Following Guilty Plea, Judge Sentences 54-Year-Old Murder and Arson Defendant

By Shiloh Eschbach [former] - September 12, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Charles H. Dorsey sentenced a 54-year-old homicide defendant on Sept. 7 after he accepted the prosecution’s plea offer.

Defendant Keith Fleming was represented by public defender Robert Cohen.

The prosecutor offered Fleming a plea deal, which he accepted. The terms of this plea included 40 years for second-degree murder, suspending all but 25 years, with five years of supervised probation. This sentence is to run consecutively to a sentence of 20 years for first-degree arson, the first five years without the possibility of  parole.

These charges are to run concurrently with five other charges of reckless endangerment, which are consecutive to each other. Each of the five charges carries a five year sentence.

Additionally, Fleming must undergo mental health treatment and anger management training and register as a gun offender. Judge Dorsey sentenced Fleming in accordance with the plea.

Fleming’s charges are in connection with an incident on Sept. 14, 2021. According to the statement of charges issued by the District Court of Maryland, Fleming shot and killed 55-year-old victim Pamela Pitts in her apartment on the 800 block of Abbott Court. He then set her apartment on fire and left the scene.

“He treated her like a piece of trash,” the victim’s daughter told Judge Dorsey during the sentencing. “Nothing will bring my mother back,” she continued. “This will never be over for me.”