Baltimore teen squeegee worker found guilty of manslaughter

A jury found teen squeegee worker Tavon Scott guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Timothy Reynolds, who died while confronting a group of squeegee workers with a bat in Baltimore.

Scott, 16, was also convicted of two handgun charges, according to local outlet WBALTV.

"He avoided the first- and second-degree murder convictions. He has been convicted of manslaughter, which makes him eligible to be transferred to juvenile court, which is what we are going to be pursuing," defense attorney Warren Brown said after the verdict.

Prosecutors argued in closing arguments that Scott, who was 14 at the time of the incident last summer, committed the murder with premeditation when he walked across the street, grabbed a mask and gun and walked back to shoot Reynolds, 48, five times, including three gunshot wounds in the back.

The state was unable to prove Scott's DNA was on the murder weapon, but prosecutors argued that video shows Scott grabbing a gun out of a backpack, which had his DNA on it.

Defense attorneys argued both that Scott was not the shooter and that the shooting was in self-defense. 

Scott's attorney J. Wendell Gordon called the investigation "asymmetric, lopsided and full of bias" in closing arguments and said the probe did not clearly identify Scott and was based on "video you can't see."

"It's science, plain and simple," Baltimore prosecutor Cynthia Banks said. "The defense is talking about profiling? No. It's a DNA profile, period."

Under Maryland law, people are required to retreat rather than stand their ground in self-defense.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.