she is saying,” Thornton said, urging jurors to acquit Williams. He continued to maintain that the victim and her sisters were the ones responsible for instigating the events leading up to the alleged shooting.
The state’s attorney claimed the prosecution had more than enough evidence to convict Williams, arguing that “bringing a gun to a fistfight” and firing it twice constituted clear evidence of premeditation and violent intent.
Jurors ultimately sided with Thornton, acquitting Williams of all charges.
