Both lawyers in the Dontee Stokes trial openly wept during closing arguments last night, offering jurors impassioned interpretations of what they believe the consequences should be for a man who admits gunning down his former priest.
Key to both the prosecution and defense during the trial has been Stokes' allegation that the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell raped him nine years ago and sent him on a path of torment that culminated with the shooting May 13.
The defense claims Stokes is not responsible for the shooting because the alleged sexual assault left him with a mental disorder. From the stand, Stokes, 26, has described the moment of the shooting - which left Blackwell hobbled - as an out-of-body experience.
"Dontee's priest sodomized him, and he faced rejection after rejection after rejection. What did you expect him to become? Leave It to Beaver?" Stokes' lawyer, Warren A. Brown, told the jury. "To hold Dontee responsible for this is no different than holding someone responsible who was sleepwalking."
But prosecutor Sylvester Cox delivered his own impassioned plea, arguing that an alleged sexual assault nine years ago is no defense.
"It is a painful thing to go through, but does it give you the right nine years later to shoot someone? Absolutely not," Cox said. "The [Sixth] Commandment says, 'Thou shall not kill.' It does not say, 'Thou shall not kill [unless] someone sodomized me.'"
By the time closing arguments concluded at 6 p.m., both lawyers, the defendant, several members of the jury and most of the audience were crying. After an emotional and sometimes tedious week of courtroom testimony, the jury decided to go home last night and to begin deliberations on Monday.
The jury must decide if Stokes is guilty of attempted murder and eight other charges. If he is found guilty on any of the nine counts, the jurors will begin a second phase of the trial to decide the issue of criminal responsibility.
Cox told the jury that Baltimore is a violent city and cannot allow people to shoot others on the street - regardless of their reasons.
"This ain't Dodge City no more," Cox said. "This is Baltimore City 2002. When you break that law, there are certain things that ought to be done. If you are going to condone that type of action, we all better look out. "
Brown said the jury shouldn't punish someone for having a mental disorder.
"There is no way you can have a fair society without justice." Brown said in his closing. "We are not going to be held responsible for something we have no control over."
The prosecutor argued that Brown was trying to blame everyone for the crime, except Stokes. "This is not State vs. Maurice Blackwell, State vs. the State's Attorney's Office or State vs. the Police Department," Cox said. "This is State vs. Dontee Stokes."
Brown countered, saying there is plenty of blame to go around. "I knew I'd be fighting the system," Brown said. "Maurice Blackwell sodomized him literally, and the state's attorney's office sodomized him figuratively by not prosecuting Blackwell. It is appalling what Blackwell did. He had all these boys around him, and he didn't raise them up. He raised them up to be sex toys."
Stokes, a barber from West Baltimore, admitted to shooting Blackwell, 56, after confronting him on the street in front of the priest's home. But he testified that he was "outside of my body" watching himself when he fired his silver-plated .357-Magnum revolver.
He said he tried unsuccessfully to reach for his own arm to stop himself. Blackwell was shot three times in the hip and left hand; he has trouble using his hand and walking.
A private doctor, Michael K. Spodak, took the stand yesterday as a witness for the defense and testified that Stokes was suffering from a "mental disorder" during the estimated minute he shot the priest.
The night of the shooting, Stokes was in his car on his way to pick up his girlfriend when he saw Blackwell standing outside his home. He said he wanted to talk to the priest and possibly come to some form of resolution about the years of alleged abuse. Stokes claimed in a police report that he called Blackwell over to his car, and became angry when the priest did not acknowledge knowing him.
Stokes testified he then heard gunshots and saw Blackwell fall before driving away.
"It is clear he was a victim of sexual abuse," Spodak told the jury. "Sex abuse leads to post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions that can cause a change in character and consciousness. At the time of the shooting, he was experiencing a state of emotional turmoil similar to a state of intoxication."
A state doctor also examined Stokes, but found that he was criminally responsible for the crime. The prosecution did not submit that report to the jury. The defense also did not submit its doctor's mental examination for the jury's review.
Before closing arguments yesterday, trial prosecutors called two other prosecutors to the stand to answer for what happened to Stokes' claims of sexual abuse when the allegations first surfaced in 1993. Baltimore Police Lt. Fred Roussey, who investigated the 1993 claims, testified this week that he wanted Blackwell charged but that prosecutors refused.
The prosecutors who worked on the case at the time, Assistant State's Attorney Roberta Siskind and Deputy State's Attorney Sharon A. H. May, testified that though they believed Stokes was molested, neither thought there was enough evidence to indict Blackwell.