Counsel Disagree on ‘Drug Deal Gone Bad’ Theory in 2020 Murder Retrial

By Racquel Bazos - March 14, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On March 14, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Robert K. Taylor, Jr. presided over closing arguments in a retrial of a 2020 murder case where counsel disagreed whether the violence stemmed from a “drug deal gone bad.” 

Donnell Johnson is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person and having a handgun in a vehicle in connection to the 2020 death of 27-year-old Kenneth Bivens.

In her closing argument, the prosecutor recapitulated the trial’s evidence showing that Bivens took a phone call in the evening of Sept. 10, 2020, presumably from the suspect, met up with the suspect on the 1000 block of Beaumont Avenue, got into a “scuffle” with the suspect and was shot in the back of the head.

She said witnesses testified that Bivens, a marijuana dealer, was meeting someone known to him as “D.” 

“D brought a weapon to weed sale,” she said, referring to Johnson, and characterized the incident as a botched drug deal. 

Defense attorney James Sweeting III told jurors his client being the “D” in question was “a supposition” on the prosecution’s part. He refuted the prosecution’s drug deal theory, claiming there was no evidence to substantiate that. He also cast doubt on witnesses’ identification of Johnson, which described him as over six feet tall, slim and with matted hair. The defendant does not currently match that description. 

The prosecutor rebutted that as the incident took place in 2020, it would be reasonable to assume Johnson had gained weight and changed his hairstyle over the intervening four years. 

Deliberations began Thursday afternoon. Johnson’s previous trial in June 2022 ended in mistrial.