Jurors in Howard County Circuit Court were told Tuesday they will have to decide whether last year’s killing of a Columbia man was a gangland slaying or a botched robbery.

Ronald Derrick McConnell, 21, of no fixed address, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted armed robbery and other charges for the shooting death of Jason Batts, 23, of Long Reach, who was found shot to death May 17, 2008, in the parking lot of an Oakland Mills apartment complex.

Police arrested McConnell three days later and he has been in the Howard County Detention Center since.

Prosecutors are arguing that McConnell ordered fellow gang members to carry out the shooting.

During opening arguments Tuesday before Judge Lenore Gelfman, Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa Broten described Batts as a victim of gang violence who was shot to death by members of the Bloods gang from Baltimore County operating on McConnell’s orders.

This is “an underworld whose inhabitants live by a different set of rules,” she said.

Broten said that Batts was not the intended victim. Elijah Jackson, a Columbia man who was in the car with Batts that night and had cooperated with police in a different case against McConnell, was the intended victim, she said.

“In the words of the Bloods this is called being a ‘snitch,’ ” Broten said. Broten noted that a piece of a shotgun recovered at the scene had McConnell’s fingerprint on it.
 
But McConnell’s attorney, Spencer Gordon, argued that a botched plot to rob Jackson was hatched independently of McConnell by two Owings Mills men — Lamont Johnson, 24, whom police have identified as the shooter, and Daymar Wimbish, 18.

Wimbish’s first-degree murder trial is scheduled for May 11. Johnson’s first-degree murder trial is scheduled for Aug. 7.

Gordon acknowledged that McConnell was part of a gang and had spent some time with Wimbish and Johnson that day, but said he had nothing to do with the murder.

“Mr. McConnell is not a model citizen; he is not a saint,” Gordon said. “While gangs today are associated with violence and similar activities, it does not mean that every gang member is a cold-blooded killer.”
 
Shortly after opening arguments, Juanita Jackson took the stand and testified as a witness to Batts’ shooting.

She said that she, her brother Elijah Jackson, and Batts had spent time together at a Columbia bar the evening of the shooting. They headed over to the apartments on Stevens Forest Road in Oakland Mills because they were intending to spend time there that night she said. Shortly after arriving, a teenage girl approached the car and engaged Jackson in conversation, she said. Shortly thereafter two men approached the car, one of them who pointed a shotgun into the car, she said.

The man with the gun shouted, “Give it up, you know what’s happening,” she said. Shortly afterward, the gun went off twice, she said.

“I was blinded at first. Everything (was) bright,” she said. She then said after initially having difficulty opening the car door she ran to get help.

Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McGuinn played a tape of the 911 call that Juanita Jackson made in which she realized that Batts had been shot.

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Jason!” Juanita Jackson screamed on the call.
 
The trial is scheduled to last about a week. Increased police presence was observed at the courthouse before the trial. A police spokeswoman did not respond to an inquiry regarding increased security measures.

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