Defendant Refuses to Testify Against Man Who Robbed Him

By Ashleigh Joplin [former] - August 24, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Defense attorney, Roland Brown, addressed Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Yvette M. Bryant to accept the prosecution’s plea offer on behalf of his client on Aug. 24 but was unprepared when Rasheed Jones, 28, did not accept it.

“You want a trial?” asked Brown, when his client did not respond after being read his rights associated with taking a plea. Jones was silent as he stared into the gallery.

A pool of his peers was summoned, but as they traveled to the courtroom, Jones decided to waive his right to a jury trial and accepted the plea. 

Jones pleaded guilty to 25 years in prison suspending all but 7 years for first-degree assault, 10 years in prison suspending all but five with the first five years without parole for firearm use in a felony violent crime. The terms were set to run consecutively. He is also required to register as a gun offender with five years of supervised probation upon his release. Jones must also stay away from the victim. 

Amidst deafening stillness, the prosecution displayed a screenshot from a video of the defendant at a gas station on the 3300 block of Garrison Boulevard on Oct. 2, 2021, after dropping off his daughter at school.

Jones was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, when an unidentified man approached him and took his wallet at gunpoint. Jones was able to knock the gun from the assailant’s hand and escaped off-screen, away from his car. 

Jones returns into the frame moments later with a gun and shoots five times at the robber, hitting him in the leg. 

“I was stupid,” the defense attorney later said he heard his client say as he watched the video. 

Judge Bryant urged Jones to stay out of trouble while in prison because that could impact any decisions to modify his sentence. 

“I’m not a bad guy,” Jones said through his mask as he delivered his statement to the court. He apologized to his family and expressed his desire to take some accountability and return to his three children. 

But just hours after his own trail, Jones found himself facing another decision. This time he needed to decide if he was going to testify in the trial for the man who robbed him.   

In the late afternoon the trial for Davon Little, 32, was slow to get started. The prosecution requested a postponement until the next day because they were having difficulty getting Jones to testify.

The prosecutor said she had tried to get Jones to testify, but he had refused. She requested Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer call over to the jail and mention her signed motion to compel him to testify. Jones still refused despite warnings from Judge Schiffer that he could be held in contempt and be sentenced to more time in prison.

It was not until Judge Schiffer contacted Brown and requested he inform his client that he could face additional prison time for being in contempt of court and that officers could use “chemical agents” to force to appear at the trial. 

“I don’t remember,” repeated Jones in response to most of the prosecutor’s questions regarding his trial and the day of the shooting. 

Little faced charges of armed robbery, robbery, first and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, theft less than $100, in addition to ten other firearm charges for allegedly robbing and exchanging gunfire with Jones.

Judge Schiffer had already apologized twice to the jury for keeping them waiting in the windowless jury room, all in anticipation for Jones to agree to come across the street. She dismissed the jury at 4:30 p.m. having run out of time.

Before Jones was brought in, the prosecution was only able to get through partial testimony from the detective who analyzed video from the gas station and hospital where Little was taken.

The trial is scheduled to continue Aug. 25 at 9:30 a.m. with possible testimony from Jones and continued testimony from the detective.