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Prosecutors and defense attorneys squared off Wednesday in opening statements in the double first-degree murder trial of a Baltimore man in what police said was an ambush outside an Odenton bar last year.
Prosecutors hope to see Russell Kelscoe Harden, 26, sentenced to life without parole.
But his lawyers said he was not involved in the shootings Nov. 16 that took the lives of two Annapolis men and injured two more.
Shortly before the shootings, Harden was placed on house arrest for failing to comply with the terms of his release on a federal gun conviction in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
As Anne Arundel County Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Alban described the scene, relatives and friends of the victims wept and lowered their heads. The victims had hoped to go to a birthday party at the Traffic Bar and Lounge, across Annapolis Road from Fort Meade, but couldn't get in because it was too crowded. So they bought liquor and sat in their car, drinking and laughing. Then, Alban contends, three people - Harden; Damon Daryl Dodd, 32, of Baltimore, who is scheduled for trial next year; and James Samuel Watkins, 21, of Brooklyn Park - sneaked up on the car. A hail of gunfire into the vehicle followed, she said.
"They never gave them a chance," Alban told the jury.
Watkins, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in a deal for a shorter sentence, is expected to testify Thursday, and assistant public defender Stanley Robbins called the truthfulness of anything he might say questionable.
Police suspect a dispute between Harden and one of the victims, Terrance James Covington, was at the root of the Odenton shootings.
The trial, before Judge William C. Mulford II, is expected to last through most, if not all, of next week.
Prosecutors hope to see Russell Kelscoe Harden, 26, sentenced to life without parole.
But his lawyers said he was not involved in the shootings Nov. 16 that took the lives of two Annapolis men and injured two more.
Shortly before the shootings, Harden was placed on house arrest for failing to comply with the terms of his release on a federal gun conviction in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
As Anne Arundel County Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Alban described the scene, relatives and friends of the victims wept and lowered their heads. The victims had hoped to go to a birthday party at the Traffic Bar and Lounge, across Annapolis Road from Fort Meade, but couldn't get in because it was too crowded. So they bought liquor and sat in their car, drinking and laughing. Then, Alban contends, three people - Harden; Damon Daryl Dodd, 32, of Baltimore, who is scheduled for trial next year; and James Samuel Watkins, 21, of Brooklyn Park - sneaked up on the car. A hail of gunfire into the vehicle followed, she said.
"They never gave them a chance," Alban told the jury.
Watkins, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in a deal for a shorter sentence, is expected to testify Thursday, and assistant public defender Stanley Robbins called the truthfulness of anything he might say questionable.
Police suspect a dispute between Harden and one of the victims, Terrance James Covington, was at the root of the Odenton shootings.
The trial, before Judge William C. Mulford II, is expected to last through most, if not all, of next week.
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