Prosecutor’s Unavailability Pushes Homicide Defendant’s Trial to May 2023

By Ashleigh Joplin [former] - October 21, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A homicide defendant had his trial date set for May 2023 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn on Oct. 21.

Defendant Karl Wallace chose not to waive his Nov. 20 Hick’s date, which is his right to be tried within 180 days of his or his attorney’s first court appearance, but Judge Phinn still found probable cause to schedule his trial beyond that date.

The prosecutor assigned to the case did not have availability before Nov. 20, but she was informed to contact the court if time freed up on her schedule in February.

On Friday, Wallace and his attorney Chris Purpura rejected the plea offered by the prosecution of life, suspending all but 40 years in prison with five years of supervised probation upon release for first-degree murder.

Wallace is charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony violent crime, possession of a firearm with a felony conviction, and having a handgun on his person in connection with a fatal shooting on April 3.

According to a Baltimore Police Department press release, on April 12, members of the Warrant Task Force arrested Wallace following interviews with witnesses. Detectives determined that the shooting resulted from a verbal dispute and resulted in the death of 22-year-old Troy Gross on the 2500 block of Patapsco Avenue.

Judge Phinn scheduled Wallace’s trial for May 17, 2023, before Judge M. Brooke Murdock, and it is expected to last three to four days.

Read more about this case here.