A jury composed of five men and seven women was selected on Monday to decide the case of a 16-year-old who’s accused of shooting and killing a man who confronted a group of squeegee workers with a baseball bat in Baltimore.
The teen is charged with first-degree murder and related offenses in the deadly shooting of Timothy Reynolds, 48, of Hampden, which happened on Light and Conway streets near the Inner Harbor on July 7, 2022.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer is presiding over the trial, which she said will conclude before the end of next week. She repeatedly instructed jurors not to read or watch any reports about the case in the press or on social media.
“You are to avoid any coverage of this case at all,” Schiffer told the panel, as well as the four alternate jurors.
Schiffer summoned 110 potential jurors — a few did not show up — and 70 reported that they possessed a strong opinion about squeegee workers or had a positive or negative experience with them.
The Baltimore Banner is not identifying the teen because of his age. He was 14 at the time.
Thiru Vignarajah, an attorney who’s representing the Reynolds family, said outside the courtroom that “today moved us one step closer toward justice.”
“The family is grateful for the outpouring of support from communities across Baltimore and is hopeful and confident that once the facts are shown and heard that justice will done,” Vignarajah said.
Meanwhile, J. Wyndal Gordon and Warren Brown, the teen’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse and continued to question the identification of their client while also suggesting that the shooter acted in self-defense or defense of others.
“We got a great jury in there. We meticulously chose them,” Gordon said. “And I think at the end of the day, what we all agree upon in those individuals that we selected today were the best individuals to hear this case.”
Both sides are expected to deliver their opening statements on Tuesday. The teen is being held without bail in the Youth Detention Center, according to jail records.
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