Written byJennifer Shutt
SNOW HILL -- The trial of a 19-year-old on charges he committed murder with an assault rifle ended in a mistrial, with jurors unable to agree on a verdict.
Prosecutors said they planned to refile felony charges against Skylor Dupree Harmon, 19, of Pocomoke City after the jurors in his trial told a judge they could not deliver a unanimous verdict.
Harmon had been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Reginald Handy Jr. After hearing from the jury, which had been discussing the evidence for four hours, Circuit Court Judge Thomas C. Groton III declared a mistrial.
Harmon will continue to be detained at the Somerset County Detention Center until another trial date can be set, according to Deputy State's Attorney Paul Haskell.
The jurors had heard hours of testimony and a lengthy closing statement from the defense on Thursday before beginning to deliberate on a verdict.
Jurors were tasked with weighing the testimony of Rasheema Schoolfield, who testified she saw Harmon within yards of where the presumed murder weapon was found, and a few feet away from where a casing from the .223-caliber Bushmaster assault rifle was later discovered. She never told police, or testified, she saw Harmon touching any gun. The Bushmaster is on the Maryland State Police list of 45 assault weapon, and is a regulated firearm, which means anyone seeking to buy one legally in the state has to apply to the state police for permission.
Police officers testified they reviewed text messages sent to Torrance Davis, Handy's cousin, in which Schoolfield admitted to seeing Harmon with a gun. That was something Schoolfield adamantly denied on the stand during the trial.
Jurors also had to decide whether the military-style weapon found approximately 65 yards away from where Handy was shot in the back was, in fact, the gun that killed him.
A ballistics expert, Jaimie Smith, told jurors during he could not conclusively say the bullet that killed Handy had been fired from the weapon found by police. Smith is the expert who told police casings from a .380-caliber or a .45-caliber handgun were not linked to the fatal shot.
Harmon's uncle, Alexander Crippen, was originally charged with the May 2010 murder, but his charges in the Handy case were dropped before Crippen's trial. When Crippen was originally charged within weeks of the murder, police and witness testimony placed him within feet of Handy, shooting a handgun.
Police had originally believed shell casings from a .380- or a .45-caliber weapon caused Handy's death. Then Smith told authorities his analysis of the crime scene suggested those weapons were ruled out.
After the mistrial was declared, Harmon's lawyer, Sandra Fried, requested Harmon be moved from the Somerset County detention facility, where he has been housed since being arrested to the Worcester County Jail. Groton denied her motion, saying those types of decisions are left up to the warden.
Garry Mumford, warden of the Worcester County Jail, said it is "more feasible for us to house him in Somerset County." Mumford said he could not comment further because of security concerns.
1 comment:
Schoolfield? that says it all, be careful.
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