Plea Offered to Man Who Confessed to Triple Shooting at Pizzeria

By Carly Schiller [former] , Katherine Strauch [former], Zoe Foringer-Laing [former] - July 8, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Victims |

A Baltimore man was offered a plea on July 8 at the Baltimore City Circuit Court for allegedly shooting three people at a pizzeria.

CBS Baltimore reported that Nathan Jones entered the Pizza Man restaurant on the 4300 block of Reisterstown Road and shot three men on Oct. 8, 2020. The victims suffered from non-life threatening injuries.

Jones, 50, turned himself in and confessed on Oct. 19, 2020, according to CBS Baltimore.

He is charged with three counts of attempted first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, and firearm use in a violent crime, as well as five weapons charges.

During reception court before Judge Melissa M. Phinn on Thursday, the prosecution offered Jones a plea deal of life, suspending all but 30 years, with three years of probation, for the three counts of attempted first-degree murder. 

Defense attorney Julie Shapiro said she had not yet relayed the offer to Jones, so Judge Phinn scheduled the case to return to reception court on July 12 for a decision.

Judge Phinn also heard three other non-fatal shooting cases and a homicide case.

The plea was also neither accepted nor rejected in the case against non-fatal shooting defendant Diontray Lee. 

Lee, 38, is charged with having a loaded handgun in a vehicle, carrying a handgun on his person, discharging firearms, and illegal possession of ammunition. He also faces two counts of firearm possession with a felony conviction.

The charges are in connection to an incident that occurred on Oct. 17, 2020. 

Defense attorney Brandon Mead said Lee plans to accept a plea offer of five years for firearm possession with a felony conviction, and three years for carrying a handgun on his person, which would run concurrently. 

Judge Phinn scheduled the case to return to reception court on July 21. 

Another non-fatal shooting that occurred last October was also heard during reception court.

Baltimore resident Michael Young is charged with two counts of firearm possession with a felony conviction and one count each of possession of firearms, having a loaded handgun in a vehicle, carrying a handgun on his person, discharging firearms, and illegal possession of ammunition for a shooting that occurred Oct. 13, 2020.

The prosecution offered Young, 37, a plea of 10 years without the possibility of parole for the first five years, which defense attorney Shomari Taylor rejected.

During a separate hearing before Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer on Thursday, the prosecution ordered that Young stay away from the prosecution’s witness, which Taylor accepted on Young’s behalf.

A motions hearing is scheduled for July 21, with the trial date set for Aug. 9.

An additional motions hearing was scheduled for an attempted murder defendant named Johnathan Williams, whose case was heard on Thursday despite not being listed on the docket.

Williams, 35, faces a total of 22 charges in connection to an incident on Oct. 27, 2019. 

He is charged with attempted first and second-degree murder, firearm use in a violent crime, firing a gun in Baltimore City, armed robbery, robbery, false imprisonment, theft less than $100, firearm possession with a felony conviction, carrying a handgun on his person, carrying a gun within 100 feet of a public place, possessing or selling a stolen firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, a hit-and-run accident, damaging an attended car, failure to return to the attended car, failure to stop, and failure to remain at the scene.

He also faces two counts of first and second-degree assault. 

Judge Phinn set a motion to suppress identification hearing in Williams’ case for July 29. Williams, represented by defense attorney Isabel Lipman, is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 18.

Judge Phinn also presided over a pre-trial conference in the case of homicide defendant Karl Anderson.

Anderson, 40, allegedly stabbed 44-year-old Bernard Richardson to death on the 3300 block of Burleith Avenue on Nov. 23, according to CBS Baltimore. 

The prosecution offered Anderson a plea of 30 years for first-degree murder. His defense attorney, Sharon Dubey, had not yet relayed the offer to Anderson, who also faces on weapons charge.

Dubey and the prosecution also await a DNA report from a blood sample recovered from a knife at the crime scene.

The case is scheduled to return to reception court on Sept. 14.