The trial of Gahiji Tshamaba, the former Baltimore City police officer accused of murder in the death of Marine veteran Tyrone Brown outside a downtown nightclub last year, was bound to produce conflicting witness testimony and evidence to support both the prosecution and defense cases. The verdict Thursday by Circuit Judge Edward R. K. Hargadon finding Mr. Tshamba guilty of voluntary manslaughter and a handgun violation showed that despite the complexity of the case and the intense emotions it generated, the system was still able to produce a result of which it can be said justice was done.
There was never any dispute that Mr. Tshamba shot Mr. Brown 12 times and that the shooting was the cause of his death. The defense argued Mr. Tshamba acted in self-defense and out of fear for his life after Mr. Brown approached him in a threatening manner. The prosecution charged Mr. Tshamba provoked a confrontation by drawing his service weapon and waving it around after Mr. Brown inappropriately touched the buttocks of a woman the officer was escorting. The situation escalated until Mr. Tshamba emptied his weapon at the unarmed Mr. Brown.
The testimony of witnesses, including three friends of Mr. Tshamba and Mr. Brown's sister, Chantay Kangalee, suggested there was fault on both sides. Both men had been drinking, and Mr. Brown was clearly out of line when he fondled the body of a woman he did not know. But Judge Hargadon also found that Mr. Tshamba overreacted by drawing his weapon, that he never identified himself as a police officer to the victim and that Mr. Brown had his hands up and was trying to defuse the situation when he was killed.
We'll never know how a jury would have decided this case. Mr. Tshamba may have waived his right to a jury trial in the hope that a judge might take a more sympathetic view of his actions. But he probably lost whatever advantage he might have gained from that after Judge Hargadon decided he and the witnesses called by the defense were less than completely truthful. Mr. Tshamba's becomes the first case in 15 years in which an Baltimore officer claiming self-defense has been convicted of manslaughter.
In finding Mr. Tshamba guilty of voluntary manslaughter, rather than murder, Judge Hargadon had to sort through a thicket of issues involving the strength of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses. He ultimately decided Ms. Kangalee's account of events was probably closest to what actually happened -- ironic since she was called as a witness for the defense (albeit a hostile one) rather than the prosecution. She did the greatest possible service to her brother by staying true to what she saw even if it contradicted prior testimony that put Mr. Brown in a better light and Mr. Tshamba in a worse one. That made her the most credible witness in the judge's eyes and led him to a just conclusion.
Still, this was a tragedy for all involved. Mr. Brown is dead, and Mr. Tshamba faces up to 10 years in prison; their families and friends have been devastated.
Did no one see the signs of trouble before it was too late? Mr. Tshamba's drinking caused his superiors to discipline him in 2005 for drunken-driving while off-duty and shooting a man in the foot. Mr. Brown, an Iraq war veteran, had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, abused alcohol in the past and reacted violently toward others, including his wife and stepfather. It's tempting to believe that if either man had received help for their problems the outcome might have been quite different on that fateful night their paths crossed.
--Glenn McNatt