A youth charged with shooting a Columbia teen-ager in the back last August lost on two legal fronts in court yesterday, including an effort by his attorneys to get the charges against him dismissed.
Attorneys for 16-year-old Raheem Ameen Jones argued during a Howard Circuit Court hearing that his indictment should be dismissed because the primary charge against him -- assault with intent to murder -- should be handled in juvenile court.
Howard Circuit Judge Raymond Kane Jr. denied the attorneys' request, saying Mr. Jones was appropriately charged as an adult in the shooting at the Hannibal Grove apartment complex in Columbia's Wilde Lake village.
Judge Kane also denied a request by defense attorneys to prohibit the prosecution from using statements police say Mr. Jones made to them after the Aug. 16, 1994, incident.
Mr. Jones, then 15, told the first police officer at the scene that he shot 19-year-old Christopher Graham during a fight over a dog, according to police records. Afterward, during an interview at the Howard County Police Department, he reportedly told an investigator where he hid his gun but then refused to answer any more questions without an attorney.
Mr. Jones, now living in Reisterstown, is scheduled to stand trial as an adult May 24.
One of his attorneys, Howard Cardin of Baltimore, said prosecutors should have filed the charges in juvenile court and then sought a waiver from a judge to put Mr. Jones on trial as an adult. Mr. Cardin noted that state law permits juveniles to be tried automatically as adults if they are charged with an offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Jones is charged with attempted murder, which carries a maximum life sentence, but that is not the "flagship crime" against him, Mr. Cardin said. The primary charge, assault with intent to murder, carries a maximum 30-year sentence.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Murtha argued that it's inappropriate for defense attorneys to seek dismissal of an indictment because of the charges it contains. He said the only grounds for such a dismissal are when prosecutors take inappropriate steps to obtain an indictment from a grand jury.