Strong Evidence Teenager Conspired to Commit Murder, Says Prosecution

By Sage Cho - December 20, 2024
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting |

Proceedings in the attempted murder trial of 19-year-old Ethan King ran from Dec. 18 to Dec. 20 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams.

King is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, firearm use in a violent crime, use of a magazine with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, possessing a firearm with a felony conviction, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. The charges are in connection to a Feb. 6 incident on the corner of Ceddox Street and the 4900 block of Pennington Avenue. 

On Feb. 6, King arrived at an Anne Arundel County convenience store with two other male customers inside. One of the men appeared to have “bad blood” with King, said the prosecution, and the other was a retired fireman “who just wanted Tastykakes” sweets.

Another man, later alleged to be King’s co-conspirator, arrived outside the store and waited for King to finish his business. Video footage recovered from the store captured a person identified as King and the man with whom he had “bad blood” raising their voices and exchanging heated words. Seeing this, the victim decided to escape the store and used his remote-function car keys to start his black Cadillac Escalade from inside the convenience store. 

King called his co-conspirator on his cellphone and the victim began to drive away. Mistakenly believing that the Cadillac belonged to the man with whom King had just argued, King and his co-conspirator chased the victim in their respective cars.

The pursuit continued into Baltimore County, where they cut him off at the corner of Ceddox Street and Pennington Avenue and allegedly fired four times each at his vehicle. Investigators later recovered both 9mm and .40-caliber shell casings, believed to belong respectively to King and his co-conspirator, as well as bullet damage on the passenger’s side of the victim’s Cadillac that seemed to match the shooters’ firearms. A firearms examiner testified, affirming these findings.

In his opening statement on Dec. 18, King’s defense attorney, Jason P. Rodriguez, told the court that he believes King to be innocent of several of his charges.

“It’s a case that’s going to consistently leave you hanging. That connecting of the dots is absolutely never going to occur in this case,” said Rodriguez. “You can’t fit a square peg into a round hole.”

The prosecution closed on Dec. 19, claiming that the investigation produced sufficient evidence to prove that King had conspired to commit first-degree murder.

“Those are two people with the same goal, and that is the very essence of conspiracy,” said the prosecution. “When you’re shooting at someone in a vehicle that’s approaching, the intent is to kill them.” 

Rodriguez gave his closing statements on Dec. 20. He questioned whether the video evidence presented by the state proved sufficient to incriminate King, a query that the prosecution rejected based on the quality of the footage. “No offense to Ethan King,” said Rodriguez. “But he’s not the only goofy looking white dude.”

The prosecution addressed the jury. “In this case, all you need to do is use your eyes,” as he pointed toward the video. “That is the defendant. He is a unique looking person. He’s put on, what, five pounds since February.”

Rodriguez went on to raise doubts about the validity of the results of the firearms analysis and questioned why responding technicians chose not to swab the gun or the recovered shell casings for DNA or fingerprints. 

“This is not science at all,” said Rodriguez, criticizing both the examination procedure and lack of further inspection. “Admittedly, it’s difficult to do, but they didn’t even try.”

He also noted that the video footage that showed King on the phone with his accomplice had clear timestamps and questioned why investigators neglected to check King’s phone records. 

The prosecution implored the jury to find King guilty. “This doesn’t happen by coincidence,” he said.