La Plata, MD – The buzz around the Charles County Courthouse involving the first-degree murder trial of Raymond Daniel Posey III, 24 of Nanjemoy, the past two weeks was that his defense team from Covington & Burlington in Washington, DC and headed by Kevin B. Collins was a litigation firm; that they had never tried a criminal case before.
If that is indeed the case, Collins and a team of five lawyers pulled a rabbit out of the hat their first attempt, as a Charles County Circuit Court jury found Posey not guilty on seven of the 12 charges against him Tuesday, Feb. 21 before Judge H. James West in La Plata.
The verdict did not sit well with family members of the victim, Crystal Anderson, who began expressing their displeasure aloud. Crystal’s cousin at first refused to leave when asked to do so by court officers.
“I’m waiting to hear the final verdict,” he said.
“You just heard it,” the officer said.
It was Angie Anderson, the victim’s mother, who patiently sat through two weeks of grueling testimony, that quietly walked to her nephew and guided him from the courtroom.
This was a complicated case. Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Fran Granados admitted to the jury from the beginning that physical evidence was scarce. Circumstantial evidence, the state had in plenty from both willing and unwilling witnesses, but that may have been the weak link in the chain.
In closing arguments Friday, Feb. 17, Attorney John Chase Johnson hammered away at the state’s lack of physical evidence in the case.
“The lack of physical evidence in this case should give you reasonable doubt,” Johnson stressed.
The defendant was found not guilty of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime, robbery with a deadly weapon, first-degree assault, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit second-degree assault.
Posey is not out of the woods yet, however. He still faces contempt charges Feb. 27 and West acknowledged the state would probably retry him on the four charges the jury couldn’t reach an agreement on: second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
“My thought is those counts will be retried,” the judge said. “He still faces obstruction charges. Certainly, in light of that, I need to keep his status the same,” meaning he will be held in custody until his court case on Monday.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com