The trial of Christopher Brown continued June 9 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Daniels.
Brown, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and other firearm charges in connection to the Jan. 14, 2020 shooting of 31-year-old Cordelle “CJ” Bruce, after an altercation over a drug deal including marijuana. Prosecutors allege Brown and co-defendant Daran Horton shot and killed Bruce on the 1100 block of E. Belvedere Avenue before fleeing the scene in a black Volvo.
A witness who was driving near the intersection of The Alameda and E. Belvedere Avenue at the time of the shooting testified to hearing seven or eight gunshots and seeing two people in dark clothing run from the scene while a third fell to the ground.
The lead detective on the case testified that surveillance footage recovered from the nearby Exxon and Family Dollar allowed him to identify a person said to be Brown, whom he observed wearing a gray and blue hoodie. A 911 caller similarly described two men in gray and blue hoodies fleeing toward a dark four-door vehicle.
Horton, who was called as a state witness, refused to testify until compelled by the court. He said he did not recall what car he was in or who he was with at the time of the shooting, and suggested that during his police interview that he felt pressured to corroborate detectives’ accounts of the incident.
The trial is scheduled to continue June 10.
