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By
Cecilia Wetzel
- May 21, 2025
Attempted Murder
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Court
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Daily Stories
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Victims
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On day two of Chardon A. Cruz III‘s trial the judge denied a prosecution request to admit video evidence they say is key to their case.. The proceeding is being heard before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Nicole K. Barmore, and prosecutors told her the disputed footage the “heart of state circumstantial evidence.”
Cruz, 32, is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first degree assault, firearm use in a felony violent crime, and having a handgun on his person in connection to a shooting that took place last summer at the Uptown Bar in the 2500 block of Washington Boulevard. The incident occurred at approximately 12:15 a.m. on June 30, 2024.
During the May 21 hearing, officers from the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) testified to the validity of video footage recovered from the bar and nearby locations. Multiple videos from area security cameras were admitted into evidence, although defense attorney Koryn High objected to one set, which had timestamps that did not match investigators’ known chronology of events.
Judge Barmore agreed because no witnesses were able to testify as whether the video system was unaltered and reliable.
The prosecution insisted the rejected footage was essential to the case because it showed the same material seen in other admitted videos. Judge Barmore repeated she was not suppressing the evidence, but rather just not admitting it for trial.
A judge can suppress evidence if it was not lawfully obtained but evidence may not be admitted for a variety of reason including it’s not pertinent to the case.