Prosecution Says Phone Call Incriminates Defendant

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Closing arguments finished July 15 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannine J. Hong for the 2023 murder of Mason Kelly.

Jared Ford, 23, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a loaded handgun in his vehicle, having a loaded handgun on his person, firearm possession with a felony conviction, illegal possession of a regulated firearm, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in relation to two incidents on Feb. 26 and March 2, 2023.

The prosecutor’s closing statements focused on Ford’s phone call after the police apprehended him on March 3, 2023.

The prosecutor told the jury that Ford incriminated himself during the call to his girlfriend when he asked her to move something out of their house before it was searched.

He told her he would be gone for a while and told her, “you better not snitch,” the prosecutor said.

Cell phone records were also a large part of the prosecution’s closing. The records showed how Ford’s cell phone was around the scene of the March shooting and moved a few blocks away after.

Ford’s defense attorney, Roya Hanna, used her closing argument to explain to the jury all the assumptions made during the trial.

She said the detectives in the case made assumptions about Ford from the start. She said the detectives did not get DNA evidence from the cars in the case, which could have been used to prove if Ford was in one of the cars or not.

Hanna’s main point was that the evidence did not prove that one of the two guns found in the case was Ford’s.

She replayed footage to emphasize her point that there were multiple objects around where Ford was seen dropping an object off and where investigators later found a firearm.

The jury is slated to continue deliberations on July 16.