Opening Statements Delivered for Co-defendant Accused of Friend’s 2021 Murder

By Shiloh Eschbach [former] - October 3, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Matthew Connell, the defense attorney who represented murder co-defendant Travon Shaw at trial on Oct. 3, emphasized to the jury that there was a lack of witnesses to the crime and that his client was a friend of the victim. 

Shaw, 34, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction, having a loaded handgun on his person and having a loaded handgun in a vehicle in connection to the murder of Justin Johnson.

The prosecution said there was no one around to witness the shooting because Johnson, 38, was shot at 3 a.m. on the 600 block of Lucia Avenue. 

The prosecutor focused both on cell phone tracking data and a new DNA analysis method used for mixed or degraded DNA which they will use in an attempt to to link Shaw to the crime.

Connell claimed that the police stopped investigating the case when they started investigating Shaw. He argued that Baltimore Police Department (BPD) investigators should have followed up other leads.

Connell also argued Johnson’s girlfriend’s statements to police were suspicious because they were contradictory. He highlighted there was a major argument between her and Johnson the night he was killed and she should have, therefore, been considered a suspect.

The prosecution previously attempted to postpone this trial until 2024 to get testimony from Shaw’s codefendant, Elliot Marcus Knox, who implicated Shaw in the killing of 39-year-old BPD Officer Keona Holley on Dec. 16, 2021 at 1:30 a.m. on the 4400 block of Pennington Avenue.

This was despite the fact that Shaw has been waiting for trial in jail for two-and-a-half years. The case is being heard before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy.

According to charging documents from the District Court of Maryland, Johnson was also shot on Dec. 16, 2021, while he was in his parked car. Two different types of casings were found near the scene.

In an interview with police after his arrest, Knox identified Shaw as a co-conspirator in Johnson and Holley’s deaths.