Prosecutorial Misconduct Leads to Mistrial

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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones granted a mistrial for one of 37-year-old Munir Matin’s three criminal cases on June 25 following findings of prosecutorial misconduct. Proceedings ended with the State’s Attorney and Deputy State’s Attorney escorting the case’s prosecuting attorney out of the courtroom.

Matin was charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, firearm use in a violent crime, and related firearm violations in connection to an attempted murder incident that occurred June 2, 2024, on the 2900 block of Garrison Boulevard.

Defense attorney Roya Hanna told Judge Jones that, at 10:45 p.m. on June 24, the prosecution sent her over 1,000 case files relevant to all three of Matin’s cases. The files reportedly included the victim’s statement to police, other persons of interest and a note stating that the lead detective needed the prosecution’s permission to add anything to his notes.

For these reasons, Hanna said she was being forced into a postponement or a mistrial – neither of which she wanted.

After conceding that there was a discovery of evidence violation, the prosecution tried to rebut these claims by saying they were disclosed in the reports, but not official filings. The prosecution said the “proper remedy” would be to exclude these items from evidence rather than declare a mistrial.

Judge Jones told the prosecution, “There are faultlines in the system and you’re exploiting them.”

The prosecution claimed they are not trying to justify their actions, and attributed their conduct to the fact that the court is trying multiple cases at once. They also stated they were unaware of some files until this week.

The victim also refused to cooperate, the prosecution noted. A transcript of the victim’s initial police statement was read to the court, revealing the victim described a suspect, but was never shown a video or photo to confirm the suspect’s identity.

Judge Jones told the prosecution their job was to be aware of the evidence and other findings in each case.

After careful deliberation, the judge granted a mistrial for Matin’s attempted murder case due to prosecutorial misconduct, preventing the case from being retried.

Matin’s cases for fatal shooting victims Jarmal Damien Harrid, 34, and Terrell Johnson-Smith, 32, were sent to reception court for a postponement. Counsel and Matin will return to reception court on July 2.