Bail Denied for Defendant in Self-Inflicted Non-Fatal Shooting

By Racquel Bazos - September 9, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On Sept. 8, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Christopher L. Panos denied bail for a man experiencing medical complications from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and lack of adequate childcare at home.

Timothy Sutton’s defense attorney, Marci T. Johnson, requested this bail review hearing due to a change in her client’s circumstances. She told Judge Panos that at the beginning of August, Sutton’s fiancee gave birth two months prematurely and began struggling with severe postpartum depression. Since then, Sutton’s mother has been taking time off her full-time job to help take care of Sutton’s three young children, who are all under five years old.

Johnson also argued that Sutton’s stitches from the gunshot wound sustained in this incident were in too long, causing swelling and edema, which are signs of a possible infection. In jail, Sutton also crushed all the bones in his foot by dropping something heavy on it. Johnson said her client would receive better and more timely medical care for his acute conditions and pre-existing conditions, epilepsy and high-blood pressure, outside of jail.

The prosecutor assigned to the case and the agent from Pretrial Services recommended that Sutton be held without bail due to the severity of the charges and his history of violent crime, which included a 2005 conviction for attempted second-degree murder.

After taking all the information into consideration, Judge Panos ruled that Sutton would remain incarcerated, but ordered that both Johnson and the prosecutor must contact the jail to get Sutton a complete medical evaluation in no less than three days, with additional instructions to give Sutton any medication he is prescribed for his pre-existing conditions.

Sutton will next appear before Judge Melissa M. Phinn on Nov. 30 to schedule his trial.

Sutton is charged with firearm possession with a felony conviction, discharging a firearm within Baltimore City, illegal possession of ammunition and making a false statement to a police offer in connection to an April 29 incident on the 5700 block of Belair Road.

According to documents from the District Court of Maryland, police initially interviewed Sutton as a walk-in shooting victim. Sutton told officers he was robbed at gunpoint, but when officers reviewed surveillance footage from the location he said the robbery took place, nothing matched his story. Officers now believe Sutton accidentally shot himself and fabricated the robbery.