Gang Themes

UPDATE: The ExploreHoward blog reports that 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.


The Sun reports closing arguments in what prosecutors call a gang-related killing last year in Stevens Forest...even the defense attorney's statements sound scary.

Daymar Wimbish, the defendant, is an admitted Bloods gang member; his attorney argued he was merely present at a botched robbery attempt in the early hours of May 17, 2008, that ended in the shooting death of Jason Batts, 23.

"The whole gang theme was a substitute for motive," Wimbish's attorney, Spencer Hecht, said in closing arguments to the jury on Tuesday. "These were neighborhood friends who thought it was cool to be in a gang. They weren't like these older, rougher, Columbia gang members."


According to the Sun:Prosecutors and police said Wimbish did not shoot Batts but was one of three men who tried to rob Elijah Jackson in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Stevens Forest Road in Oakland Mills.

The alleged shooter is still awaiting trial. A third defendant was acquitted of murder charges but convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and two other gun charges, the Sun says.