Prosecutors said he shot randomly into the group and killed Shelton, a rising track star and a student at Paul Laurence Dunbar Early College High School. The shots also wounded a 16-year-old boy, prosecutors said.
Collins has pleaded not guilty, and his defense team had asked Montgomery County Judge Steven Dankof to bar the use of statements made by Collins to police. In their motion, they argued that his statements during two interrogations were not voluntarily made.
“Disturbingly, during the February 26th interrogation, Detective Williams discussed the shooting death of defendant’s brother, which occurred several years ago. He asked defendant numerous questions about defendant’s deceased brother, such as his favorite sports teams, TV shows and what music he enjoyed listening to. He also asked defendant if his mother was still having difficulty coming to terms with his brother’s death. He also asked defendant to recount what happened the day of his brother’s murder,” the brief by the defense says.
Prosecutors replied with their own brief saying that the law enforcement interrogations were proper and not as intense as the defense would suggest.
In his ruling, Dankof said Collins was read his rights and officers never coerced or threatened him in any way.
“While Mr. Collins appeared nervous, he spoke freely with detectives and told them he was given a gun and fired three or four shots up in the air from a car as a warning to a group of people on Catalpa and that no one was supposed to be physically harmed,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
The judge also wrote that the detectives’ tactics were legal.
“Mr. Collins also argues the detectives brought up his deceased brother to play on his emotions any loyalty towards his family, thus making it coercive in nature; however, multiple courts have held such tactics do not render a confession involuntary,” the ruling says. “Simply put, there is no evidence before the court indicating Mr. Collins’ will was overborne by any coercion from detectives in this case.”
A final pre-trial hearing date was set for Dec. 29 and a trial date is set for Jan. 10.
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