One of Four Co-Defendants Found Not Guilty of Homicide in 2019 Attempted Home Invasion

By Ting Hong [former] - April 18, 2023
Daily Stories |

“The state wants you to make leaps, jumps, and bounds.”

Defense attorney Staci Pipkin told a jury during closing arguments for a defendant charged with the murder of 31-year-old Jordan Taylor before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Schiffer on April 17. 

On April 18, a jury found defendant Khalil Madden not guilty of one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, attempted armed robbery, first-degree burglary, having a loaded handgun on his person, and two counts of use of a firearm in a felony violent crime.

The 29-year-old defendant was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

On Nov. 5, 2019, co-defendants Khalil Madden, Aaron Butler, Donta Holdclaw, and Elease Frazier were involved in the murder of Taylor during an attempted home invasion robbery. A witness said there were two masked individuals and one unmasked individual at the time of the robbery. 

The intruders demanded multiple times, “where’s the safe?”

During closing statements, the prosecution addressed the jury that “things went horribly wrong” because “there was no money, and there was no safe.”

Prior to the incident, Taylor had two attempted home invasions in October 2019. Individuals were seen “casing [the] property.” 

According to the prosecution, a witness description recalled a blue SUV fleeing the scene. Police detectives tracked down a blue Honda CRV belonging to Madden. 

Pipkin argued that this was not a case of “Maryland v. a Blue Honda” since it required the jury to make a big jump in concluding that Madden’s vehicle was the same vehicle at the scene of the crime.  

According to CBS Baltimore, Butler pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and armed robbery, Holdclaw died of a heart attack before his case went to trial, and Frazier had her charges dropped due to insufficient evidence.