Defendant Takes Plea for Late-Night Attempted Murder on Reisterstown Road

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A 27-year-old Baltimore man agreed to 20 years incarceration for attempted murder and multiple weapons charges on Aug. 14 rather than proceed with his anticipated jury trial.

Naeem Sekou, alongside his defense counsel, James Sweeting III, was scheduled to begin his jury trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Hong. After a brief delay due to Sweeting’s absence, the prosecution presented its plea offer, which Sekou accepted.

The terms of the plea include 50 years, suspending all but 20 years, and five years of supervised probation for attempted first-degree murder, 20 years, the first five years without parole, for firearm use in a crime of violence, three years for having a handgun on his person and five years without parole for firearm possession with a felony conviction.

Sekou’s sentence will run concurrently under the plea, which also requires him to register as a gun offender after his release and stay away from the victim and the location of the shooting.

According to the prosecution, Sekou was caught on video surveillance footage speaking with the victim outside a nearby bar on Nov. 11, 2022, around 11 p.m. on the 6200 block of Reisterstown Road. The victim got into a vehicle and began driving away when the defendant allegedly fired multiple shots at the vehicle, striking the victim in the shoulder.

Baltimore Police Department officers were notified of the incident after the victim walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound.

In addition to the charges mentioned in his plea, Sekou was also facing single counts of attempted second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, discharging firearms and illegal possession of ammo, two counts each of reckless endangerment, illegal possession of a firearm and firearm possession with a drug conviction and an additional count of firearm possession with a felony conviction.

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