Prosecutor Alleges Co-Defendants Planned to Gun Down Victim on East Hoffman Street

By Baltimore Witness Staff - January 8, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

As homicide defendant Clipper Jordan and his co-defendant, Tyrone Fenner, cruised around the area of East Baltimore on Nov. 15, 2022, “they knew who they wanted was on the 2600 block of East Hoffman Street.” Their target allegedly was Donte Miller.

During closing arguments for Jordan’s trial on Jan. 5, the prosecution explained to the jury that Jordan’s actions not only made him guilty of first-degree murder, but also guilty of conspiring to commit murder.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Robert K. Taylor Jr. presided over the trial.

Fenner was recently convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and firearm possession with a felony conviction on Dec. 15, 2023, and is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 2.

According to the prosecution, Fenner kicked off the conversation with Jordan around 11:15 a.m., texting him, “What’s good, bro?” Later that afternoon, Fenner and his girlfriend picked Jordan up from his home on the 5400 block of Forest Road and then went to Fenner’s girlfriend’s child’s school.

By 2:00 p.m., the co-defendants had dropped Fenner’s girlfriend and her son off at their home and proceeded to the East Hoffman Street area, where the two circled the block for 10 minutes before the shooting. The prosecutor said video evidence placed the duo’s vehicle—a silver Acura MDX—at the corner of East Hoffman Street and North Lakewood Avenue, with Miller nearby on the 2600 block of East Hoffman Street.

Defense attorney Isabel Lipman said it was Fenner who pulled the trigger and killed Miller around 2:20 p.m. Despite the prosecution’s video evidence of the vehicle driving around the area, Lipman further questioned who were the occupants of the vehicle, saying Jordan was never physically seen in the Acura MDX. 

“That’s reasonable doubt,” defense counsel said.

Although the prosecution also introduced cell tour evidence tracking the whereabouts of Jordan’s cell phone, Lipman countered there were many interpretations of the cell site map, none of which could precisely pinpoint her client’s exact location.

“The [prosecution] wants to put him there, but can’t find him there,” Lipman said.

Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers did recover the Polymer80 handgun consistent with the ballistic evidence found at the scene. However, Lipman said, the gun was recovered when police conducted a traffic stop and found Fenner in the driver’s seat with the gun underneath his seat. Only Fenner’s DNA as well as the DNA of two other unnamed individuals was found on the weapon, she concluded.