The stepfather of 16-year-old Jibreal Payne unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the teen’s murder on Sept. 1 as counsel was selecting a jury for trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Erik S. Atas.
Johnnie Teague agreed to an Alford plea for first-degree child abuse resulting in death. Under an Alford plea, the 54-year-old defendant pleads guilty without admitting any wrongdoing. His remaining charges were dropped, including first- and second-degree murder as well as additional counts of child abuse, assault and reckless endangerment.
Teague’s next hearing is currently scheduled on Dec. 2 before Judge Paul J. Cucuzzella.
The four-day trial was expected to begin on Aug. 31 when defense counsel Andre Mahasa initially requested a postponement to retrieve medical records regarding Payne’s hospitalizations prior to the incident on Jan. 27, 2024. Judge Atas denied the postponement for want of jurors and began jury selection on Sept. 1.
Shortly after 7 a.m. on the day of the incident, Baltimore Police officers were called to the family’s home on the 400 block of N. Clinton Street before responding to Johns Hopkins Hospital where they were informed Payne was undergoing treatment in the hospital’s pediatric trauma unit, court documents state. The defendant reported that he was asleep when he heard a loud bang and found Payne, who he said suffered from schizophrenia, at the bottom of the stairs.
The victim reportedly told Teague that he was “fine” except for some jaw pain. After a few minutes on the couch with his sister, Payne passed out, became unresponsive and stopped breathing, according to court documents. He was pronounced dead just before 8:30 a.m. when police were also informed that Payne had a laceration and bleeding in his heart in addition to burn marks on his wrists.
When questioned, the defendant told police that Payne burned his back in the shower a few days earlier and that the former treated the injury with aloe, Vaseline and ibuprofen. Further investigation revealed that Teague had custody of his stepson who lived with him.
Court documents state that witnesses — who were present at the N. Clinton Street residence — later told police that Teague “repeatedly beat” and burned Payne’s body, having seen the defendant “violently beat” Payne the night before the incident and into the next morning.
Payne’s death was ruled a homicide on Aug. 23, 2024, due to a brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs, severe burns to his body and other internal injuries.
