A Baltimore man who has been incarcerated more than four years in a 2020 homicide was denied bail on June 26 after a judge deemed him a threat to public safety.
During a Friday morning bail review hearing, the state’s attorney prosecuting the case noted the victim, 49-year-old Eric Jones, was stabbed more than 20 times on June 25, 2020. She described the defendant, 38-year-old Darius Williams, as dangerous and requested that he be held without bail pending retrial.
Williams was arrested nearly two years after Jones’ death at his home on the 2200 block of Westwood Avenue, just one block away from the stabbing’s location. Authorities charged him with murder and use of a deadly weapon.
Williams is now facing his third trial for Jones’ death. His first trial, which concluded May 2023 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn S. Mays, resulted in a second-degree murder conviction. The conviction was vacated last January by the Appellate Court of Maryland, and a retrial was held September before Judge Barry G. Williams. However, the court ultimately declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict and were hung 11-to-one.
During the current hearing, defense counsel unsuccessfully argued for Williams’ release on home detention with electronic monitoring, describing him as a resident of Baltimore who posed neither a flight risk nor a danger to others.
“The state’s case against Williams is exceedingly weak,” said the attorney. She specifically pointed to a key eyewitness who had repeatedly changed and recanted her account of the stabbing. The witness later blamed memory loss caused by intoxication, telling counsel she was high on drugs at the time of the incident.
The state framed the witness’ changing account as a result of intimidation, claiming she was “clearly feigning memory loss” due to growing “trepidation and fear about coming to court.”
Pre-trial release services sided with the state, recommending that Williams be held without bail pending trial. The unit’s representative added that Williams’ record includes repeat drug convictions, including a drug possession charge from 2006. He was ultimately sentenced on the charge but violated his probation two years later, the representative added.
Upon weighing parties’ arguments, Judge Michael A. DiPietro denied the defense’s motion for pretrial release and ordered that Williams remain incarcerated pending retrial.
