Thank you for reading Baltimore Witness.
Help us continue our mission into 2025 by donating to our end of year campaign.
By
Racquel Bazos [former]
- May 1, 2024
Attempted Murder
|
Court
|
Daily Stories
|
Non-Fatal Shooting
|
Shooting
|
Suspects
|
The assistant state’s attorney prosecuting an attempted murder dismissed all charges against a 32-year-old defendant because his alleged victim did not appear in court.
Mario Emmanuel Jones, of Columbia, Md., was charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person, having a loaded handgun on his person and firing a gun in Baltimore City for allegedly shooting through his ex-girlfriend’s front door on the 1500 block of East Lanvale Street on July 10, 2023.
The sole eyewitness to the incident, the victim, did not appear in court April 30, likely due to dissatisfaction with the prosecutor.
The prosecutor told Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer the last time she spoke with the victim on Friday, the victim wanted another assistant state’s attorney assigned to the case, because the victim felt the prosecutor was “dishonest” and was “re-victimizing” throughout her work on the case.
However, the prosecutor said the victim never told a complete story of what happened in the incident. Due to the victim’s professed memory issues, she couldn’t definitively remember if Jones had a gun or not.
Because there were no other eyewitnesses to the shooting, the prosecutor entered a “nolle prosequi” motion, May 1 — dismissing all charges against Jones.
Defense attorney Natalie Finegar, who had waived her client’s appearance, said she would advise Jones of the case’s dismissal.