Homicide Defendant Declines Video Stipulation in Exchange for Earlier Hearing

By Andrew Michaels - August 17, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A 38-year-old homicide defendant facing a life sentence is scheduled to go to trial in the new year after he declined an agreement with the prosecution to stipulate video evidence in exchange for an October hearing.

Defense attorney Maureen Rowland informed Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn on Aug. 17 that her client, Trayon Waters, was “demanding a speedy trial.” Waters’ Hick’s date was in May, which is the defendant’s right to be tried within 180 days of his or his attorney’s first court appearance.

The prosecutor, who stood in for the prosecutor assigned to the case, said the assigned prosecutor was available Oct. 31; however, the prosecution would stipulate that all relevant video evidence be used in trial.

“If there’s anything on those videos that’s detrimental to you, it comes in,” Judge Phinn explained to Waters.

The defendant was then advised to decline this agreement and accept a January trial date. Waters agreed and Judge Phinn scheduled his five-day trial for Jan. 24, 2023, before Judge Charles Dorsey III.

According to charging documents, Waters is charged with the death of 35-year-old Anthony Cain Jr. on July 8, 2021, a day after the victim’s birthday. Officers with the Baltimore Police Department were called to the 1600 block of Cliftview Avenue shortly after 3 p.m. when they found Cain on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

Cain was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The police investigation revealed that Cain parked his black Lexus at a Citgo gas station along Harford Road and walked south with another man when they were approached by three people on Cliftview Avenue. One of the men, later identified as Waters, pulled out a handgun and shot Cain several times before the trio walked away from the scene.

A day after the shooting, detectives saw a man who fit the description of the shooter and questioned him at the homicide unit, where Waters said he was in the area of the homicide at the time of the incident to purchase marijuana. Waters was shown photos from multiple security cameras and identified himself in the photos, leading to his arrest.