Drug Deal Shooter Guilty Of Aiken Murder

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On July 24, A jury found 50-year-old Joseph Walker, guilty of murder in the second degree but acquitted him of the primary charge for his involvement in the 2023 murder of Marvin Jason Jackson Jr., 26. The crime was the apparent result of a drug deal gone bad.

Walker was accused of first- and second-degree murder, armed robbery, firearm use in a felony crime of violence, and several conspiracy charges in relation to the 2023 murder, which occurred on the 1800 block of Aiken Street.

The jury found Walker guilty of all charges but first-degree murder, and delivered their findings before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn S. Mays.

Charging documents note that at around 5:35 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2023, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert at the Aiken Street crime scene, where Jackson was found with a gunshot wound to his neck. He was proclaimed deceased at 6 p.m., at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Area surveillance footage showed two men exiting a white 2020 Volkswagen Passat and approachings Jackson. One of the suspects, later identified by a witness as Walker, was then seen shooting Jackson with a gun equipped with a laser. Walker was then seen rifling through Jackson’s pockets, while co-defendant Joseph Coates, 41, was seen picking up an unidentified item near Jackson’s body. In a taped statement, Walker admitted to detectives he was present at the scene, but only to purchase drugs from the victim.

No sentencing date has been set.