A simmering argument between two servers at the BWI Hilton Hotel erupted into a high-speed chase that ended when one server was shot and nearly killed by the other's boyfriend, a Baltimore prosecutor told jurors during opening statements Monday.
Describing it as a "wild ride" from the hotel along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and into the city, prosecutor Patrick Moran said the incident was rooted in a dispute over a cart the servers used to clean after events. On the night of Oct. 24, 2007, server Sean Levy, 19, left the hotel with another co-worker, thinking the argument had been resolved, but Moran said the other server, Keya Gardner, chased after him in her car, with her boyfriend in another car.
Thinking he was safe, Levy dropped off a co-worker at his Baltimore home. But a car pulled up near him, and a man identified as Darryl Newsome, Gardner's boyfriend at the time, got out of the car, walked over to Levy and fired two shots into his chest.
"These two tried to kill Mr. Levy," Moran told jurors.
Levy, who is now 20, lost the use of both arms and legs after the shooting, and he remains hospitalized at an undisclosed area hospital. He is expected to testify Tuesday, according to his mother, Sandra Gardiner.
Newsome, 22, faces attempted first- and second-degree attempted murder, handgun, assault and reckless endangerment charges, court records show. He remains free on $500,000 bail, the records show. Gardner, 23, who was eight months' pregnant at the time of the chase and shooting, faces similar charges and is being held in jail without bail, records show.
Their attorneys vowed in court yesterday to challenge the work of police and prosecutors. Stanley Needleman, the attorney representing Newsome, told jurors he thought the main witness - Levy's co-worker - had been drinking, suggesting he was an unreliable witness.
Catherine Flynn, who represents Gardner, said there aren't enough facts and evidence to link the woman to the shooting. "More important than anything else is what you won't hear in this courtroom. You'll say, 'Is that it?' " Flynn said.
The first witness called to the stand, Charles Weese Sr., pointed to Newsome when the prosecutor asked who shot Levy. Weese, who worked with Levy, said he sat in the car while Gardner chased them in her car from the hotel. Thinking they had lost Gardner, Levy dropped off Weese at his Northeast Baltimore home. Weese said he saw a gray Trans-Am pull up next to Levy's car, and a man he recognized as Gardner's boyfriend, Newsome, emerged and shot him while he sat in the driver's seat.
Weese said he called 911 from his house and then ran back outside to help Levy, who slumped in his arms after he opened the car door. "I saw a lot of blood," Weese told jurors. "I tried to talk to him, saying, 'Hold on.' "
In an interview Monday afternoon, Gardiner said her son is now able to breathe on his own, after relying on a breathing machine. She said one bullet damaged his stomach and narrowly missed his heart; the other bullet missed his aorta but severed his spinal cord, and remains lodged in his neck.
"He said he forgives them," Gardiner said about her son and the people who hurt him. "He's moved on. He's trying to be a motivational speaker, talking to kids about gun crime."
Testimony in the trial continues Tuesday.
