Police Testify They Linked The Driver of a Car to a Homicide

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Final witnesses were called to testify on July 10 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Paul E. Alpert in a trial connected to a West Baltimore homicide. The defendant Maurice Jones, 29, is principally charged with first-degree murder with a firearm and firearm possession with a prior felony conviction.

The incident occurred the night of May 24, 2024, on the 1200 block of McCulloh Street. The victim, 23-year-old Montez Barrett, was found in the passenger’s seat of a totaled black SUV with two fatal gunshot wounds to the back of his head.

The prosecution first called a detective with the Baltimore Police Department’s (BPD) Homicide Unit, who examined the crime scene and conducted the investigation. The detective confirmed the validity of photos and body-worn camera footage capturing the crime scene, and also described other pieces of evidence, including nail clippings, DNA swabs, and blood samples from Barrett.

The witness attested that BPD discovered the driver’s identity early on in the investigation but who voluntarily stepped forward for an interview with detectives. The interview, which was admitted into evidence just one day prior to the hearing, showed the driver informing detectives that three individuals were in the car during the incident -himself, Barrett, and “Man Man,” who was later identified as Jones.

During his cross-examination, defense attorney James Sweeting III questioned how the detective was certain that the person who stepped forward was driving the car at the time of the incident. The witness noted that the supposed driver came forward voluntarily, and also cited video footage from a McDonald’s restaruant showing a person said to be the same individual driving the vehicle on the night of the incident. Moreover, BPD gained access to the location tracking records on the individual’s cellphone, which placed them close to the time and place of the incident.

Sweeting also questioned how the detectives could have known that the murderer was sitting behind Barrett in the rear passenger seat. The detective described the position of the bullet entry points in the head, using his hands to demonstrate the angle by which the bullets were fired.

The prosecution then called a forensic scientist with BPD to explain atent fingerprints lifted from the crime scene and their reliability for establishing matches through BPD’s fingerprint database.

Of the five latent fingerprints recovered from the scene, none produced matches with Jones, whose fingerprints already exist in the database, as he possesses a prior conviction.

Proceedings were scheduled for July 11, when the jury will hear closing arguments begin deliberations.