Five Week Trial Date for ‘39 Babies’ Gang Members Still Unknown

By Shayna Sefret [former] - July 18, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On July 17, three co-defendants had their trial further postponed as a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge set a special zoom meeting for all attorneys involved to figure out a trial date that works for everyone.

Gregory Beadles, Karon Tyree Johnson, and Pierre Briggs are three members of the ‘39 Babies’ gang that are on trial in connection to eight attempted murders and four homicides, according to the Attorney General.

In their reception court hearing, the prosecutor told Judge Melissa M. Phinn that the trial dates they agreed upon were Feb. 5 – March 8 of 2024, as they would need at least five weeks for the trial. However, Judge Phinn stated she did not want to postpone the trial that far.

The prosecutor told her that three of the defense attorneys, Angela Shelton, Staci Pipkin, and James Sweeting, were not available this year for a five-week trial, and that is the reason they agreed upon a significantly later date. However, Judge Phinn didn’t believe this to fully be the case and said she needed all three of these attorneys in her courtroom to be questioned about their schedules. 

Since Gregory Fisher was standing in on behalf of both Robert Ness and Staci Pipkin, and Michael Lawlor was standing in on behalf of Adam Demetriou, Judge Phinn requested that the prosecutor contact all attorneys to set up a special Zoom meeting with her to attempt to schedule an earlier trial date.

For now, Judge Phinn said, they would schedule the trial date for Aug. 3, but that will not be the actual date – it would just be a calendar marker.

Together, Johnson, Briggs, and Beadles, all 22, are charged with hundreds of crimes relating to their gang involvement, including first-degree murder.