The case against John Larry Booker, 23, received a summer jury trial date on April 8 before Judge Melissa K. Copeland after a plea offer was rejected.
Booker is charged with first-degree attempted homicide, second-degree attempted homicide, first-degree assault, conspiracy to first-degree murder, conspiracy to first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and four other firearm charges for his role in a May 17 shooting on the unit block of East Cross Street. Police found a 30-year-old victim suffering from a gunshot wound to his left foot.
On Wednesday, the prosecution offered Booker a plea deal of 50 years in prison, suspending all but 20 years with 5 years of supervised probation. The offer was rejected by defense attorney Jason Ott.
Officers from the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) recovered surveillance footage showing the victim with a group of people involved in a physical altercation with a group of three other suspects.
In the video, the other group apparently jumped Brooker.
Shortly after, one of the other men in Booker’s group handed another suspect a handgun. The suspect fired three rounds in the air. Both groups run away, and the suspect with the firearm appears to drop it behind a flowerpot on East Cross Street, according to court documents.
The firearm was retrieved by another suspect in Booker’s group. The three men met in a parking garage on East West Street. The footage shows Booker allegedly racking the gun.
Later, at the intersection of South Charles Street and East Hamburg Street, the two groups meet again. Booker is seen raising his arms, as if pointing, then the two groups can be seen running in opposite directions as well as the victim limping away and bleeding from his foot.
On Aug. 1, a detective identified Booker as one of the suspects due to a recent arrest. A 911 call also confirmed there were two groups on the scene and that Booker’s group discharged the firearm.
The trial was scheduled to start on June 29 and is expected to last three days before Judge Hope Tipton.
