A 15-year-old charged in the fatal stabbing of a classmate at a West Baltimore middle school last year will be tried as an adult, setting the stage for a trial that will pit the suspect's allegations that he was bullied against claims by the victim's relatives that the attack was over a girl.
"I don't know if your fear was justified or warranted," Circuit Judge Wanda K. Heard told Timothy Oxendine, responding to claims that the victim, Markel Williams, 15, had threatened to harm Oxendine's mother and 9-year-old brother. "The offense is too serious to send you to juvenile court. Until we figure out what happened, you are a public safety risk."
On Friday, prosecutor Patrick Moran accused Oxendine, then 14, of showing up at William H. Lemmel Middle School on Nov. 21 - while he was suspended - and then "lying in wait" in a stairwell for Williams to step through a set of double doors.
Moran said that surveillance video from the school showed hall monitors and teachers trying to get him into a classroom, and witnesses had told police that Oxendine shouted, "I'm going to booking" - a reference to where arrestees are processed - as he hunted for 20 to 30 minutes for his friend-turned-enemy.
Williams' stepmother, Ingrid Williams, said that the two boys had been friends. And Moran provided evidence that as recently as Oct. 9, the two had been caught playing dice together in the hallway.
Ingrid Williams testified that a girl "chose Markel over Timothy," which tore them apart. And she said that when she met with school officials in November to discuss a transfer to another school, "no bullying incidents of any kind" were shared with her.
Oxendine's mother said that her son had come to her asking for a transfer because Williams had threatened to harm her and his brother. She said her son had been skipping classes out of fear. And Oxendine's attorney, Patrick Todd Williams, said his client had seen the older student with a gun.
His client believes that "if the victim were alive, someone in his family would not be alive," Williams told Heard.
School officials have told The Baltimore Sun that they became aware of the rift days before the stabbing and tried to get the parents in for a conflict-resolution session.
In the two weeks before the killing, teachers and administrators paid home visits to both boys. Williams, who was two years behind in school, recently had been suspended for pulling a fire alarm, and staff were recommending that he transfer to an alternative program.
Although Oxendine had never been arrested and worked 20 hours a week at a restaurant, the prosecutor argued that school disciplinary records told another story. On the day of the killing, Oxendine had been suspended for cutting class.
On Oct. 22, Oxendine "viciously assaulted another student," Moran said. On Sept. 8, he got in a fight after school. And on March 10, 2008, he and two others assaulted a 4-year-old and three girls.
"This is not a person in fear or terror of bullying," Moran said. "This is a bully."
