Teen In Bowers Case Found Not Guilty 1st-Degree Premeditated Murder
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A split decision on murder charges against a Baltimore teenager for one of the city's most brutal killings. Jurors did not find Raeshawn Rivers guilty of any of the charges he faced for killing 16-year-old Arnesha Bowers.
Rivers' family rushed out of the courthouse, as officers took the shackled 15-year-old away in a van after a jury split on charges against him in the murder of 16-year-old Arnesha Bowers.
Bowers' grandfather waited through five days of deliberations.
"We live in a society where jurors decide fates. We have to accept that," said Eugene Bowers, victim's grandfather.
His only granddaughter was beaten, stabbed, raped and set on fire inside her grandmother's home in Northeast Baltimore in June of 2015.
"She was a really great child. She and I were very close. I miss her a lot," her grandfather said.
Jurors found Rivers not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, but could not agree on felony murder.
Prosecutors alleged he hashed a plot with two older acquaintances, Adonay Dixon and John Childs, to burglarize Bowers' home.
Things turned out of control, and although Rivers did not kill Bowers with his own hands, the state argued he was just as responsible for her death.
"You can be responsible for a murder, even if you are not the one who actually commits the murder," said Andy Levy, legal analyst.
Jurors did not find Rivers guilty of any of the 20 charges he faced, including burglary, conspiracy, arson and false imprisonment, deadlocking on many of them.
There will be a scheduling hearing on Monday morning.
The other two men pleaded guilty to Bowers' murder. They are serving life sentences.
