XPost: talk.politics.guns, balt.general, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: alt.abortion, sac.politics   
   From: humping.camella@for.free   
      
   A Baltimore County jury found a day care van driver accused of sexually   
   abusing a girl guilty of second-degree rape and other charges Friday evening.   
      
   Police arrested retired Baltimore Police officer James Weems Jr., 59, in July   
   2022, after his then-wife Shanteari Weems shot him in a Washington, D.C.,   
   hotel room when authorities shut down her Owings Mills daycare, Lil Kidz   
   Kastle.   
      
   After five hours of deliberations Friday, jurors found Weems guilty on all six   
   counts: two counts of second-degree rape, three counts of sexual abuse of a   
   minor and one count of displaying obscene matter to a minor between March 2020   
   and July 2022.   
      
   He will return to the Baltimore County Detention Center until his Jan. 8   
   sentencing.   
      
   Prosecutors filed for enhanced penalties in the case because of the victim’s   
   age, meaning he faces a minimum of 15 years without the possibility of parole.   
      
   The trial began Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court.   
      
   Jurors didn’t hear that grand juries had indicted Weems on another 33   
   counts, including similar charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of three   
   other children. This week’s trial dealt only with charges related to a   
   single victim.   
      
   Attorneys for Weems could not be reached immediately for comment on the   
   verdict.   
      
   Weems’ ex-wife, Shanteari, also testified earlier this week. Jurors   
   weren’t told that she shot him in a D.C. hotel room in July 2022, shortly   
   after the state closed her day care center, or that she is serving a prison   
   sentence in a federal facility    
   in Kentucky.   
      
   The investigation into James Weems began after relatives of a then-10-year-old   
   girl noticed she was watching pornography on her aunt’s iPad on July 2,   
   2022, the girl’s mother and grandmother testified this week.   
      
   Alarmed, the adults loudly questioned her about who had shown her the videos.   
   The girl told them that “Mr. James,” the van driver at Lil Kidz Kastle,   
   had shown the pornography to her.   
      
   Now 12, the girl testified earlier this week that James Weems had also forced   
   her to perform oral sex on him, both at the day care and in the van that   
   dropped her off at school and picked her up in the afternoons.   
      
   The Baltimore Sun does not identify people who have been sexually abused   
   without their consent.   
      
   In closing arguments, Deputy State’s Attorney Lisa Fox Dever described how   
   she said James Weems took “slow, progressive steps” to gain the trust of a   
   vulnerable girl and take advantage of her. Weems gave the girl snacks no one   
   else received and    
   gave her the coveted job of opening the van’s door, Weems’ ex-wife and   
   family members testified.   
      
   In a rebuttal, Assistant State’s Attorney Zarena Sita said that Weems   
   “groomed” the girl, the term experts use to describe how abusers form a   
   relationship with a child before assaulting them.   
      
   “Many people warn their children to beware of strangers,” Dever said.   
   “The reality is the person who is going to hurt your children isn’t going   
   to be a stranger, it’s going to be someone they know, someone they like,   
   someone they admire.”   
      
   Weems admitted on the stand Thursday that he watched pornography, including   
   while children were inside the van, according to a clip prosecutors played   
   Friday. He denied sexually abusing the girl.   
      
   “Why are you gonna show pornography to a child? Why are you gonna be   
   watching it on a bus with kids?” Dever said.   
      
   She explained that even if jurors didn’t believe Weems had touched the girl,   
   they could still find him guilty of sex abuse for having knowingly shown her   
   the pornography and exploited her for his own benefit.   
      
      
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