Family Hoping For Justice As Murder Trial For 7-Year-Old Taylor Hayes Nears End
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Closing arguments started Monday in the Taylor Hayes murder trial.
30-year-old Keon Gray is accused of shooting and killing seven-year-old Taylor Hayes, who was caught in a shootout last summer while riding in the backseat of a car.
The prosecution laid out the timeline of events from July 5, 2018. They said this case "tore at the conscience and character of the city,"
In their closing arguments, prosecutors said Taylor Hayes was with her godmother, Darnell Holmes, her boyfriend Malik Edison, and their seven-year-old daughter. They were running errands when they hit heavy traffic along Edmondson Ave in Northwest Baltimore.
Prosecutors showed traffic camera video from that day and explained that Keon Gray was driving erratically in a white Mercedes.
They go on to explain that Gray and Holmes both pulled over in traffic and got into a heated argument for Gray's irresponsible driving.
Prosecutors said that's when Gray got back into his car, circled around the block and waited for Holmes to drive by in her blue Acura so that he could fire shots in her direction.
The prosecution said the shots meant for Darnell Holmes instead struck Taylor Hayes, who was sitting in the backseat of the car.
She died two weeks later after fighting for her life.
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Gray is facing 32 charges, including the murder of Taylor Hayes.
Officers made several arrests along the way, including the owner of the car Hayes had been riding in at the time of the shooting -- the driver and a passenger Malik Edison.
The prosecution argues that the two adults in the car at the time of the shooting identify Gray as the perpetrator. They also noted that Gray's DNA was found on one of the airbags found inside the Mercedes and that cell phone site records place him in the same area as the shooting around the same time.
Edison testified against Gray in court last week, saying the two men were in a shootout when Gray pulled the trigger while driving a white Mercedes, allegedly firing the bullet that hit Hayes.
Edison faces his own gun charges. He is scheduled for trial in October.
Meanwhile, the defense questions the credibility of the State's main two witnesses- Holmes and Edison- arguing that the couple was captured on body-worn camera lying to the police, not once but several times.
The defense said that on July 5, Holmes "didn't act like any godmother should act," and the defense added that none of the eyewitnesses were ever able to identify Keon Gray in a line-up, and police had failed to investigate other tips called into them.
Once the defense finished up their closing arguments, the State had a chance for rebuttal. And now, the case is in the hands of the jury who will begin deliberating the facts and witnesses testimony.
