Judge Orders Mental Health Evaluation for Defendant in Brutal 2019 Murder of Deli Worker

By Connor Driscoll [former] - August 5, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

A 30-year-old man accused in a 2019 homicide near Patterson Park was ordered on Aug. 4 to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Baltimore resident Terrance Peterson is accused of the execution-style, robbery-turned-murder of Carmen Rodriguez on Dec. 12, 2019, on 157 N. Kenwood Avenue. 

Rodriguez, 36, was fatally shot in the head at Kim’s Deli, her family’s store, in front of her four children after handing over money from the register.

Peterson is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, firearm use in a violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction and having a handgun inside of a vehicle. 

The defendant turned himself in to police on Jan. 10, 2010. Police arrested the other suspect involved in the shooting, 40-year-old Martin Brooks, approximately one month later, according to WBAL-TV.

Rodriguez’s husband told CBS Baltimore a few weeks after her killing, “I don’t want my wife to be another number. That’s the point. Something needs to be done.” 

At the Baltimore City Circuit Court on Wednesday, Peterson’s defense attorney, Sharon Bogins, asked the court to order a mental health evaluation in order to determine whether Peterson is competent to stand trial. 

Bogins said her co-counsel, Anne Stewart-Hill had “problems communicating with Mr. Peterson.” She added that a doctor she consulted with described Peterson’s conduct as “isolative” and said he showed “symptoms of psychosis.”

Judge Gale E. Rasin granted the defense’s request and slated Peterson’s case to return to mental health court on Aug. 11 following the results of the evaluation. 

Bogins also represented a Baltimore resident convicted in a separate homicide case. 

On Sept. 9, 2015, Melvin Russell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to time served, about one year and four months, with five years of supervised probation.  As part of the plea deal, Russell’s case was assigned to the Circuit Court’s Mental Health docket. 

According to the Baltimore Sun, Russell, 34, is the son of a former Baltimore Police Commissioner of the same name. Russell, who had a documented history of schizophrenia, engaged in a fight with his 49-year-old roommate, Theophilus Ruffin, on Aug. 31, 2015. Both suffered multiple stab wounds and were taken to a local hospital, where Ruffin was pronounced dead.

He pleaded guilty to violating his probation on Sept. 16, 2020. Russell previously appeared before Judge Rasin on July 24. During the hearing, he told the court that he had gotten a new job as an actor.

On Wednesday, Russell updated the court about how his treatment is progressing. He mentioned that he was temporarily quitting his job at Amazon to participate in a film shoot.

Judge Rasin reminded Russell that Wednesday’s hearing is set to be his second to last.

“I’ve been waiting to say the words: Congratulations, you did it,” she told him. “After all that, I hoped you learned something.”

Russell responded by saying the rehabilitation program he has participated in since 2016 “kept me grounded.”

He is scheduled to make his last appearance in mental health court on Aug. 18.