Woman who shot ex-husband inside DC hotel over child abuse allegations could be key witness at trial

TOWSON, Md. — More than two years after a Maryland woman shot her husband inside a DC hotel, prosecutors are preparing to call her as a potential key witness in his child abuse trial.

Jury selection began Monday for retired Baltimore Police officer James Stanley Weems Jr. The 59-year-old was indicted in 2022 on 33 counts of rape, sexual abuse of a minor, assault and perverted practice. He began trial this week on a subset of those charges linked to one of his alleged victims.

Weems was working as a van driver for Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center in Owing Mills, Maryland, when multiple children allegedly told their parents they had inappropriate interactions with them. Charging documents filed in Baltimore County Court allege Weems showed the children pornographic videos, touched them in inappropriate areas, exposed himself and forced them to touch him. According to court documents, a search warrant served on Weems’ phone in July 2022 turned up frequent visits to a specific pornographic website one of the victims told investigators about.

Even before he was charged, Weems made headlines when he was shot twice by his wife, Shanteari Weems, at the former Mandarin Oriental hotel in D.C. in July 2022.

In an interview with WUSA9 from the D.C. Jail, Shanteari said she “snapped” after hearing from a parent at her day care that her then-husband has allegedly abused children.

"I felt like the blood had just drained out of my body because ... it was my husband," Shanteari said. "He was supposed to help me protect these children. He always told me he was my protector. So when I heard this, I just felt like – I just felt like my world had ended."

Shanteari pleaded guilty in November 2022 to one count each of aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license. She was sentenced by a federal judge in D.C. in February 2023 to four years in prison. She filed for divorce from her husband following her arrest and has since changed her name to Shanteari Young, according to court records.

Shanteari, who has been serving her federal sentence at a facility in Kentucky, was transferred back to a Maryland jail earlier this month in preparation for her expected testimony as a witness for the government. Her ex-husband’s attorneys have asked the judge presiding over the case to bar jurors from hearing anything about the shooting, saying they might conclude she believed the allegations against him were truthful.

“Even a reference to this incident would be outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice,” defense attorney Thomas A. Pavlinic wrote.

Weems’ team is also seeking to exclude testimony from an FBI witness about pornographic sites he visited on his cellphone when the alleged juvenile victim was not in his presence.

Weems was arrested in September 2022 and initially ordered held without bond. He was released last October on home detention with intense restrictions, including a court order that he not have any contact with children, victims or witnesses connected to the case.

Prosecutors have notified the court they intend to seek enhanced penalties against Weems if he is convicted of any of the five counts of second-degree rape he faces. Under Maryland law, second-degree rape carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life behind bars.