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By
Alyssia Davis [former]
- February 2, 2023
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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn granted a trial postponement due to the defendant’s defense counsel being unavailable to proceed on Feb. 1.
During a Wednesday hearing before Judge Nicole Barmore, defendant James Darryl Smith’s counsel Romel Showell, a stand-in for James Sweeting III, requested a postponement due to Sweeting being unavailable to start the trial. He said that Sweeting was handling another case in another jurisdiction.
The prosecutor had no objection to the defense’s request, but he made it known that he was ready to proceed with trial.
The 20-year-old defendant is charged with first-degree murder, the use of a firearm in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person, and possessing a firearm as a minor in connection with the death of 32-year-old Dwayne Edmonds June 21, 2021.
Later that day, before Judge Phinn, the prosecutor presented the defendant with a plea of life, suspending all but 50 years with five years of probation for first-degree murder and a concurrent five years without the possibility of parole for the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime. Smith rejected the plea.
Smith’s trial is scheduled for May 15, with Judge Martin D. Dorsey presiding. It is expected to last five days.