Judge Rejects Homicide Defendant’s Plea Deal as ‘Very Generous’

By Racquel Bazos - May 7, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge refused to accept a 23-year-old homicide defendant’s guilty plea May 7, beginning his jury trial instead.

Darius Joyner is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, conspiracy to use a firearm in a felony violent crime and having a handgun on his person in connection to the Feb. 28, 2023, murder of 29-year-old Adam White.

Before Judge Videtta A. Brown announced that she would not accept Joyner’s plea in its current form, White’s parents voiced their opposition to Joyner getting a plea deal without revealing the identity of the suspected second shooter to investigators, especially considering that the prosecution had already given another party immunity.

White’s mother said she accepted the terms of the first plea offer, which was life, suspending all but 50 years, but the current offer was life, suspending all but 40 years. White’s father told the court he believed Joyner was “get[ting] almost scot-free.”

Judge Brown asked the prosecutor if the immunity deal was discussed with the family. He could not recall. The judge said that while she wasn’t aware of all the evidence and underlying facts in this case, “this particular sentence … is very generous and perhaps not in balance.”

Joyner’s attorney, Karyn Meriwether, reminded the court of the mitigating factors in her client’s favor, namely that Joyner has no prior criminal record and suffered fetal alcohol syndrome. 

In negating the plea deal, Judge Brown ordered Joyner to get dressed for trial, but a juror shortage prevented jury selection from beginning Tuesday. Counsel will reconvene to start selecting a panel Wednesday morning. 

Documents from the District Court of Maryland state White was found in a park on the 4100 block of Duane Avenue with multiple gunshot wounds to his back. Baltimore Police Department officers found shotgun shells and 9mm cartridge casings on the scene. Witnesses identified Joyner as one of the two shooters.