Hearing Rescheduled for 1996 Murder Defendant Cited For Probation Violation

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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Gale E. Rasin postponed 48-year-old Gary Baynor’s mental health observation hearing for a week after he failed to come to court from the jail. Baynor was originally scheduled for a Feb. 26 appearance to face an alleged probation violation.

According to the transcript from a 1999 hearing before the Maryland Court of Appeals, Baynor, who was 19 at the time of the offense, was convicted for the Feb. 1, 1996 murder of Dion Williams and the non-fatal shooting of another man on the 3300 Block of Edgewood Street.

Baynor was found guilty on charges of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and various related firearm charges.

In a widely publicized case Baynor was sentenced to 100 years of incarceration by former Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman.

“In 2015, Baynor filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence in which he asserted that his convictions should have merged for sentencing purposes. The circuit court rejected that claim and denied relief,” said a 2015 Maryland Court of Appeals brief.

In another twist to the case, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey M. Geller granted Baynor’s release in 2022 after reconsidering his sentence as excessive.

Baynor is represented by defense attorney Sharon Bogins.