Defense Counsel Argues Her Client Was Coerced into Making Confession in 2012 Homicide Case

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On Dec. 2, a homicide defendant’s defense counsel motioned to suppress her client’s statement to police in connection to a 2012 murder.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams heard arguments from attorney Nancy Forster on Friday, saying that her client Alvin Kelley had been forced to make a statement by police through verbal abuse.

Forster claimed that the police told Kelley that if he confessed to committing the crime, they would help him; however, if he didn’t, then they would send him away for the rest of his life.

On March 4, 2015, Kelley was convicted of second-degree murder, the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime, and wearing/carrying a handgun on his person in connection to the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Jefferie Thomas Jr. on Aug. 4, 2012.

According to the Baltimore Sun, on the day of the incident, officers were called to the 3000 block of W. Garrison Avenue for reports of a shooting. On arrival, officers found the victim with a gunshot to the head and chest.

Forster read a transcript in open court from the police telling the defendant, “you gotta be straight up with me because I’m not taking no b******t to the prosecutor.”

Forster argued that the Baltimore police coerced the defendant into making an involuntary confession.

During her rebuttal, the prosecutor defended the detectives, dispelling the notion of improper police conduct.

The prosecutor also addressed the fact that the defendant never testified that the police made him promises or threatened him.

The prosecutor asked for the court to deny the defense’s motion.

Judge Williams did not render a decision in the 35-year-old defendant’s case, but said he would at a later date.