A defense attorney representing Kevin Lotus Brooks accused the prosecution of claiming they were “too busy” to contact a witness who identified a different shooter in a domestic-related incident between a group of cousins last December.
Brooks and his attorney, John Cox, appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Kendra Y. Ausby on Jan. 16 to petition the District Court’s decision denying bail for the 47-year-old defendant in connection to the incident on Dec. 29, 2025. The defendant is currently charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, but will be released on home detention following the judge’s ruling on Friday.
Brooks has no criminal record and has been employed at Northrop Grumman for the past two decades, the defense said.
At the top of his argument, Cox informed the judge that he told the prosecutor he had a signed affidavit from one of Brooks’ cousins who identified the shooter as another one of Brooks’ cousins. Cox said he made two phone calls to the prosecution, but was told they were “too busy.”
“It has now been a week with no contact [from the prosecution] that my client sits in jail for a case that they can’t prove,” he said.
“We are looking into that. That is being investigated,” the prosecutor responded. However, the assistant state’s attorney said she did not believe it was warranted to change Brooks’ bail status at this time.
Earlier in the proceeding, Cox explained that Brooks’ cousins live together on the 600 block of N. Fremont Avenue. Brooks and his cousins were at the home when the defendant called Baltimore Police about one of his cousins shortly before midnight.
According to Cox, the victim was upset that his girlfriend was staying with the defendant, who resides at his grandmother’s home on the 600 block of Brune Street. Cox noted that the victim has a history of violence, including attempted murder, but did not go into further detail.
Brooks’ first call to police was over a threat from the victim, according to court documents. After the first call to police, Cox said, the victim allegedly returned, pulled out a firearm and destroyed a window of the cousins’ home before leaving once again.
A short time later, the victim allegedly broke into his aunt’s home around the corner and returned to the cousins’ home a third time with a BB gun and a pocket knife when he was shot. Court documents state that police found the victim sitting in the driver seat of a Chrysler 200 nearby suffering from a gunshot wound to the lower left side of his stomach.
At one point, Cox said, the victim was on the scene at the same time as police. He said the identifying witness reported hearing the victim say, “That son of a b*tch comes back, I’m gonna smoke his a**,” in addition to the statement being captured on an officer’s body camera footage.
Cox argued that his client was only charged because ballistic evidence was consistent with Brooks’ legally-owned Glock 19. Police found this firearm in the cousins’ home while executing a search and seizure warrant the following morning, court documents state, along with 11 9mm rounds in an extended magazine and one in the chamber.
Police also found a pocket knife, black hat and 19 9mm shell casings on the sidewalk on the 600 block of N. Fremont Avenue as well as a BB gun in a rear alley.
