Woman Sentenced in Shooting of 78-Year-Old Man

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On July 8, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong sentenced a woman convicted of shooting a 78-year-old man in the face to 41 years in prison.

Marika Crawford, 28, was found guilty of first-degree assault, firearm use in a felony violent crime, reckless endangerment, having a loaded handgun on her person, having a loaded handgun in a vehicle and discharging a firearm. She was found not guilty of attempted first- and second-degree murder, armed robbery, robbery, theft between $100 and $1,500 and attempted voluntary manslaughter on Dec. 15, 2023 on the 1200 block of East Lanvale Street.

As she stood next to her defense attorney, Martin Cohen, Crawford insisted that she was acting in self-defense and fighting off a would-be sexual assault when she shot the victim in his home on July 20, 2022,. She said she was there because she was hired for a after completing a hired landscaping job.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Hong remarked on the irregularity of the case: Both Crawford and the victim had no priors, Crawford was working for over $40 an hour and was a registered firearm carrier.

But the fact that Crawford shot the victim and left him for dead before returning to Tennessee, where she was found with over 60 rounds of ammunition, led Judge Hong to her decision.

Judge Hong sentenced Crawford to 18 years in prison for first-degree assault, 18 years in prison for firearm use in a felony violent crime and five years in prison for reckless endangerment. Each sentence will run consecutively.

She was also sentenced to one year for discharging a firearm, which will be concurrent with the assault charge.

The sentences for her misdemeanor charges of having a loaded handgun on person and in a vehicle were merged with the previously listed charges.