UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — A Maryland jury made history this week when it convicted a man of murder based on the blink of a victim’s eye.
A jury found 25-year-old Jermaine Hailes guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday in the 2010 shooting of 29-year-old Melvin Pate in a drug robbery gone bad.
“This is only the fourth time in United States history and the first time in Maryland history that a blink was used as a dying declaration,” said Prince George’s County States Attorney Angela Alsobrook.
Armed at the time, the shooting left Pate paralyzed from the chest down and unable to speak.
“You could see tears coming from the side of his eyes as he identified the man who was his killer,” said prosecutor Christine Murphy, who pursued the case for more than five years.
In court, prosecutors showed the jury a video of Pate identifying Hailes from a lineup by blinking at a photo of the shooter. Pate died before Hailes went to trial, but in a way, was able to testify through the video.
The case was appealed twice before Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that Pate’s blink was a dying declaration and allowed prosecutors to show the video during the trial.
Hailes faces life in prison at a sentencing hearing set for Aug. 25.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
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