A defense attorney for a man charged with shooting at a Baltimore police officer in April grilled the officer during the opening day of the trial about his shooting at the suspect 10 times and questioned why the defendant's DNA was not found on the weapon.
Prosecutors defend the police officer's conduct and say the key evidence in the case is gunshot residue recovered from both of 29-year-old Antonio Holton's hands, making it clear that Holton had fired a weapon. But the opening day of Holton's attempted-murder trial Friday featured plenty of skepticism from the defense about how police handled the case.
Officer Jared Fried, a drug enforcement officer assigned to the Southwest District, was on plainclothes patrol near Poplar Grove in the Rosemont area with his partner about 10:45 p.m. April 9 when they heard gunfire and saw people running from the area. Fried testified that he saw a man holding a weapon and that he and his partner gave chase.
After briefly losing track of the gunman, Fried encountered Holton in an alley. With the two men standing about 6 feet apart, Fried said Holton fired one shot - he said he could see the flash of the muzzle in the dark - and that he fired back with his .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock handgun until he thought Holton was no longer a threat. Holton was hit twice.
"I have a family to go home to," Fried testified. "I was scared I'd never see them. It was a nervous and excited feeling."
Defense attorney Ivan Bates emphasized the number of shots Fried fired by yelling bang! and pounding on a desk 10 times. He questioned what he said were inconsistencies in Fried's statements to police investigators and suggested that Fried had received special treatment.
Assistant State's Attorney Roya Hanna acknowledged that Holton's gun jammed when he fired at Fried, but she said the act of attempting to fire the gun shows that Holton intended to harm Fried and evade capture. Holton had prior drug and weapon convictions and was on probation at the time of the shooting.
