Murder Defendant Awaits Plea Offer

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A 34-year-old murder defendant received a trial date in Baltimore City Circuit Court Oct. 4.

Tony Dukes is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime and firearm possession with a felony conviction for the murder of 28-year-old Eugene Fitzgerald on March 26.

The prosecution did not have an approved plea offer to relay to Dukes and defense attorneys Maureen O’Leary and Jerry Prince. She said she had not gotten in touch with the victim’s next of kin yet and would make her offer after exhausting efforts to contact the victim’s family.

The prosecutor also told the court she had not sent all of the evidence in the case to the defense due to some reports still being incomplete. She hoped they would all be finished by the end of the month and aimed to send them to the defense at that point.

Judge Melissa K. Copeland scheduled Dukes’ five-day trial to begin on Jan. 14, 2025.

According to a Baltimore Police Department press release, Fitzgerald was killed on the 1800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Dukes was arrested April 15.