Convicted Shooting Defendant’s Sentence Reduced by 11 Years

By Andrew Michaels - April 27, 2022
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge reduced a convicted non-fatal shooting defendant’s sentence by over a decade on April 26 after agreeing with defense counsel’s arguments that the defendant’s original sentence was outside the state’s guidelines for such charges.

James Phillips appeared before his trial judge, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock, who reduced his sentence from 35 years in prison to 24 years with the first five years without parole.

In August 2021, the 21-year-old defendant was acquitted of two counts each of attempted first and second-degree murder. However, he was sentenced to a total of 35 years for multiple firearms charges as well as assault and reckless endangerment in connection to the attempted murder of two brothers on Nov. 11, 2019, outside Grocery Deli and Carryout on the 3400 block of Belair Road.

Under his original sentence, the defendant was not be eligible for parole until he served half of his sentence.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, defense attorney Jonathan Kerr requested his client’s sentence be reduced to 35 years, suspending all but 15, and the first five years without parole.

Kerr described Phillips’ sentence as “excessive,” explaining that the court originally proposed a 15-year sentence prior to the trial, while the state recommended 50 years, suspending all but 20 years. In addition, he said, the state guidelines for the charges against Phillips is between five years and 24 years.

The defense attorney also said Phillips has shown constructive use of his time during his incarceration by working on his GED, recently earning a certificate of achievement.

“We’re not very far down the road, but this shows the court he’s going in the direction I was hoping he would,” said Kerr, who also acknowledged Phillips’ troubled upbringing, including the death of his mother in a house fire when he was a young boy.

The prosecution countered that the facts remain the same whether Phillips’ actions were premeditated or impulsive, requesting his sentence go unchanged.

Judge Murdock said she found Phillips’ sentence appropriate at the time given the city’s “serious violence problem,” yet agreed that the sentence should be within state guidelines.

“This cycle of violence has to stop and I don’t know how to do that aside from jail time,” the judge said. “The point I’m making is that taking him off the streets saved his life.”