Judge Continues Scheduling Hearing to October for 17-Year-Old Murder Defendant

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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn continued the scheduling hearing of a first-degree murder defendant on Aug. 29.

Defendant Daaon Spears, 17, was 16 years old at the time of the incident, but is being tried as an adult and has not yet received a plea offer from the prosecutor.

Defense attorney Lauren Dollar stood in for Jennifer Davis and Robert Linthicum as Spears’ representation during the hearing on Tuesday.

Judge Phinn continued the hearing to appear again in reception court on Oct. 4. All parties informed Judge Phinn that they did not have availability in their schedules for a trial before January 2024.

Spears is being charged in connection with a shooting which took place outside a Popeyes on the 4400 block of Edmondson Avenue.

According to the statement of charges from the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit, officers were called to the scene and found five injured men on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. According to Baltimore Police Department officers, all five had been shot and injured by two shooters who fled the scene. One of the victims, Deanta Dorsey, succumbed to his wounds while being treated. Video footage was used by witnesses to identify Spears as one of the suspects.

Spears is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of attempted second-degree murder, four counts each of of first and second-degree assault, three counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, five counts of firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person, having a loaded handgun on his person, possessing a firearm as a minor and illegal possession of a regulated firearm.

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