Dontee D. Stokes was temporarily insane May 13 when he shot the Rev. Maurice J.
Blackwell and is not competent to stand trial, Stokes’ attorney said
Friday.
Stokes’ legal strategy was unveiled as he pleaded not guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to attempted first-degree murder, and turned down a plea deal from
prosecutors offering him a 25-year sentence, without chance of parole
for the first five years.
Prosecutors did not
immediately respond to defense attorney Warren A. Brown’s
assertion that Stokes, 26, is not criminally responsible for shooting
Blackwell, 56, a Roman Catholic priest who Stokes says sexually
molested him when he was a
teen-ager. Two weeks ago, the state’s attorney’s office began an
investigation of the sexual abuse allegations.
A
trial date was set Oct. 21 for Stokes.
Brown said he
wasn’t sure whether Stokes’ plea will force Blackwell to testify about
the allegations.
“The state’s going to have to
make that decision,” Brown said. “Quite frankly, they’re going
to lose whether they put him on or not. If they put him on, I will
make him the second coming of Charles Manson. He’s a child sexual
predator, sodomizing little boys.
“If they don’t
put him on, then there’s a glaring hole. Jurors will wonder, ‘Where is
he? Why didn’t they put him up there? Are they ashamed?’ When was
the last time that they had a case that they didn’t put [on the stand]
the victim [Blackwell] who is still alive?”
Brown,
in documents mailed to
the courthouse Wednesday, said that Stokes “suffered from a mental disorder and lacked
substantial capacity of his conduct to conform to the requirements
of the law” at the time of Blackwell’s shooting.
More Top Picks Best Wallet Phone Cases
The
document also states that Stokes “is unable to understand the nature
of the proceedings against him or to assist in his defense.”
After the papers are filed at the court clerk’s office,
Brown said, a date will be set for Stokes to be evaluated for his
competency to stand trial.
Prosecutors,
meanwhile, said they weren’t surprised by Stokes’ refusal to accept
their plea offer.
“They weren’t going to accept
anything,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Sylvester Cox.
Brown criticized the offer as “absurd, insulting and
provocative.”
“When we’re refusing five years
— the five years without parole has been the whole hang-up
— why are we going to accept 25?” Brown asked. “There’s no
other shooting like this where they have come in asking for 25 years.
They’re pleading murder cases for less than that.”
Blackwell could not be reached for comment.
Stokes is accused of shooting Blackwell three times in
front of the priest’s Reservoir Hill home.
He
says Blackwell sexually assaulted him over a three-year period, and
told police he shot Blackwell because he refused to apologize.
Outside the steps of Courthouse East, Stokes, flanked by
his
mother, aunts, other relatives and supporters, thanked the community
for its support. He also encouraged abuse victims to come forward.
“I’m getting a lot of community support, but the
only thing is, we need to deal with the situation realistically
because it’s an epidemic, more than just me,” Stokes said.
“There are other people out there who have been victimized,
have
been abused by predatory people, and we just need to ask that you look
at it seriously, and regardless of what happens to me, there are other
people going through the same thing,” he said.
Stokes added: “For the victims who are out there, I would just
encourage them not to find themselves in my situation.”
Asked how he was holding up, Stokes responded, “I’m doing
the best I can.”
Stokes’ arraignment lasted fewer
than five minutes. He sat quietly in the courtroom, dressed in a glen
plaid suit, waiting for his chance to plead.
He left
the courtroom immediately after entering his plea, with his mother,
Tamara Stokes, and Brown.