Closing arguments clashed on April 27 in the trial of Dajuan Heath, a 24-year-old Baltimore man accused of taking part in an armed robbery that quickly turned fatal at a McDonald’s parking lot last August.
Heath is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, conspiracy and multiple gun offenses in connection to the incident, which occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 9, 2025, outside a McDonald’s drive-thru in Southwest Baltimore.
Heath’s 17-year-old co-defendant Tristin Cofield, who faces similar charges, is set to stand trial on June 2. The two are being tried separately due to filing errors committed by the prosecutors. Both are accused in the murder of 38-year-old Briane Gaye, whose death was ruled a homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds.
Surveillance cameras that captured the incident showed Gaye was riding his scooter on the 2500 block of W. Franklin Street when two other scooter riders approached him. Shortly after, according to police documents, a “minor confrontation” ensued, and Gaye was shot multiple times. Then the group fled the scene. Gaye was transported to an area hospital and pronounced dead within the hour.
The proceedings saw persistent objections from Heath’s attorney, Derrick Hamlin. While the state’s attorney argued that Heath and his alleged co-conspirators acted with a clear motive to rob Gaye of his scooter, Hamlin maintained that “presence doesn’t equal participation” and that his client “didn’t pull a gun, he didn’t shoot anybody, he didn’t steal anything.”
Hamlin urged jurors to find Heath not guilty, citing reasonable doubt and what he argued was a lack of evidence in the state’s investigation.
The state’s attorney maintained that the suspects attempted to block Gaye’s path to prevent him from fleeing the scene. Hamlin countered that there had been no such plan.
“[The] state is asking you to do something that the law doesn’t allow,” Hamlin told jurors during his closing argument. “They want you to convict without proof.”
He added Heath “didn’t even know these kids” seen in the footage and emphasized investigators could have easily reached the same conclusion by probing Heath’s social media accounts. “Young people live their whole lives on Instagram, Snapchat, social media,” he said.
In rebuttal, the state’s attorney emphasized that Maryland law mandates that suspects involved in fatal armed robberies are liable to murder charges. “Just because the defendant didn’t pull the trigger that night does not mean he wasn’t responsible for his own actions,” she told jurors. She urged the panel to convict Heath, suggesting Hamlin was growing “louder and louder” in his argument because he lacked a case against the state.
Jurors are currently deliberating the case.
