By Brian Witte, The Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday whether a man convicted of killing a police detective should become the first Baltimore defendant in six years to be sentenced to the death penalty.
To sentence 22-year-old Jovan House to death, jurors must conclude that Detective Thomas Newman was on duty when he was murdered in November 2002. That is the aggravating factor that makes House eligible for the death penalty under Maryland law.
Prosecutors contend Newman, 37, was shot to death by House and Raymond Saunders outside a Baltimore tavern in retaliation for his testimony against another man who tried to kill him in April 2001. Newman was off duty and drinking at the tavern before the fatal shooting happened.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Don Giblin argued that Newman went on duty as soon as he reached for his gun to defend himself and others who were outside the tavern and in danger.
Police regulations require officers to be ready for duty “at all times,” Giblin said.
“It means if you take action, you’re on duty,” Giblin told jurors.
However, defense attorney Mark Van Bavel said it’s not certain that Newman reached for his weapon. He said the dark, chaotic atmosphere outside the tavern during the crime made it difficult to see what happened.
“The testimony is, at best, very, very conflicting,” Van Bavel told jurors.
He also said police policy was unclear about what exactly causes an off-duty officer to assume his duties.
“It’s just left open and vague,” Van Bavel said.
Van Bavel also said Newman drank several alcoholic drinks before the incident and was too intoxicated to drive legally in Maryland.
Van Bavel asked jurors: “Would you want someone firing a gun at that level” of intoxication?
Giblin asked jurors if they expected an officer to ignore his law enforcement responsibilities -- even after several drinks -- when two people are firing guns outside a bar.
“Is that the public policy you want? Of course not,” he said.
Defense attorney William Kanwisher told jurors that there was enough doubt about whether Newman was on duty to spare House’s life. He asked jurors to sentence his client to life in prison without possibility of parole.
But prosecutor Matthew Fraling III said the case “demands death,” especially because Newman was murdered for testifying as a witness to a violent crime.
“That’s the world that Jovan House would have you live in,” he told jurors.
Jurors began deliberating around 1 p.m. and adjourned for the day around 4:30 p.m. They were scheduled to resume deliberations Thursday morning.
House, who also could be sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole, was convicted last week of four charges, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and two gun charges.
Two other men charged in Newman’s death, Saunders and Anthony Brown, are awaiting trial. Saunders, who is the half brother of one of the men convicted of trying to kill Newman in 2001, also faces a possible death sentence. Brown is accused of driving the getaway car.
A death penalty case had not gone to trial in Baltimore since 1998, when a jury sentenced convicted murderer Joseph Metheny to death. An appeals court overturned his sentence and he was later sentenced to life without parole.