Judge Allows Testimony About Alleged Abuse in Retrial of Man Accused of Killing Former Teacher

TOWSON — When Zayeed Abdul-Muhaimin's murder retrial began in Baltimore County last week, jurors were not expected to hear his allegations that his former middle school teacher sexually abused him years before Abdul-Muhaimin shot him to death.

In multiple pretrial hearings in the months and weeks leading up to the trial, Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Tompsett had ruled that the testimony would be too prejudicial and therefore inadmissible.

But Tompsett reversed course Tuesday, agreeing with the defense that prosecutors had "opened the door" to the evidence by questioning a witness about Shelton Stanley's character.

Abdul-Muhaimin told jurors Tuesday that Stanley sexually abused him when he was in seventh grade and Stanley was a teacher and coach at Friendship Academy of Science and Technology in Baltimore.

Abdul-Muhaimin, now 28, admits firing a shotgun multiple times at Stanley, 36, inside Stanley's Pikesville home on Hawksbury Road but maintains that he acted in self-defense.

Stanley was an assistant principal at Dunbar High School at the time of his death on Dec. 27, 2020. Prosecutors have said the two had previously been involved in a sexual relationship and contend that the killing was murder, not self-defense.

Police found Stanley's body wrapped in blankets and plastic at the bottom of the home's basement. Investigators say Abdul-Muhaimin tried unsuccessfully to use the man's ATM card after the shooting and eventually made $2,500 in bank transfers from Stanley's account to his girlfriend's account.

Under questioning by defense attorney Elizabeth Crow, Abdul-Muhaimin testified Tuesday that Stanley was upset because he had not followed through with a plan to abduct a man and bring him to Stanley. The man was the younger brother of a former classmate, Abdul-Muhaimin testified, and the two had attended a college class together. Defense attorneys have said the man was also a former student of Stanley's who had been in a romantic relationship with him but had recently begun distancing himself.

Abdul-Muhaimin said he used Stanley's bank card, which he found in Stanley's car, to check his account balance at an ATM to make sure Stanley had enough money to pay him for the kidnapping. A list of supplies police found on Abdul-Muhaimin's phone–which included an electric saw and plastic wrap– were things he thought he might need in the kidnapping, he said.

According to Abdul-Muhaimin, when he returned having not carried out the kidnapping plan, Stanley became agitated and aggressive and retrieved a handgun from a nightstand. Abdul-Muhaimin said he grabbed a shotgun from a nearby closet and opened fire.

After the shooting, he testified, he cleaned the home and called two friends over for advice. While cleaning, he said, he discovered a bullet hole in the ceiling that had been made by Stanley's Glock handgun.

"When I initially grabbed the shotgun, both of us fired our first shots, he shot towards the ground," Abdul-Muhaimin testified.

He said he later patched the hole with spackle.

Abdul-Muhaimin also texted his girlfriend in California that he had "caught a body.”

He told jurors that, years earlier, he had been riding to and from middle school with Stanley. He said Stanely would touch him inappropriately and ask him questions about his sexuality. Once, he said, Stanley performed oral sex on him.

Abdul-Muhaimin described having conflicted feelings about Stanley, who had taken on the role of a mentor to him.

The two remained in contact after middle school, and Stanley helped him with schoolwork while he was in high school, Abdul-Muhaimin testified. He said he and other former students spent time with Stanley when they were high-school aged, participating in activities such as laser tag, go kart racing, and bowling.

By the time Abdul-Muhaimin shot and killed Stanley in December 2020, he was 23 years old and had been staying with Stanley on and off for several years.

Their relationship had deteriorated, he testified, after he told Stanley a few months before the shooting that he no longer wanted to "partake in man-to-man activities."

He said he felt the need to establish boundaries with Stanley.

"I feel like, if you're my mentor or you're a father figure, or you're a friend ... you shouldn't try to do things that a person is against," he testified. "I'm trying to confide in you about my girlfriend and you're trying to make sexual advances on me."

A jury convicted Abdul-Muhaimin of second-degree murder in 2022, and he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. In 2024, a state appellate court overturned the conviction, ruling that potential jurors should have been questioned about their views on firearms.

Abdul-Muhaimin is expected to return to the witness stand Wednesday for cross-examination.