Attorneys For Thug Who Killed Baltimore Police Officer Spit On Victim’s Memory
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This week, Baltimore County Police Officer Amy Caprio was brutally murdered by a 16-year-old named Dawnta Harris. It is tough to imagine how anyone could make her death worse for her family, but the murderer’s attorneys did just that when they spoke about her killing and did the worst thing they could do.
Officer Amy Caprio was murdered on Monday when she approached the stolen Jeep that Dawnta Harris was driving. Harris had the vehicle stopped as three of his thug friends were nearby committing residential burglary. After she tried to apprehend him, the officer’s body camera footage showed Harris speeding towards Officer Caprio as she pulled her gun and attempted to stop him. Caprio was struck and killed by the vehicle as Harris sped from the scene, Time Magazine reported.
In addition to Harris, his three cohorts, Darrell Jaymar Ward, 15, Derrick Eugene Matthews, 16, and Eugene Robert Genius, 17, were arrested and charged with murder. They were found when Harris snitched and gave police their names and addresses. Each of the suspects was arrested, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Harris’ defense attorneys, J. Wyndal Gordon and Warren Brown, held a press conference on Thursday, along with Harris’ mother. They demanded that the police release Officer Caprio’s body cam footage because they believe it will exonerate their client. “I think it will put a lot of misconceptions to rest,” Brown told reporters.
Gordon said he wanted to know why Officer Caprio displayed “aggression” by drawing and firing her weapon in what “amounted to a traffic stop,” according to him. Somehow, he forgot that his client was driving a stolen Jeep as his friends were robbing houses. The fact that this attorney acted like the officer did something incorrectly in this situation is remarkable, but he actually continued to make it worse.
“If someone’s got bullets whizzing by your head, you’re in survival mode, you’re trying to survive,” he said. “This was not an intentional killing. … This was an accident.” He continued, “He ducked and he closed his eyes and the car started moving forward, and the only reason you duck is because bullets are coming towards you.”
Is he not aware that no bullets would have been “whizzing by” his client’s head had he cooperated with Officer Caprio rather than driving a stolen Jeep at her? Part of the issue with many young people is the fact that others don’t seem to hold them responsible for their actions.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said he would not release the body camera footage of the incident before the teens are tried since it could taint the jury. No doubt this is something that Harris’ attorneys know would give them an immediate way to appeal a guilty verdict which is why they want to publicly pressure Shellenberger to release it.
“It’s important that we completely preserve the jury pool,” Shellenberger told reporters. “I think any release, or any description of the video, could taint that. We want to make sure we preserve their right to a fair trial.”
Gordon said that, because the case is drawing headlines, he does not believe the video would influence a jury. “Baltimore County jurors are smart, we learned that,” he said. “We learned that in the Korryn Gaines case. There was a lot of video going on, a lot of video that had been shown to the public. But the folks in Baltimore County can disabuse themselves of what they knew or what they thought they’d known and judge a case based upon the law and the evidence.”
Harris’ mother, Tanika Wilson, was more contrite than her son’s attorneys as she expressed exasperation with the justice system for not keeping her son locked up when he started getting arrested last year. “Things took a wrong turn once he first got arrested,” she said. “I never had an issue with the police with him. He did teenager things — all teenagers do — but the arrests started in December.” She said that “if they would have kept him, we wouldn’t be here.”
Wilson apologized to the family of Officer Caprio for what her son did. “I really am truly sorry for this,” she told reporters. “If I could have just found my son, she would still be here and my son would be here with me.”
There are no winners in this situation. Dawnta Harris took the life of Officer Amy Caprio, destroyed the lives of her family and those who loved her, and destroyed the life of his own mother. It is shameful that his attorneys now want to blame the brave officer for what happened.