Judge Hands Down 25-Year Sentence to Defendant after Accepting Alford Plea for East 20th Street Murder

Thank you for reading Baltimore Witness. Help us continue our mission into 2024.

A 52-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2021 murder of Ali Bey on April 11 after agreeing to plead guilty earlier this year.

In February, Shawn Purvis entered an Alford plea alongside his defense attorneys, Janet Andersen and Robert Cohen, for charges of first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony violent crime, having reached an agreement with the prosecution.

Rather than admit any criminal wrongdoing, an Alford plea allows the defendant to acknowledge that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convince a judge or jury of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

During Tuesday’s sentencing, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn Stewart Mays sentenced Purvis to counsels’ previously agreed upon maximum sentence of life, suspending all but 25 years, and five years of supervised probation for first-degree murder, and a concurrent five years without parole for firearm use in a felony violent crime.

Family members of both Purvis and Bey were present during the proceeding.

“He’s regretful. He’s remorseful,” Andersen told the judge. “He wishes to prove he is not the man he was.”

Andersen requested her client receive a sentence of life, suspending all but 18 years, in addition to drug and alcohol treatment for Bey’s murder.

According to court documents, Purvis was accused of shooting the 47-year-old victim on the 1900 block of E. 20th Street on June 3, 2021. Bey was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prior to Judge May’s ruling, the prosecutor argued for the agreed-upon maximum sentence, citing Purvis’ extensive criminal history, dating back to 1991 and including convictions for drug possession and distribution and resisting and interfering with arrest. The prosecutor displayed photos of Bey’s bloody body at the crime scene as well as autopsy photos that showed one of Bey’s bullet wounds to his head.

Bey was shot six times, he said, and was seen crawling away from Purvis as he continued to shoot the victim.

“It is simply not true that he feared for his life at the time,” the prosecutor said, referring to one of the defendant’s jail calls with his sister.

The prosecution also read three victim impact statements from Bey’s family members.

“You had no right to take these actions into your hands,” one family member wrote. “Mr. Purvis, you took a life, so you should receive life.”

At the conclusion of the hearing, Purvis apologized to Bey’s family and his own.

“I’m quite sure [the victim] was loved and is missed by his family,” Purvis said. “…I wish it could’ve went another way because then I could be out there taking care of my addiction and be a father to my children.”