A 30-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to three decades in prison on Oct. 15 in accordance with a plea agreement for shooting a rival drug dealer last year.
On Oct. 14, James Little joined his defense attorneys, Robert Cohen and Janet Andersen, for the defendant’s scheduled jury trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Catherine Chen. After further discussion with the prosecution and his attorneys, Little agreed to plead guilty to attempted first-degree murder for a sentence of 50 years, suspending all but 30 years, and three years of supervised probation.
Little’s remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea, including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and five weapons charges. After serving five years of his sentence, Little may file to request a sentence modification.
According to court documents, Little got into a heated argument with the 31-year-old male victim over who was allowed to sell drugs in the area on the 100 block of South Conkling Street on Nov. 4, 2024.
During a review of surveillance footage, Baltimore Police reported seeing Little walk into frame wearing a multi-colored, hooded jacket and yell at the victim around 6:27 p.m. Little reportedly made several threats, telling the victim, “You’re dead. Watch what I do to your b**ch a** now. Watch what I do, bro.”
Two minutes later, video footage shows Little pull out a handgun from his waistband and shoot at the victim. Court documents state the victim started running away, but was chased and shot multiple times by the defendant.
An officer in the area responded to the scene, while another officer was notified of a walk-in shooting victim at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital. Officers found thirty-seven gel capsules of suspected cocaine, which was seen falling out of Little’s left jacket pocket in surveillance footage.
