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By
Andrew Michaels
- July 12, 2023
Attempted Murder
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Court
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Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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Shooting
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Suspects
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An attempted homicide defendant’s case was dismissed on July 12—a day after he was originally set to begin a jury trial.
Defendant David Jones appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn on July 11 when the prosecutor informed the court that she was having problems getting two witnesses to testify from North Carolina. Despite an objection from defense attorney Benjamin Charlton, Judge Phinn agreed to push the trial until the following day before Judge John Howard.
However, on Wednesday, the case never began jury selection and instead, was dismissed.
According to charging documents, the incident on Sept. 25, 2022, began when the victim’s son was on Instagram Live. A man, later identified as Jones, overheard her son and believed he was telling him, “Shut up.” The victim told Baltimore Police Department officers that Jones then took out two handguns, put one in his waistband, and used the other to open fire on the third-story room of the family’s home on the 200 block of S. Stricker Street.
The victim also told police that Jones told her he “didn’t mean to” shoot at the house, but “I was shooting up in the air. I wasn’t trying to shoot nobody.” After realizing the victim’s son wasn’t talking to him, the victim said Jones apologized and offered to pay for the damage.
The 55-year-old defendant was facing charges of attempted first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, firearm use in a felony violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction, illegal possession of a firearm, drug possession with firearms, having a handgun on his person, illegal possession of ammo, discharging firearms, and two counts of reckless endangerment.