Charles Village Court Watch

Markell Shelton Jones is charged with the murder and attempted armed robbery of Freddie Jones (no relation) on October 31, 2011 at Yau Brothers Chinese carryout at 2901 Greenmount Avenue.

This morning, Jones was scheduled for reception court, room 556 Courthouse East, at 9:30 before Judge Alfred Nance.

At 9:36, Judge Nance called Assistant State's Attorney Nicole Lomartire and Assistant Public Defender Robert Linthicum to the bench for a two minute bench conference.  They are the attorney in the Jones case.  Following this, a case involving a defendant not in custody was postponed, and Judge Nance called a number of other lawyers to the bench.  At 10:19, the first prisoners were brought into the courtroom and had their time in reception court.

At 10:41, Jones and two other defendants were led into the courtroom by corrections officers.  At 10:41, after the other two had had their time in court, the case of State of Maryland versus Markell Jones was called by the prosecutor.  Both attorneys indicated that they were ready for trial.  After another bench conference, the defense attorney stated that a defense witness would be available tomorrow and then would be unavailable until the following Wednesday.  After a further bench conference, Judge Nance noted that the case had been postponed 8 times, and he set the trial for this coming Monday, May 6 in part 30 (Judge M. Brooke Murdock, room 230 Courthouse East).  The defense attorney stated that his witness would not be available then.

Note that part 30 is a trial court, and we can expect a jury trial to begin Monday with preliminary motions by the attorneys.  Of course, a different outcome is always possible, buy my best guess is that there will be a jury trial.  It is likely that Monday will be consumed with preliminary motions followed by jury selection, and that opening statements will begin Tuesday followed by the prosecution's witnesses' testimony.  Therefore, I will be surprised if the defense witnesses' testimony begins before Wednesday, and if it does begin Wednesday, it will have been a very short prosecution presentation for a murder trial.  Thus, I expect the defense to be able to put on its witness.

As I was about to send this out as an email, the online court file showed the trial as scheduled for 9:30 Monday.  I plan to attend.


Thursday this week, May 2 at 8:30 in courtroom 1 of District Court at 5800 Wabash Avenue, Robin McKoy is scheduled for a preliminary hearing.  She is charged with first degree assault and lesser charges for allegedly attacking another woman with a hammer on the 400 block of East 25th Street on April 3.  Here is a link to the article in Patch:http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/harwood-woman-accused-of-hammer...
  Note that at a preliminary hearing for an alleged felony, the lead detective in the case indicates what evidence (s)he has and may be cross examined by the defense attorney.  Following this, the judge rules on whether there is enough evidence to justify sending the case to Circuit Court for disposition.  I plan to attend.


Benny Davis is charged with the first degree murder of D'Andre Thomas on the 2700 block of Fox Street In Remington last March 18.  Here is a link to an article in North Baltimore Patch:
http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/domestic-dispute-led-to-alleged...

Davis is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, May 6 at 9:30 in room 509 Courthouse East.  Generally, at an arraignment, the defense attorney says that the defendant pleads not guilty, requests a jury trial and waives formal reading of the charges, although some judges follow a custom of having the court clerk read the indictment for any count that historically has been a capital offense.  The judge then sets a trial date in reception court.

Note that this conflicts with the scheduled trial of Markell Shelton Jones.  It is likely that someone will attend in my place.


Steve