Continued Scheduling Conflicts Frustrate 2021 Vehicular Manslaughter Defendant

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On Aug. 11, the reception court hearing to schedule Galen Hyman’s jury trial resumed before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn after being continued on Aug. 3, but the parties again could not agree on a date.

Defense attorneys Janet Andersen and Robert Cohen could not accept any of the other dates offered by the stand-in assistant state’s attorney, either due to prior engagements before other judges or difficulties with their expert witnesses’ schedules.

Andersen said of the scheduling discussions, “We’ve hit a wall.”

Judge Phinn ordered the parties to return to reception court on Nov. 9 after their motions hearing before Judge Christoper L. Panos.

Hyman, 61, became emotional in an address to the court and told Judge Phinn that due to his age and health problems, he “needs to get his affairs in order.”

“If I was 20 years old, it wouldn’t matter,” he said of his lengthy pre-trial process.

Hyman has a pending bail review, which has not yet been scheduled.

Hyman is charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter under the influence of drugs, failure to stop in an accident involving a death and failure to stop in an accident involving bodily injury in connection to a March 1, 2021, incident that occurred in the parking lot of Shoppers at Mondawmin Mall.

According to court documents, Hyman drove onto the sidewalk, colliding with a man with minor injuries and killing 38-year-old Garrick Williams, Jr. Hyman’s blood tested positive for methadone.