Circuit Court Shooting, Homicide Trials Double in July Over June

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Shooting and homicide trials in the Baltimore City Circuit Court nearly doubled in July over June, according to the latest data from Baltimore Witness.

Baltimore Witness reported 13 completed trials in July, including nine homicide trials and four shooting trials. This compared to the Circuit Court’s seven trials during June, two of which began at the end of May.

Four of the 13 trials — two homicide cases and two shooting cases — concluded by July 2 after carrying over from June. Three additional homicide trials in July concluded by Aug. 4, with two guilty convictions and a mistrial.

July’s juries in 11 out of the 13 trials were able to reach unanimous verdicts, including that of 34-year-old Dominic Felder. Felder faced trial on July 7 for first-degree murder and multiple weapons charges in connection to the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Tavin Cooper on the 2500 block of McHenry Street on Oct. 2, 2024.

Felder’s trial before Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones centered around testimony from the victim’s cousin – an alleged eyewitness connected to the crime whose testimony was highly contested by Felder’s defense attorney, John Cox.

The witness claimed to be with his cousin at the time of the murder before fleeing the scene and subsequently being stopped and arrested by Baltimore Police for having a handgun on his person. As Cox questioned him on the stand, Cooper’s cousin failed to recall key details of the shooting and confessed to initially giving false information to the police out of fear.

Felder was found not guilty of all charges by a jury on July 8.

Of the seven completed trials in June 2025, three were for shootings and four were for homicides. Five trials resulted in verdicts, while the remaining two were ruled mistrials.

One of the two mistrials was that of 37-year-old Munir Matin, which occurred on June 25 after a judge deemed there was prosecutorial misconduct. This prevents the case from being retried. Matin was slated for trial in late June before Judge Jones for charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and related firearms violations in connection to a shooting on the 2900 block of Garrison Boulevard on June 2, 2024.

During the June hearing, Matin’s defense attorney, Roya Hanna, explained that the prosecution sent her over 1,000 case files relevant to all three of her client’s cases the night before, on June 24, at 10:45 p.m. Among these files were the victim’s police statement and a note stating that the lead detective needed the prosecution’s permission to add anything to his notes.

After the prosecutor conceded to an evidence violation, Judge Jones declared a mistrial. The State’s Attorney and Deputy State’s Attorney escorted the case’s prosecuting attorney out of the courtroom.

The defendant is also accused of two fatal shootings that occurred on the same date.

Matin’s associated cases for the fatal shootings of Jarmal Damine Harrid, 34, and Terrell Johnson-Smith, 32, are set to be heard on Oct. 28 before Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer.

Baltimore Witness reported only one day of no trials in July, on July 3, a sharp decrease from the six-day period of no shooting or homicide trials in the Circuit Court from June 10 to June 17

Despite a disparity in the number of trials begun during June and July, the number of postponements remained relatively equal. Baltimore Witness data showed 17 trials were postponed in July, up only one from the 16 trials that were postponed during June.