Missing and Corrupted Footage Causes Delay in South Loudon Avenue Murder Trial

By Shayna Sefret [former] - August 4, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A defendant was sent from trial to reception court in the Baltimore City Circuit court on Aug. 1 after his defense attorney asked the judge for a postponement because pieces of exculpatory evidence were still missing.

Dana Davenport’s defense attorney Marci Johnson asked Judge John A. Howard to postpone her client’s trial because she was still receiving discovery. She had just received new body-cam footage on July 29, but the footage was corrupted. 

Johnson told Judge Melissa M. Phinn that this case largely depended on video footage, and since she was still waiting on some from the prosecutor, she cannot try the case yet. Additionally, Johnson was still waiting for ballistics reports and a flyer created from a still shot. She also told Judge Phinn her summer interns are having trouble transcribing one of the defendant’s tapes. 

The prosecutor assigned to the case did not object to Johnson’s request for postponement because she is still waiting on a report from the ballistics analysis lab too. The two attorneys and Judge Phinn agreed on a trial date of Sept. 19 before Judge Robert K. Taylor. It is expected to last five days.

Davenport, 29, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, firearm use in the commission of a felony violent crime, having a handgun in his vehicle, having a handgun on his person and two counts of illegal possession of a regulated firearm.

According to CBS News Baltimore, Davenport is accused of shot 37-year-old Tyrone Walker on the 200 block of South Loudon Avenue on June 5, 2022. Patrol officers were called to the scene and found Walker shot multiple times. Walker was transported to a hospital but did not survive.