WASHINGTON — The lawyer for the 23-year-old woman who was shot and killed by Baltimore County police after an hourslong standoff at her Randallstown apartment is challenging a judge’s order that police and prosecutors be granted access to Korryn Gaines’ private Facebook messages.
Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon, who represents Gaines’ estate, said criminal charges against Gaines related to a March 2016 traffic stop were dropped after she was killed on Aug. 1, eliminating any valid reason for police to have her social media communications.
“So there’s no other reason to obtain the search warrant for her account,” Gordon said.
He said he will ask a circuit court judge to reconsider her decision to sign a search-and-seizure warrant for Gaines’ messages on three specific dates, including the day of her traffic stop and the day of the fatal standoff.
Gordon said he believes authorities want access to Gaines’ postings, “so that they can find additional information to besmirch her name and sully her reputation, and to fortify the defenses of the county, if there ever should be a civil action against them.”
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said the police department is still investigating the shooting incident to determine whether the shooting was justified.
“Facebook very often reflects an individual’s state of mind,” Shellenberger said. “The state of mind of Miss Gaines on this day is especially important in determining what happened and her intentions.”
Gordon disagreed.
“They should have been concerned about her state of mind when she was alive, when they had a chance to save her,” Gordon said. “This energy should have been used when she was alive, not after they killed her.”
The officer who killed Gaines has only been identified as Officer First Class Ruby.
Police went to Gaines’ apartment Aug. 1 to serve a warrant related to a March 10 traffic stop. Gaines posted videos from the stop, as well as during the standoff, on Instagram and other social media.
“They’re just going on this fishing expedition to find some anti-government or anti-police sentiment, to present to the media that she deserved to die because she felt this way about police or government,” Gordon said.
Officers said Gaines pointed a shotgun at them and threatened to kill them, as she and her five-year-old son remained in her apartment.
Gordon said he will ask the judge to return items seized from the search warrant, including Gaines’ cellphone and her mother’s phone.
Shellenberger said the police investigation is nearing its conclusion — “we’re still waiting for a few more pieces to be attained,” he said — and he will view the police investigation in its entirety before determining whether police were justified in shooting Gaines.
