Co-Defendants Accept Guilty Plea for Shipley Hill Murder

By Sophie Gad [former] - March 30, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Two out of three co-defendants charged with homicide in connection to the death of 31-year-old Marvin Mason returned to reception court on March 29 to accept pleas before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn.

According to the Baltimore Sun, on Dec. 3, 2019, Baltimore Police Department officers responded to a Shot Spotter alert around 2:30 a.m. on the 2400 block of W. Baltimore Street in Baltimore’s Shipley Hill neighborhood. When they arrived, police found Mason in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with a gunshot wound to his chest.

The medics took Mason to Shock Trauma, where he was pronounced dead within an hour.

Martez Frye-Cuff, 22, Dneah Smith, 21, and Reubin McFadden, 22, were later charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, conspiracy to firearm use in a felony violent crime, and having a handgun on their person.

McFadden and Smith were also charged with robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. 

On Tuesday, Judge Phinn listened as the prosecutor presented Frye-Cuff with a plea of life, suspending all but 25 years, and the first five years without parole for first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony violent crime, which he accepted before his defense attorney, Andrea Jaskulsky.

Smith and her defense attorney, Natalie McKeown Finegar, also accepted a plea of 10 years for accessory to first-degree murder after the fact.

McFadden, who is represented by defense attorney Catherine Flynn, will return to court on July 19 as his case was postponed.