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A woman who shot her husband after confronting him about allegations that he sexually abused children at her day care in Owings Mills pleaded guilty on Monday in D.C. Superior Court to aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license.
Shanteari Weems, 50, of Randallstown, the owner of Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, admitted that she drove from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., with a loaded handgun and shot her husband, James, twice on July 21 after an argument in his hotel room at the Mandarin Oriental.
D.C. Metropolitan Police reported that they found a notebook after executing a search warrant in which Weems wrote that she intended to paralyze her husband but not kill him. She shot him in the neck and then the left leg, which shattered his femur and required surgery.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia agreed to cap the sentence at 32 months, with a maximum period of incarceration of 24 months, or two years. She also faces three years’ probation.
In an interview, Tony Garcia, one of Weems’ attorneys, said his client was faced with “an impossible situation,” noting that her husband served in the U.S. Marine Corps, worked in the Baltimore Police Department and did security work.
Weems, he said, had been afraid that her husband was armed and did not want him to harm any more children.
“Ms. Weems believes very strongly in fighting for children,” Garcia said, “and her fight continues.”
Garcia said he intends to argue for a lesser sentence, but declined to go into specifics.
During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney LaVater Massie-Banks read a factual basis for the convictions.
Superior Judge Michael O’Keefe scheduled sentencing for Feb. 3. Weems has been incarcerated without bail since her arrest.
Meanwhile, James Weems Jr., 57, of Randallstown, is facing charges in Baltimore County Circuit Court including sexual abuse of a minor, rape and assault.
He’s scheduled to stand trial on May 22, according to online court records.
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.
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