XPost: talk.politics.guns, balt.general, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: alt.abortion, sac.politics   
   From: humping.camella@for.free   
      
   TOWSON, Md. —   
   The Baltimore County jury in the sex abuse trial of James Weems Jr. reached a   
   guilty verdict Friday on all six counts.   
      
   Jurors had six charges to consider, all involving sexual abuse of a minor,   
   second-degree rape and displaying obscene matter to a minor. Weems was   
   arrested on the charges in July 2022.   
      
   A preliminary sentencing date has been set for Jan. 8, during which time,   
   Weems faces two life sentences.   
      
   The Marine veteran and retired Baltimore City police officer drove a van for   
   his wife's daycare center in Owings Mills, Lil Kidz Castle Daycare Center. The   
   abuse allegedly took place on the center's playground and inside the transport   
   van, investigators    
   said.   
      
   During closing arguments on Friday, prosecutors claimed Weems took small,   
   slow, progressive steps to get a 10-year-old girl in his web by giving her   
   favorable treatment and snacks and showing her pornography on his cellphone.   
      
   The Baltimore County assistant state's attorney told the jury: "The reality is   
   the person who will hurt your child, it is somebody they know, it is somebody   
   they like or admire ... the person who drives your children from daycare to   
   school."   
      
   During the trial, Weems admitted to a porn addiction, watching it while in the   
   daycare's van to pick up children from school. He said he would lean his body   
   and turn the phone so no one could see it.   
      
   The prosecutor told the jury: "Was it risky? Yes, it was risky. But was there   
   opportunity? There was. One would think he wouldn't be looking at porn on a   
   van with schoolchildren on it."   
      
   Weems' defense attorney argued that while Weems was addicted to porn, he did   
   not intentionally show any pornographic material to the girl, who is now 12,   
   or sexually abuse her. The defense also said: "There is a possibility (the   
   girl inadvertently)    
   accessed porn on his device."   
      
   The defense said: "How does an innocent man come to court and try to prove a   
   negative, that something didn't happen? He didn't intentionally give access to   
   the (web) page with pornography on it. He denied all of the sexual   
   allegations. Why wouldn't James    
   be worthy of belief?"   
      
   In their final argument, prosecutors claimed Weems was grooming the child,   
   saying: "These types of crimes thrive in secrecy and shame."   
      
   Weems' ex-wife, Shanteari Weems, the now-12-year-old alleged victim, relatives   
   and an FBI special agent all testified in the trial over the past week.   
   Shanteari Weems confronted her husband about the allegations and shot him in   
   July 2022 in a Washington,    
   D.C., hotel. She's currently serving a four-year prison sentence for the   
   shooting.   
      
   https://www.wbaltv.com/article/james-weems-sex-abuse-trial-verdict/62787405   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)