Homicide defendant Chance Taylor was sentenced to ten years of incarceration on May 9 after moving forward with a plea offer rather than a retrial.
A jury acquitted the 24-year-old defendant of first-degree murder last October in connection to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Gary Williams on April 1, 2020. However, jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict for Taylor’s second-degree murder charge.
On May 9, defense attorney Michael Tomko represented Taylor when he agreed to a plea of 40 years, suspending all but 10 years, and three years of supervised probation for second-degree murder before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Howard.
Williams’ grandmother gave a victim impact statement, saying that their family has come together and forgiven Taylor.
“He was very precious to our family,” she said. “His demise was really a surprise.”
Although the family forgave Taylor, she concluded, “the final judgement is to come.”
“When you talk about April Fools’ Day, you have people acting like fools over an ounce of marijuana,” Tomko said later in the proceeding, regarding the drug transaction between Taylor and Williams that resulted in the latter’s death.
