‘I Am Not No Bad Person,’ Says Defendant Accused of Assault in Case Regarding shooting of his Three-Year-Old Son

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A defendant’s Baltimore City Circuit Court hearing on April 17 was postponed to the following day after his attorney appointed a stand-in but the judge wanted the original attorney to appear in her courtroom.

Teonte Roane told Judge Melissa M. Phinn that his attorney, Thomas Maronick, has not yet come to visit him. Maronick’s stand-in, Rachel Severance, asked Judge Phinn for a postponement of his trial. The attorneys told Judge Phinn that Roane’s original attorney left Maronick’s practice, and Maronick didn’t know about this trial until recently and has not emailed him or contacted the prosecutor to agree upon a trial date; in fact, Maronick told the prosecutor he wanted his appearance to be stricken from the case, even though Judge Charles J. Peters denied this motion.

Roane accused Maronick’s practice of taking his money as he expressed his dissatisfaction with his representation thus far. Roane told Judge Phinn that “I am not no bad person.”

Judge Phinn told her she will hold Roane’s case until the next day because wants Maronick, who was in court outside of the city, to appear in her courtroom. Judge Phinn told Severance to contact Maronick to see if he is available the next day. Judge Phinn set the new reception court date for April 19 before herself.

Roane rejected a plea of 10 years, suspending all but five years, with five years of probation, to run concurrently with a plea of five years, suspending all but three, with five years of probation for charges of second-degree assault, and illegal possession of a regulated firearm. Roane is also charged with reckless endangerment, neglect of a minor, discharging firearms and illegal possession of ammunition in connection to a Sept. 27, 2019 incident.

On that day, Roane and his wife awoke to a loud noise and their son bleeding and crying in the living room. Their three-year-old son had a bullet wound that entered his stomach area and went through his body. The child’s mother reported the incident. It is unclear how the child was shot, but Raone was charged with the possession of the gun used because he was a prohibited person and the child’s access to the weapon.

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