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The young Washington DC prosecutor determined to put a daycare owner behind bars for shooting her alleged child molester husband in the neck and leg can be revealed today by DailyMail.com as public outrage over the case grows.
LaVater Massie-Banks, 29, is the Assistant US Attorney who is leading the case against Shanteari Weems, a 50-year-old daycare owner now facing 10 years in prison for shooting her husband.
On July 21, Shanteari drove from her home in Randallstown, Maryland, to the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington DC to confront her husband, retired Baltimore cop James Weems Jr.
She had just been told by one of the mothers of the children she looks after that James had been sexually abusing the child.
Now, she is being held in custody on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon. If convicted, she faces up to ten years behind bars.
She and James have been married for just five years, and her adult children say the allegations against him ruin their mother’s 20 plus year career in childcare.
LaVater Massie-Banks, 29, is the Assistant US Attorney who is leading the case against Shanteari Weems, a 50-year-old daycare owner now facing 10 years in prison for shooting her husband
Shanteari Weems, 50, faces 10 years in prison for shooting her husband, James Weems Jr. 57. He has been charged with ten child sex offenses
Massie-Banks thinks she deserves to be sent down. The 29-year-old prosecutor was working in Florida until recently.
In March, she helped send a homeless man to prison for nine years after he robbed one store and tried to rob another.
In a recent court hearing, Massie-Banks said of the daycare owner: ‘Yes, her husband was accused of molesting children and could be why this event occurred,’ Massie-Banks said at a recent hearing.
She then read aloud Shanteari’s notebook.
‘The first line on the note is, “I’m on my way to shoot James. I don’t intend to kill him. I intend to paralyze him.’ And that is exactly what happened. He was shot in his neck and his leg.’
July 21 was the second time Shanteari had heard such an allegation about her husband. The first closed down her daycare center, the Lil Kidz Kastle, which her family say she has spent years working to build.
Armed with her gun and determined to hurt her husband, Shanteari drove to his hotel and shot him twice – once in the neck and once in the leg.
She wrote in notes beforehand that she wanted to paralyze him and hurt him, as payback for what he’d allegedly done to the children (James has since been charged with ten sex offenses and he is also in jail awaiting sentencing).
Inside her husband’s hotel room, their dispute somehow triggered a fire alarm.
She says that James became violent towards her and approached her. A former cop, she says she was scared of what her husband could do to her so she fired her weapon.
Daycare owner Shanteari Weems, 50, in a photo provided to DailyMail.com. She has spent 20 years working in childcare before her husband was accused of child molestation earlier this month
Shanteari Weems’ daycare center, the Lil Kidz Kastle in Randallstown, near Baltimore
Shanteari Weems, 50, is shown outside the Mandarin Oriental, having just shot her husband James in the leg
A GoFundMe page set up to pay for her defense raised $3,000 before the website took it down, and people are now inundating the daycare’s Facebook page demanding for her to be released. Her next court appearance is on Friday.
Shanteari’s attorneys say that she has never been violent in the past, and that if freed, she wouldn’t be a risk to society
Shanteari’s attorneys say that she has never been violent in the past, and that if freed, she wouldn’t be a risk to society.
The judge disagreed and held her in custody. She will now return to court in November. But many believe Weems should go free.
When she was denied bond earlier this month, supporters in the courtroom yelled out: ‘Imagine if it was your grandkids!’
James and Shanteari have been married for only five years. Her family says the crimes he is accused of ruins her 20-year career in childcare
A GoFundMe account was set up to help her pay for her defense but GoFundMe took it down at $3,000 and reimbursed everyone who had donated.
Her family are desperate for her to be let out.
‘It’s ironic that they think she is a safety risk when the only reason she’s in jail is because she was trying to protect the safety of children.
‘She is in hell. This is a woman who was completely and utterly traumatized by having these mothers come to her.
‘She did not want him to touch another child… not on her watch – that’s for damn sure.
‘She has been doing this for 20 years. She built this business from scratch. Her whole life’s work is that mothers trust her and allow her to care for their kids while they go to work. To have this happen… and it is not even an employee.
‘It’s her husband,’ her attorney Tony Garcia told DailyMail.com.