Jurors returned a mixed verdict in the case of a 46-year-old Baltimore man charged with stabbing his housemate to death almost four years ago, finding the defendant guilty of second-degree murder on Dec. 9 but acquitting him of use of a deadly weapon with intent to injure.
The verdict was reached just hours after the prosecutor and the defendant Jamal Smith – who chose to represent himself at trial – delivered closing arguments before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones.
Smith was accused of stabbing 29-year-old housemate Robert Parker to death on Jan. 27, 2022 following an altercation at their shared residence on the 1500 block of E. 28th Street.
Officers responding to the crime followed a blood trail to a shed on The Alameda parkway, where they found Smith sitting on a mattress with bloodied hands. Smith claimed the blood was his own and not Parker’s.
At trial, Smith insisted he was never at the scene of the crime and emphasized the lack of ballistic and DNA evidence linking himself to Parker’s death, calling the case against him circumstantial. No eyewitnesses saw the stabbing either, he noted.
Parker was discovered on the home’s kitchen floor, unconscious and bleeding profusely. Stab wounds were found scattered across his upper torso, including his neck and face. Toxicology results later showed there was alcohol in his system.
The prosecution pointed to the altercation that unfolded between Smith and Parker earlier that day, which police responded to after neighbors reported the disturbance. They claimed that responding officers’ body-worn cameras captured Smith saying, “Y’all gonna be back here tonight.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2026 before Judge Jones.
