Jurors find the daycare driver shot by an ex-wife guilty of rape and sexual abuse

A Baltimore County jury Friday evening found a daycare van driver accused of sexually abusing a girl guilty of second-degree rape and other charges.

Police arrested retired Baltimore police officer James Weems Jr., 59, in July 2022, after his then-wife Shanteari Weems shot him in a Washington, D.C., hotel room as authorities closed down her Owings Mills daycare center, Lil Kidz Kastle.

After five hours of deliberation Friday, jurors found Weems guilty of all six charges: two counts of rape in the second degree, three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and one count of showing obscene matter to a minor between March 2020 and July 2022 .

He will return to the Baltimore County Detention Center until his sentencing on January 8.

The trial began Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

Jurors did not hear that grand juries had indicted Weems on an additional 33 charges, including similar charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of three other children. This week’s trial only dealt with charges related to one victim.

Read the full story on the Baltimore Sun website.