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Racquel Bazos
- February 15, 2024
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Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa K. Copeland scheduled the trials of a 24-year-old man facing several criminal cases on Feb. 15.
Aamir Benton is charged in two murder cases, as well as a third firearms case. In the violent crime cases, he faces charges for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent, conspiracy to use a firearm in a felony violent crime, first-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, having a handgun on his person and in a vehicle, firearm possession with a felony conviction.
After Judge Gale E. Rasin found Benton competent earlier this year, counsel returned to reception court to schedule his trials. The prosecutor told the court he and Benton’s attorney Judit Otvos could not find a mutually acceptable period of time to try all three criminal matters against him consecutively. Instead, they agreed on two separate trial dates.
The prosecutor requested four days for each trial date, but Judge Copeland could not accommodate him based on the judges’ schedules. He agreed to the two three-day engagements Judge Copeland offered him.
The murder case where Benton is accused of killing 23-year-old Eligah Hooks and the firearms case will be tried on May 14 before Judge Martin P. Welch. The final case against Benton, for the June 2022 murder of 31-year-old Phillip Wallace, will be tried before Judge Alan C. Lazerow on June 7.
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