Jury Deliberates in Towson Town Center Stabbing Trial

TOWSON— Jurors in an attempted-murder trial this week heard vastly different versions of the events that led to attempted-murder charges and the bloody injuries of a woman in the parking lot of a local shopping mall.

Anthony Bryant Scott Sr., 33, of Pikesville, faces charges of attempted first- and second-degree murder and assault. He is accused of stabbing and cutting Jada Davis in a fit of rage. Testimony wrapped up midday in Baltimore County Circuit Court Thursday and jurors began deliberations shortly after 2 p.m.

If found guilty of first-degree attempted murder, Scott could face up to life in prison. 

Scott and Davis met in a parking lot of the Towson Town Center mall off Fairmount Avenue in Towson just before noon Oct. 4, 2025. Surveillance video captured much of the attack that followed, including Scott dragging Davis by her hair and striking her.

Scott and Davis both testified they argued about an accusation Scott made that Davis was seeing another man. That’s where the accounts diverged.

Prosecutors said Scott attacked Davis and tried to kill her, stabbing and cutting her 14 times, first as she sat in her car and then several more times in the parking lot as she tried to run from him. Attorneys for the state said Scott only stopped when a police officer arrived and drew a gun on him, despite bystanders surrounding him and yelling at him to stop.

“This was a one-sided brutal attack,” Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Darnbrough told jurors in closing arguments.

The defense rejected the idea that Scott stabbed Davis 14 times, saying the injuries were superficial lacerations and that Scott had no intention of killing Davis.

Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon said Scott was initially acting in self-defense. Scott testified Thursday that he feared for his life when Davis bit down on his finger and started to drive away, potentially dragging and crushing him between her car and parked cars.

Darnbrough pointed out that Scott never told police he was scared of being crushed. He said Davis’ car only moved 12 feet at less than two miles per hour before coming to rest against a parked car. Scott countered that he wanted to “save” parts of his account for his attorney.

DEFENDANT TESTIFIES

Scott said he only pulled out his work knife to “poke” Davis and get her to stop biting him. Any other cuts she had were inflicted as the two struggled for control of the knife in the car, he said. He admitted to assaulting her after she got out of the car, but said it was with his fist, not the knife. 

On the stand, Scott said he and Davis met in 2015 when they both worked for Amazon and had dated on and off in the years after that.

Scott said he “felt like he was in love” with Davis and occasionally gave her money and gifts. He said he wanted to help her with her difficult living situation.

“I told her it would hurt me if she had to live in a shelter,” Scott said. 

Though Scott had a court order that prohibited him from contacting Davis, the two had been in touch online, he said. Davis had reached out to him the day before the incident.

When the two met in the parking lot near the Brass Tap restaurant, they hugged and kissed as they greeted each other. Then Scott said he asked Davis about a Tweet he’d seen.

“She became irate and started cussing at me,” Scott said. “She was angry, yelling, I could hear the anger in her voice.” 

He said when he reached into the car to try to remove the keys, Davis bit his finger and did not let go. 

“I did not want her to pull off while she had my finger in her mouth,” Scott said. 

He said he only grabbed his work knife to stop her.

“I was fearing for my life, so I poked her with the knife in her side,” he said. 

Scott admitted to “manhandling” Davis, saying through tears that he was enraged. “I don’t recognize that guy I saw," he said.

VICTIM’S TESTIMONY

Davis testified Tuesday she’d arranged to meet Scott to have him return some of her belongings. 

Shortly after they met at her car, he started “fussing” at her, showing her something on his phone — a Twitter message he felt proved she had been seeing someone else. 

Not wanting to engage, she said, she started to the car intending to drive away to watch her son’s football game. That’s when Scott reached into the car and began attacking her with a knife, Davis testified.

Davis testified Scott tried to slit her throat and stabbed her in the arm and back. She said she grabbed the knife blade to stop the attack and sustained tendon injuries to her hands. She was also cut on her neck, bicep, and the side of her back.

She was hospitalized for four days at Shock Trauma after the attack and currently is scheduled for a hand surgery. 

Three witnesses testified to seeing Scott strike at Davis with the knife. One witness said he was close enough to get a good look at the knife, which he described as a tactical knife with a 3.25-inch blade. The knife shown in court had a 4-inch blade.

Darnbrough said Davis was lucky there were two police officers nearby, an MTA officer who stopped the attack and a Baltimore County officer with medical training who tended to her injuries, placing a tourniquet on her arm to slow her bleeding. He also attributed her survival in part to her willingness to fight back. 

“If this trial has taught me anything," Darnbrough said, "do not underestimate the fight of a woman who is trying to get back to her child.”