Shooter of MTA Mobility Bus Driver Takes 60-Year Plea for 2021 Murder

By Andrew Michaels - May 3, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A 35-year-old man accused of fatally shooting MTA Mobility bus driver Frankye Duckett in 2021 will serve a 60-year sentence after accepting a plea offer from the prosecution on May 1.

Marquis Poteat was initially scheduled for his jury trial to begin on Monday before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Howard. Instead, he proceeded with the prosecution’s plea offer of life, suspending all but 60 years for first-degree murder and a concurrent 20 years for firearm use in a felony violent crime.

The Poppleton neighborhood resident was represented by defense attorney Martin Cohen.

During the defendant’s court appearances in 2022, the prosecution said that Duckett was found with multiple gunshot wounds inside an MTA Mobility bus shortly after 5:00 p.m. on the 4400 block of Moravia Road on Jan. 29, 2021. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died approximately 30 minutes later.

The prosecutor informed the court on Monday that Baltimore Police recovered video footage from the bus that showed a beige Buick LeSabre pull into the parking lot. Someone in the passenger’s seat exited the vehicle and opened fire at the bus driver’s side window, continuing to shoot while climbing through the bus’s shattered window.

The driver of the vehicle drove away after the shooter got back into the passenger’s seat.

Police later identified Poteat as the shooter after speaking with his grandmother, who told them that she had taken the bus from the 1200 block of West Mulberry Street to Poteat’s residence on the 4400 block of Moravia Road, where Poteat got into an argument with the bus driver. According to the bus’ video footage, Poteat’s clothing matched those worn by the suspected shooter.

The Buick was also found on the 1300 block of W. Mulberry Street. When police pulled the driver over, they identified Poteat’s co-defendant, Ernest Ford.

Ford, who is represented by defense attorney Tony Garcia, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of first-degree murder in December 2022 and is awaiting sentencing.