Man Represented By Alan Legum Aquitted of Murder
From The Capital:
Saying prosecutors lacked enough evidence to prove murder, a county judge yesterday acquitted an 18-yearold Annapolis man of charges he shot and killed an Eastport man.
Justen Jeremiah Johnson let out a deep sigh and shook defense attorney Alan H. Legum’s hand as a relative repeatedly yelled out “Thank you, Jesus.” Mr. Johnson cried as he em braced several relatives in the Annapolis courtroom.
An honor roll student at Annapolis High School, he earned his degree while awaiting trial this spring under house arrest.
His father, George Johnson, said his son wants to attend college and is interested in pursuing a law degree.
“Hopefully this could have some positive effect on him,” he said…
Full article below:
Man acquitted in murder
The Capital (Annapolis, MD)Brian M. Schelter
November 14, 2001Saying prosecutors lacked enough evidence to prove murder, a county judge yesterday acquitted an 18-yearold Annapolis man of charges he shot and killed an Eastport man.
Justen Jeremiah Johnson let out a deep sigh and shook defense attorney Alan H. Legum’s hand as a relative repeatedly yelled out “Thank you, Jesus.” Mr. Johnson cried as he em braced several relatives in the Annapolis courtroom.
An honor roll student at Annapolis High School, he earned his degree while awaiting trial this spring under house arrest.
His father, George Johnson, said his son wants to attend college and is interested in pursuing a law degree.
“Hopefully this could have some positive effect on him,” he said.
In issuing his ruling, Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth said he was not persuaded by testimony that Mr. Johnson confessed to shooting Charles E. “Nick” Kirby, 58, when he told his friend David Fisch “I shot Nick.”
Mr. Johnson told his friend Mr. Kirby pulled a gun on him and was shot during a struggle for the weapon inside Mr. Kirby’s Eastport Terrace apartment at 1114 Frederick
Douglass St.
“Our position from the beginning was, if you don’t believe Justen Johnson’s statement to Mr. Fisch, you’re left with nothing,” Mr. Legum said.
Prosecutors vigorously dis puted Mr. Johnson’s selfdefense claim. One witness testified she saw the two men arguing before they went into the apartment. Still outside, she overheard Mr. Kirby say, “How are you gonna make me?” “(Mr. Johnson) was the aggressor. He was there to make Nick do something,” Assistant State’s Attorney Shelly Stickell said during closing arguments.
A state medical examiner testified Mr. Kirby was shot from at least 2 feet away.
Before he died, Mr. Kirby gave police a statement in which he said Mr. Johnson shot him while trying to rob him.
But before the start of last week’s two-day, non-jury trial, a judge ruled the laws of evidence barred prosecutors from having police testify about what Kirby allegedly said on his deathbed.
Although deathbed statements are admissable, Mr. Kirby was expected to survive his wounds. He died of suddenly of liver failure the day after he was shot.
The prosecution’s case then hinged on Mr. Fisch’s account of what Mr. Johnson told him after the murder, Judge Silkworth observed. Police were unable to recover the gun and Mr. Johnson did not testify. “The fact is we really don’t know how this shooting took place,” the judge said. “The state’s contention is that .. this is friends helping friends … “I cannot find, as to any of the charges, that the state met (its) burden of proof.”
A disappointed Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Andrews said afterward he disagreed with the verdict.
“This was not a one-witness case,” he said. “I think what happened in that room was clear when Justen said, ‘I shot Nick.”‘
Even if new evidence surfaced, double jeopardy rules would prohibit prosecutors from re-trying Mr. Johnson.
The shooting was one of three major episodes of gun-related violence involving teen-agers in Annapolis this year. The verdict also marked the second time this year police and prosecutors failed to convict someone charged with a city murder.
In July, prosecutors dropped charges against Quintin Tunnell Jones in an Eastport triple shooting because of uncooperative witnesses.
