The first-degree murder trial of Matthew Kintay Harper Jr. was postponed after his primary defense attorney was unable to appear in court.
Harper, 30, appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Copeland on July 22. Another attorney appeared on his behalf because defense attorney Koryn Nichole High was involved in a separate trial.
Harper is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, carrying a handgun on his person, having a handgun in a vehicle and other related offenses.
A new trial date is expected to be set on Sept. 15.
According to charging documents, Damien Parker was fatally shot in Northeast Baltimore on the 2300 block of Harford Road Oct. 7, 2024. He was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed two individuals arriving in a black sedan and approaching a group of people before one of them allegedly opened fire. Both individuals then returned to the vehicle and fled, according to the documents.
Police later identified Harper as a person of interest. Charging documents allege that officers saw him driving a black Infiniti two days later and that he crashed the vehicle, ran from police and discarded a loaded .40-caliber handgun before being taken into custody.
Investigators reported that ballistic evidence from the firearm was consistent with evidence recovered from the homicide scene. DNA recovered from the handgun was also consistent with Harper’s DNA profile, according to charging documents.
