Judge Declares Mistrial After Homicide Victim’s Family Member Charges At Defendant

By Andrew Michaels - March 23, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Christopher L. Panos declared a mistrial in the case of homicide defendant Darrius Jordan on March 23 after a family member of the victim yelled and charged at the defendant in front of the jury.

Jordan, 33, is on trial for the alleged murder of 52-year-old Guy Thomas on the 1900 block of Edmondson Avenue around 1 a.m. on Feb. 12, 2021. The defendant is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree assault and one count of firearm use during a felony violent crime.

The prosecution called a Baltimore Police Department patrol officer to the stand shortly after opening statements on Wednesday. The officer was the first to arrive at the crime scene, where his body camera footage showed Thomas’ body laying in a snowbank outside Uptown Bar on the corner of Edmondson Avenue and N. Monroe Street.

As the prosecution played the officer’s body camera footage for the jury, a sobbing family member then stood up in the gallery and began yelling and charging at Jordan before two bailiffs escorted him into the hallway.

Once the jury left the courtroom, Judge Panos accepted defense attorney Roya Hanna’s motion for a mistrial, citing the “unfortunate and ill-advised outburst” that “corrupted the process” of the trial.

Jury selection for a new trial is scheduled to begin on March 24.

During opening statements, the prosecution said Jordan “set off a chain of events” that led to Thomas’ death over a year ago. Thomas was allegedly standing outside Uptown Bar and had a brief interaction with Jordan, who pulled up in a vehicle, before going inside. The prosecutor said the business’ security camera footage showed the defendant follow the victim inside, where Jordan began hitting, slapping, and pushing Thomas.

The victim “puts up no fight,” the prosecutor told the jury. When the altercation moved outside, he said, footage showed Thomas talking to an unnamed front passenger of the same vehicle when Jordan allegedly continued assaulting the victim. The passenger then got out of the car and shot Thomas in the head multiple times.

Hanna told the jury that while her client did assault the victim, he was not responsible for the other individual’s actions.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn Mays will preside over the new trial.