A Baltimore man convicted of murder over two years ago appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin H. Schreiber II on Nov. 7 after his case was remanded from the Appellate Court of Maryland on Sept. 2. The ruling requested that he be released from incarceration while awaiting retrial. The defense claims the killing was in self-defense.
Theodore Johnson, 44, was convicted in 2023 of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony crime of violence, and four firearm possession violations in connection to the fatal shooting of William Kenneth Christian, 40, on the 3500 block of W. Caton Avenue in Southwest Baltimore’s Saint Josephs neighborhood.
All charges stemmed from an argument over a child’s dirty diaper that ended when Johnson allegedly shot the father of his sister’s children in the chest on June 16, 2022. Christian was pronounced dead approximately 37 minutes after Baltimore Police arrived at the scene.
Johnson was sentenced to an aggregate 60 years before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong on June 5, 2023, receiving 40 years for the murder charge and a consecutive 20 years for the two firearm charges. His prior convictions include multiple marijuana possession and paraphernalia charges, several gun possession charges, a trespassing violation, two failures to appear from 2011, and one failure to obey law enforcement.
The prosecution urged Judge Schreiber to consider leaving Johnson incarcerated without bail pending retrial, noting that Christian’s murder was “not [the] murder of any stranger on the street,” but an intentional act of violence against someone Johnson knew.
Judge Schreiber agreed with the state’s evaluation of the incident, acknowledging it as “a horrific crime.”
Meanwhile, defense attorney Matthew Connell maintained that Christian’s death arose from “imperfect self-defense,” urging Judge Schreiber that “this is a self-defense case, and a defense-of-others case” as he argued for his client’s release pending retrial.
Based on the brutality of Christian’s murder, the consequent risk his release may pose to public safety, and the “constellation of facts” in the case, Judge Schreiber ultimately ordered that Johnson remain incarcerated without bail.
“Unfortunately for you, the facts are such that I find that you have to be detained,” Judge Schreiber said. “I hope that justice is done, whatever that may be. Good luck to you, sir.”
Johnson is now set to reappear in court Dec. 5 before Judge Melissa K. Copeland to tie up remaining pretrial matters and receive a date for jury trial.
