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By
Jordan Fine [former]
- May 15, 2024
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Dana M. Middleton sentenced a BB gun homicide defendant to 17 years in a May 10 hearing.
The jury found Taiwan Mitchell, 41, guilty of possession of a pellet gun, discharging a pellet gun and two lesser counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault, in connection to the death of 36-year-old Roy Cantler III on Dec. 5, 2023.
According to previous coverage, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers were called to the 2200 block of Christian Street in November 2021 for a possible overdose where they found Cantler on the ground in a pool of blood. The cause of Cantler’s death was determined to be a BB gun pellet lodged in his brain.
The prosecution argued that Mitchell should receive 22 years, the maximum sentence for his crimes.
Mitchell’s defense attorney Staci Pipkin claimed the act was not intended to kill because the weapon of choice was a BB gun, a weapon which rarely proves fatal.
Mitchell now must serve consecutively one year for possession of a pellet gun, another year for discharging the pellet gun, five years for second-degree assault and 10 for involuntary manslaughter