Baltimore squeegee kid convicted of manslaughter

This case made news last summer. A 48-year-old father named Timothy Reynolds was driving through Baltimore when he was surrounded by a group of squeegee kids while at a stoplight. Something happened and after making it through the stoplight, Reynolds stopped his car, got out and walked back toward the teens carrying a baseball bat. He took one swing at them but didn’t hit anyone. A 14-year-old named Tavon Scott pulled a gun out of a backpack and shot Reynolds five times, the last three shots in the back. He died of his injuries.

Scott, who turned 15 the day after the shooting, was arrested and charged with murder. In November, a judge ruled that Scott would be tried as an adult. The trial took place this month and the closing arguments held earlier this week were described as “fiery.”

During fiery closing arguments, the defense urged the jury to keep Scott’s age in mind.

“His leg was constantly shaking. I mean, he’s afraid, he’s scared,” said Scott’s attorney, Warren Brown, “He was 14 when this happened just a little over a year ago and so he’s a child.”

To which, prosecutor Cynthia Banks fired back, “14 years of age is not a free pass to commit murder,” she said.

An attorney representing the Reynolds family, Thiru Vignarajah added, “They have seen the video evidence. It makes it crystal clear who was the perpetrator of the crime and who is the victim.”

Deliberations began and just a few days ago it appeared the jury might be deadlocked.

Prosecutor said it was too early to read an Allen charge…it basically tells them to keep working and try to reach a unanimous decision. Jury is now continuing deliberations. They had to move rooms because of a flooded toilet. @wjz

— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) July 25, 2023

Yesterday the jury did reach a verdict, albeit one that didn’t completely satisfy either side. Scott was acquitted on the murder charges but was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

After a tense and emotional trial and 12 hours of deliberations across three different days, the jury convicted Tavon Scott, 16, on voluntary manslaughter and two handgun charges. The maximum sentence for the three charges is 35 years in prison…

The defense is planning an appeal and planning a push to move the case to juvenile court for sentencing.

“He avoided the first- and second-degree murder convictions. He has been convicted of manslaughter, which makes him eligible to be transferred to juvenile court, which is what we are going to be pursuing,” Brown said. “They found that there was some justification for what he did. It was just maybe he overreacted. He didn’t need to go that far. But they understood why he did what he did.”

So the defense plan at this point is to move sentencing to juvenile court. If they succeed, that would mean Scott would be released by age 21 (that appears to be the limit for juvenile detention in Maryland). The defense is also seeking to overturn the decision moving the trial to adult court in the first place. If that happens the entire conviction could eventually be expunged from Scott’s record. The Reynold’s family attorney disagrees.

“This is not a person that was an appropriate fit for the juvenile system,” argues Vignarajah.

Vignarajah says while it’s not exactly the verdict the Reynolds family was hoping for, the end to this chapter has brought them at least a small measure of closure.

“The person who was responsible for his murder has been convicted of killing him,” said Vignarajah.

My own take is that Scott should have been convicted of murder. There’s no self-defense in Maryland unless you first make an effort to retreat. Given that this happened in the middle of the street, Scott could have retreated in any direction. Instead he went for his backpack on the side of the street, pulled out a gun moved back into the street to shoot Reynolds. The full video of the shooting doesn’t seem to have been released but screenshots of it were shown to the public.

The murder charge was reasonable but because Reynolds stopped his car, got out and approached the teens with a bat the jury obviously felt he was partly responsible, regardless of what the law said. The manslaughter conviction was their effort to split the difference.

At the time of the shooting, Mayor Brandon Scott and other city officials basically sided with the squeegee kids. In his view, these kids are putting food on the table for desperate families. But the mother of Tavon Scott said in a video released last year that her son was actually saving money to rent an Airbnb for his birthday party.