Shooter Sentenced to 75 Years for Gunning Down Victim in West Baltimore in 2020

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A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge handed down a 75-year prison sentence to homicide defendant Stephawn Tate on Sept. 12 after he was convicted for the 2020 fatal shooting of Rodney Grinage in West Baltimore.

Following a five-day trial that concluded in March, a jury found Tate guilty of second-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and firearm possession with a felony conviction. On Thursday, Judge Dana M. Middleton sentenced the 23-year-old defendant to 40 years for second-degree murder, a consecutive 20 years for firearm use in a felony or violent crime and a consecutive 15 years for firearm possession with a felony conviction.

Under the terms of the plea, Tate will serve the first decade of his sentence without the possibility of parole.

“This was a brazen act of violence by a repeat offender who showed a complete disregard for public safety and the law,” State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates stated in a press release on Sept. 13. “Cases like this strike fear into the hearts of law-abiding residents and visitors when they walk our city’s streets.”

At trial, the prosecutor told jurors that Grinage was “begging for mercy” after Tate shot him and then stood over the victim and fired the fatal shots on the 1600 block of West North Avenue on Nov. 13, 2020. During the Baltimore Police Department’s investigation, she said, detectives believed that Tate attempted to rob Grinage before the two began physically fighting one another and shots were fired.

Grinage was shot six times and was found unresponsive by police.

Defense attorneys Benjamin Charlton and Todd Oppenheim, who represented Tate at trial, argued that their client “admitted to doing a horrible thing,” but that the shooting was not premeditated. Instead, Tate was in the area to buy Percocet to feed his opioid addiction. The attorneys noted that the defendant’s drug addiction began after he was shot four years prior.