Co-Defendants in Shooting of 20-Year-Old Reject Plea Offers

Thank you for reading Baltimore Witness. Help us continue our mission into 2024.

Donate Now

Two Baltimore residents charged in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old man rejected plea offers from the prosecution during reception court on Sept. 15 at Baltimore City Circuit Court. 

Keith Gladden, 34, and Arthur Holt, 28, are both charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a violent crime, and firearm possession with a felony conviction.

According to the Baltimore Sun, 20-year-old Dontrell Toliver was shot on the 400 block of N. Montford Avenue on April 6, 2020. Homicide detectives identified a suspect within hours and got an arrest warrant for Gladden, who was arrested the following day.

Holt was arrested nine days later without incident.

The prosecution presented the co-defendants with a plea offer of life, suspending all but 60 years, and five years probation for first-degree murder, and a concurrent 10 years, the first five years without parole, for firearm use in a violent crime. Gladden and Holt’s defense attorneys, John Cox and Catherine Flynn, respectively, rejected the plea offers on their clients’ behalf before Judge Melissa M. Phinn

The cases are slated to move forward to a five-day trial, which is scheduled for March 16, 2022.

Follow this case