Attorney of teen squeegee worker charged in Inner Harbor murder 'outraged' by postponed hearing
BALTIMORE - A Baltimore judge has set a new hearing for January for a teen squeegee worker accused of killing 48-year-old Timothy Reynolds last summer.
The rescheduled hearing, now set for January 10, has the teen's attorney frustrated because his client has been in jail for five months without a trial date.
"So right now, I'm extremely frustrated. And quite frankly, I'm outraged because this kid has been sitting in jail since July 14," defense attorney J. Wyndal Gordon told WJZ.
Gordan said his client simply wants his day in court In a timely manner.
"He has the right to be tried within 180 days of his arraignment or the first appearance of counsel," Gordon said. "180 days will be February. It is now the end of December, almost January, and we don't even have a motions date or a trial date. I find that outrageous at this point in time."
The State's Attorney's Office has not said why Tuesday's hearing was postponed.
Back in July, Reynolds was killed near the Inner Harbor.
Police said he was shot by the 14-year-old, who is now 15, at the intersection of Light and Conway streets.
Officers said he confronted a group of squeegee workers with a baseball bat before he was shot.
A month ago, a judge ruled the teen will be tried as an adult and faces a charge of first-degree murder.
According to the suspect's attorney, a trial date for the murder case is expected to be discussed soon.
The teen's attorney said a key legal hearing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, was unexpectedly rescheduled, and it could affect his client's right to a speedy trial.
Gordon said he learned of the rescheduled hearing when he arrived at court on Tuesday.
The defense attorney told WJZ the hearing was rescheduled because of a combination of timing and politics.
Ivan Bates will take over as Baltimore City's State's Attorney in early January, so the hearing has been pushed back until after he is sworn into office.
"I don't care what's going on in the administration, whether it's the new administration or the old administration," Gordon said. "I have a client right now who's sitting in jail for nothing. He's waiting on his trial date, which he does not have. He's waiting on a motion date, which he does not have."
We're also learning that the Reynolds' family may have had a small victory in this case.
The main prosecutor who was removed from the case after she was accused of leaking privileged information is expected to return after Reynolds'family started a petition to bring her back.
"The family has said over and over again that there are no winners in a case like this. There's tragedy everywhere," said attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who is representing the family. "So they are grateful that we are at last getting a measure of justice, that we are moving in the right direction, that the original prosecutor is being reinstated."
Dashcam video obtained by our media partner The Baltimore Banner shows the final seconds of the deadly confrontation between Reynolds and the squeegee workers.
The video shows Reynolds walking to a car holding a baseball bat as a group of squeegee workers follow behind. Then, Reynolds appears to chase the squeegee boys while swinging the bat before one of the squeegee boys pulls out a gun and fires at least five shots.
The video does not show Reynolds' initial interactions with the squeegee workers.
However, Vignarajah released still CCTV images from the shooting and broke down the encounter.
Vignarajah said the same CCTV surveillance camera was shown to the Baltimore City Grand Jury before it indicted the teen with eight adult, felony charges including first-degree murder.
He said that after the initial interaction, the teen deliberately stepped away to pull a mask down over his face, and then returned, along with two others, to follow Reynolds as he was retreating to his car.
Reynolds' family, and Vignarajah, claim the squeegee worker did not shoot in self-defense but rather grabbed a gun from a bag, returned and followed a disoriented Reynolds, who was struck with a rock and shot him five times, three times in the back.
