Wade Joshua Braithwaite
Leonardtown, MD – A verdict was reached Thursday, July 12 in the trial of Wade Joshua Braithwaite, 23, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence in connection with a murder that occurred a month after the alleged events presented in the trial last week. Braithwaite was indicted on the charges of attempted first-and-second-degree murder, as well as armed robbery and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. The trial began Wednesday, July 11 and went into Thursday ending after the jury returned from deliberations with a not-guilty verdict on all the charges.
Braithwaite pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with a felony conviction in relation to the murder of Cody Lacey, 21 of Mechanicsville, who was shot and killed while attending a party in Mechanicsville in July of 2015. Alan Rangel, an acquaintance of Braithwaite’s, was found guilty of Lacey’s murder and sentenced to 90 years in prison.
While investigating Lacey’s murder police conducted a search and seizure at a home where they recovered a loaded .38 caliber revolver in the toilet of a bathroom where Braithwaite was located. The revolver matched that of one used in an armed robbery that took place in June of 2015, one month before Lacey’s murder.
The victim of the armed robbery knew Rangel, having allegedly traded drugs with him in the past. According to Rangel’s girlfriend at the time—Amanda Rae Hartman—Rangel, Braithwaite, and herself conspired to rob the victim after Rangel lured him out pretending as though he wanted to trade drugs. Once the victim exited his home to meet Rangel, a man wearing a ski mask approached him with a gun. When the victim turned to run, he was shot several times and then robbed. The masked gunman is alleged by Hartman to have been Braithwaite. Hartman also alleged that Braithwaite was supposed to have used a taser in the robbery and that she had no knowledge he planned on using a gun.
In his opening statement and throughout the trial, William H. Cooke, Braithwaite’s lawyer, questioned Hartman’s credibility as a witness.
St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Richard Fritz prosecuted the case.
Contact Jerold Massey at jeroldmassie@gmail.com