For the second time in almost two months, Howard County prosecutors failed to gain a murder conviction in an Oakland Mills shooting death last year.

Daymar Wimbish, 19, of Owings Mills, was found not guilty Wednesday afternoon of first-degree murder of Jason Pridgen Batts by a Howard County jury, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino.

In April, Ronald Derrick McConnell, 21, of no fixed address, was also found not guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by a Howard County Circuit Court jury in the same case.

Batts was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Stevens Forest Apartments, on Stevens Forest Road in Columbia, in May 2008. Prosecutors had claimed that Batts was mistakenly shot and that Elijah Jackson, of Columbia, was the intended victim. Jackson was targeted because he informed on McConnell, a Bloods gang member, in another case, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said in closing arguments Tuesday that Wimbish voluntarily got out of a car at Stevens Forest Apartments, ordered an Owings Mills girl to distract the occupants of the victim’s car, and approached the car with the accused trigger man, Lamont Johnson, 25, of Owings Mills. Wimbish’s actions, they argued, indicated that he participated in the attempted robbery and shooting.

However, Spencer Hecht, Wimbish’s attorney, attributed the verdict to the fact that his client was not the shooter, did not come up with the plan that ended in the shooting, and that it was unclear where he was at the time of the shooting.

“I think that they couldn’t in their heart of hearts convict him of murder,” Hecht said Wednesday afternoon.
 
The verdict came after more than 10 hours of deliberations by jurors on Tuesday and Wednesday, capping a weeklong trial. Prosecutors declined to comment through a spokesman.

Wimbish was convicted of three firearms charges: possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a crime of violence, possession of an unregistered rifle or shotgun and possession of a firearm by a person under 21, Kirwan said.

Wimbish also was convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and attempted armed robbery of Jackson, Kirwan said. He was found not guilty of the attempted armed robbery of Batts and not guilty of the attempted armed robbery of a female occupant of the car, Kirwan said.

Wimbish faces between 45 and 55 years in prison, Kirwan said. Judge Lenore Gelfman scheduled sentencing for Sept. 11.

Before the case went to the jury Tuesday, prosecutors said Wimbish played an integral part in the shooting even though their main witnesses were admittedly not innocent.

“A plan hatched in hell is seldom witnessed by angels,” Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McGuinn told jurors in her closing argument.

McGuinn was referring to a 16-year-old girl, formerly of Owings Mills, and a 19-year-old Pikesville man who prosecutors have asked not to be identified for security reasons. Both witnesses were involved in the planning of the robbery that led to the shooting, and both initially lied to police about the case, prosecutors said.

Ultimately, however, both told the truth about the involvement of Wimbish, prosecutors said.

Hecht impugned the character of the witnesses and pointed out that no DNA, fingerprints or any scientific evidence had been gathered against Wimbish. Prosecutors, Hecht said, “failed miserably” in their case against his client.

Hecht argued that prosecutors and police were tarnishing his client with guilt by association. His mere presence at the scene did not make him guilty, Hecht said.

He added that the state’s key witnesses were doing everything they could to stay out of jail.