33-Year-Old Man's Co-Defendant Was the Shooter, Defense Argues

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Defense counsel for homicide defendant Clipper Jordan suggested it was her client’s co-defendant, Tyrone Fenner, not Jordan, who was the triggerman responsible for the murder of Donte Miller two years ago in East Baltimore.

On Jan. 3, Jordan’s jury trial began with opening statements before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Robert K. Taylor Jr. The 33-year-old defendant is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and having a handgun in a vehicle in connection to the incident on Nov. 15, 2022.

Isabel Lipman, Jordan’s defense attorney, informed jurors that when Fenner, 35, was arrested a week after the shooting, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers found a Polymer80 handgun under the seat of his vehicle, an Acura MDX. During Fenner’s jury trial last December, testimony revealed that police learned Fenner’s gun was consistent with the casings recovered at the scene and only his DNA was found on the weapon.

Fenner was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and firearm possession with a felony conviction on Dec. 15, 2023. His sentencing is currently scheduled on Feb. 2, according to the Maryland Judiciary website.

No witnesses of the shooting will testify, Lipman continued in her opening statement, nor will the jury see any video evidence of the actual shooting. There will also be “significant gaps” in BPD’s surveillance of the Acura MDX prior to the shooting.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will start with doubt and that’s what we’ll end with,” the defense attorney concluded.

Prior to Lipman’s opening, the prosecutor said jurors should expect to see FBI evidence tracking the location of Jordan’s phone from the moment his co-defendant picked him up on the 5400 block of Forest Road around 1:30 p.m. to the time of the shooting on the 2600 block of East Hoffman Street around 2:20 p.m.

The prosecutor said Fenner’s girlfriend was in the vehicle with the two men earlier that afternoon when Jordan and Fenner picked up Fenner’s girlfriend’s son at his school and then dropped the mother and son off at their home.

“This isn’t going to be a case where there’s a witness who says, ‘Oh, I saw the shooting,’” the prosecutor said, but “everything adds up.”

Jordan’s trial proceeded with a detective’s testimony on Wednesday morning and is expected to continue through Jan. 5.

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33-Year-Old Man’s Co-Defendant Was the Shooter, Defense Argues