Judge Denies Home Detention for Teen Charged in Sneaker-Meetup Killing

Defense cites “newly discovered information;” prosecutors say no evidence supports self-defense claim

NOTTINGHAM —The lawyer for a teen accused of killing a 17-year-old during a meetup to buy sneakers asked a judge Friday to release his client on home detention, citing “newly discovered information."

Cameron Cason, 19, is charged with the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Lafayette Sando, Jr.

Sando died in the parking lot of the Southfield Apartments in Nottingham on March 9, 2025, from a single gunshot wound, according to court and police records.

Investigators found cash totaling $600 around Sando’s body, in his hand and in his jacket pocket, according to charging documents. A handgun was also found next to the body, according to Cason’s attorney Donald Wright. 

The money in the victim’s hand was the same money Cason had photographed before the meetup to assure Sando he was serious about the purchase, according to court records. Police said the bills were matched using serial numbers.

“Based on what we’ve discovered, we don’t think Mr. Cason acted unlawfully,” Wright said. The attorney said Cason told him two others were there that night. Police and a private investigator haven’t been able to find the two people so far. 

Wright asked Circuit Court Judge Julie Glass to release his client on strict home detention. 

Assistant States Attorney Deanna Thomas argued to keep Cason in jail until his trial.

“There is no new physical evidence and no new forensic evidence that corroborates the defendant’s claim of self-defense,” Thomas said. “It’s merely the statements of this defendant alone.”

Thomas said texts leading up to the meeting show Sando was afraid and asked Cason to come alone.

Judge Glass ordered Cason to remain jailed without bond. No trial date has been set.

Police arrested Cason at his Overlea home about two months after the shooting. He did not talk to officers at the time and asked for a lawyer, according to charging documents.

Wright told Judge Glass on Friday that Cason shot Sando in self-defense.

Cason says he was with two friends in a car at the meetup, Wright said. The teen claims Sando got into the car, announced a robbery and pointed a gun, pressing the barrel to the driver’s neck.

The driver began to pull away, and Cason, who was in the back seat, said he fired his own gun to stop the robbery, Wright said.

“Mr. Cason was not the aggressor,” Wright wrote in a motion for bail review.  “He responded to an armed robbery in progress, using a single discharge of his firearm to neutralize an imminent lethal threat.”

Wright named two potential witnesses who he says were at the meetup in the car with Cason.  They could attest to Cason’s version of events, Wright said, but neither has been located so far, despite the efforts of a private investigator.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think they want to be found,” Wright said. 

Cason, who was a Parkville High School student before his arrest, sat up straight at his bail hearing, head held high and nodding repeatedly in agreement with his lawyer. 

Wright said has no criminal convictions and poses no threat to the community. 

“Murder is the epitome of a public safety risk,” prosecutor Thomas said.