Jury Trial Begins For North Carolina Resident Implicated in Homicide Case

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Baltimore City Circuit Judge Michael Anthony DiPietro presided over the trial involving 24-year-old Khaliel Strong-Council who was allegedly involved in an incident on May 26, 2024, which led to the death of 39-year-old Marcus Brown on March 21.

Strong-Council faces six charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and robbery.

According to court documents, Strong-Council came from North Carolina to celebrate his birthday with his cousin Jaylen Bronner, who is also a co-defendant in the case.

During the trial, the prosecution displayed surveillance footage obtained by the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), which found that the defendant and Bronner went to a Royal Farms in separate vehicles.

While Strong-Council was inside of Royal Farms, Brown was sitting on a curb and went over to Bronner’s vehicle and sit inside of the vehicle.

Footage shows Bronner and the victim got out of the vehicle, when Bronner began stomping the victim in the head.

Meanwhile, footage shows, Strong-Council comes out of Royal Farms and sees the victim on the ground, looks at the victim on the ground, walks away, comes back over to the victim and looks again and walks to his vehicle.

Both Strong-Council and Bronner drove away in their separate vehicles and proceeded to go to the Horseshoe Casino to finish the birthday celebration.

The prosecution stressed that the defendant did not help the victim. According to the prosecutor, Strong-Council also took several things from the victim as he laid on the ground.

However, Brandon Taylor, Strong-Council’s defense attorney said the defendant is charged with a crime that he did not commit.

“He did not murder the victim. [He] did not conspire to murder the victim. [He] did not assault the victim. [He] did not conspire to assault the victim. [He] did not rob the victim. [He] did not conspire to rob the victim,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the struggles between Bronner and the victim occurred while the defendant was still in the store. Furthermore, the defense attorney said both Strong-Council and the Bronner did not hide their faces and showed ID’s at the casino.

The trial is expected to continue on March 24.