Hearing Postponed for Defendant Facing Gun Possession Probation Violation

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A non-fatal shooting defendant requested his hearing be postponed during collateral court on Sept. 7 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Hong.

Defendant Mingo Watson violated his probation in 2018 after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge. Watson has been incarcerated since 2018 for a probation violation following a conviction for the non-fatal shooting that happened in May of that year.

Watson was on probation for a 2014 charge for the distribution of narcotics and was sentenced to serve ten years in prison with four years of supervised probation.

During his hearing, Watson told the court that he didn’t “whip a gun out and shoot anyone.” Instead, he said, the gun was pulled on him.

According to CBS Baltimore, on May 23, 2018, Baltimore Police officers responded to a call of a shooting on the 3900 block of Liberty Heights Avenue. There police found a 56-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. Reportedly, police found Watson a few blocks over with a handgun.

Watson requested that his hearing be postponed to allow his federal defense attorney, Christian Lassiter, to comment on the violation, because he has first hand knowledge of that case.

Watson’s next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.