Non-Fatal Shooting Defendant Receives May Trial Date Despite Prosecution’s Unavailability

By Khalaisha James [former] - February 17, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

During reception court on Feb. 16, a defendant rejected a plea offered by the assistant state’s attorney before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn. 

Taiquan Moss was offered a plea of 25 years, suspending all but 15 years with four years of supervised probation for first-degree assault and a concurrent sentence of 20 years, suspending all but five years, without the possibility of parole and four years of supervised probation for the use of a firearm in a felony violent crime. 

The defendant would have also been ordered to stay away from the victim and register as a gun offender.

According to the Maryland Judiciary website, the 27-year-old defendant is charged with first and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, using a firearm in a violent felony crime, two counts of possessing a firearm with a felony conviction, two counts of possession of firearms during a controlled dangerous substance offense, two counts of illegal possession of a regulated firearm, having a handgun on his person, having a loaded handgun on his person, illegally possessing ammo and discharging firearms in connection to an incident that occurred on Sep. 10, 2022.

According to court documents, Moss was allegedly involved in a dispute which led to the non-fatal shooting of a man in the ankle on the 400 block of East Baltimore Street.

Moss elected not to start trial beyond his Hick’s date, which is his right to be tried within 180 days of his or his attorney’s first court appearance, of May 1.

The prosecution said she was unavailable to start trial within Hick’s initially but changed her reasoning during the hearing, saying it was actually due to the availability of the witness.

Defense attorney William Gibbs questioned her contradiction, to which she reverted back to saying it was her unavailability to blame for the postponement.

Judge Phinn scheduled Moss’ trial to begin on May 31 and informed all parties she would email them when she had a judge available. The trial is expected to last for three days.

According to the Baltimore Sun, in 2016, Moss was involved in a five-person Memorial Day shooting where he suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. Moss returned later the next day to the scene of the shooting, where he was then arrested and charged with multiple gun violations, prohibiting him from possessing handguns in the future.