Judge Requires Prosecutor to Provide Several Reports Week Before Trial Set to Begin 

By Melaney Lemaster [former] - July 18, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Suspects |

Defense counsel argued on July 18 that the prosecution has not disclosed information regarding the facial recognition software used to identify a non-fatal shooting defendant before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Dana M. Middleton. 

Davon Coleman, 22, is charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, conspiracy to first-degree assault, attempted armed carjacking, conspiracy to armed carjacking, use of a firearm during a violent crime, conspiracy to use a firearm during a violent crime, having a loaded handgun on his person, conspiracy to having a loaded handgun on his person and discharging firearms in connection to an incident on Jan. 13. 

Coleman’s defense attorney Amanda Savage motioned to compel the prosecutor to disclose how counsel received an Instagram photo used to identify the defendant. In addition to the explanation. the prosecution has also not released surveillance video footage of the shooting.

Defense counsel also requested information to be released from another defendant who has been linked to the gun used during the incident. 

Savage argued that because she was unable to view the footage and didn’t receive information on the facial recognition software, including what company the prosecution used for facial recognition, she was prevented from making an assessment on the reliability of the evidence used to prosecute her client. 

Savage also requested information regarding a gun retrieved from a different defendant be given to the defense because it could be exculpatory evidence. 

The prosecution argued that the state is not responsible for questioning how a company conducts their facial recognition identification and should not be responsible for providing information on what company conducted the identification. 

The prosecution also said the gun that was linked to the incident was evidence for a separate crime with that defendant being charged as a juvenile in a separate court. 

Judge Middleton ordered the prosecutor to order a supplemental report documenting how the detectives used the facial recognition identification and how they received the photo from Instagram that was used to help identify the defendant.

The prosecutor is also ordered to release the footage to the defense and a redacted statement of probable cause from the juvenile defendant’s case for the defense.

The Judge Middleton advised counsel to postpone the trial to provide more time for the prosecution to provide the evidence and the defense to review the information.

However, the prosecution informed the judge that they were unable to request an advance postponement.

The prosecution was ordered to provide the evidence requested by defense counsel next week before Coleman’s trial is set to begin. 

Coleman’s trial is scheduled to begin on July 25.