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By
Tomas Coles
- March 31, 2025
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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There were heated closing arguments in the homicide trial of Dayrel McFarland on March 28, with the prosecution claiming that defense attorney Joseph Owens was employing tactics to “distract, deflect, and diminish.”
McFarland is charged with first-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon with the intent to injure in connection to the Oct. 2, 2023 death of Jamal Barney, 37, in the 500 block of N. Payson Street. Barney was murdered with repeated blunt force trauma by a 40-pound cinderblock.
On Oct. 2, 2023, at approximately 4:36 p.m., officers responded to a call for a possible suspicious death at 500 block of N. Payson Street after family members feared Barney, who was missing for nine days, might be dead. Upon arrival, officers located the body stuffed inside a mattress, seemingly mummified in an apparent coverup attempt. Officers entered a back room, where they found more blood and two cinder blocks.
Officers arrested McFarland on Oct. 3, 2023 for an outstanding warrant. A search and seizure warrant was executed and investigators collected DNA samples from inside the residence that were later found to match samples from the murder weapon by a factor of greater than 50 billion percent.
A witness alleged that McFarland admitted to killing Barney with a cinder block, watching his body twitch for 12 hours, and trying to clean the crime scene with acid.
The prosecution accused Owens of “picking at irrelevant straws” while questioning a previous witness and suggested to the jury that McFarland’s repeated hitting of Barney with the cinder block counted as premeditation for first degree murder.
Owens’ closing argument leaned heavily on a witness summoned by the prosecution. Owens suggested to the jury that the true murderer in the case was the witness’ boss in a drug trafficking ring, and that the witness could be an unreliable due to drug addiction.
He went on to question the validity of the DNA expert’s testimony.
“We will never concede that someone who believes technology in DNA [and] hasn’t advanced in the past 10 years is an expert,” he said.
Owens concluded by emphasizing that the average person would experience significant difficulty attempting to use a 40-pound cinder block to attack a college athlete like Barney.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge LaZette Ringgold-Kirksey presided over the hearing.