2015–2021 Term Report
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JUSTICE<br />
over convictions<br />
/BaltimoreCitySAO<br />
/BaltimoreSAO<br />
/BaltimoreSAO
OFFICE OF THE STATE’S ATTORNEY FOR BALTIMORE CITY<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> <strong>Term</strong> <strong>Report</strong><br />
Mission and Vision Statements<br />
Letter From The State's Attorney<br />
How The Process Works<br />
About Us<br />
SAO At A Glance<br />
Gone But Not Forgotten:<br />
Victims of Homicide 2021<br />
Our Impact<br />
Our Partners<br />
Our Stories<br />
2015<br />
2016<br />
2017<br />
2018<br />
2019<br />
2020<br />
2021<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
7<br />
11<br />
15<br />
19<br />
23<br />
27<br />
31<br />
35<br />
37<br />
42<br />
43
Our MISSION<br />
The mission of the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore<br />
City is to safeguard communities in Baltimore City through<br />
the effective prosecution of crime. Justice is the only barometer<br />
of success for our office, which is why our prosecutors are<br />
sworn to aggressively pursue “justice over convictions” in every<br />
case. Justice is doing what is fair and appropriate in each case,<br />
taking into account the nature of the crime, its impact upon<br />
the victim, and the circumstances of the defendant. Sometimes<br />
justice requires a conviction and lengthy prison sentence,<br />
but other times justice requires dropping all charges, or<br />
diverting a defendant out of the criminal justice system to drug<br />
rehabilitation, education or job training. When the evidence<br />
exists—justice also requires us to exonerate those that have been<br />
falsely accused or wrongly convicted.<br />
Our VISION<br />
The Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, which<br />
is uncompromisingly committed to accountability,<br />
professionalism, and transparency— is working towards a<br />
future where community trust in the criminal justice system<br />
is restored; violent offenders are held accountable; and<br />
communities feel safe. We seek to cultivate an environment<br />
where success is measured not solely by the number of<br />
convictions obtained, but also by how we engage communities<br />
and apply justice independent of one’s sex, race, religion, sexual<br />
orientation or occupation.
LETTER FROM THE<br />
STATE’S ATTORNEY<br />
DEAR FRIENDS,<br />
Iam grateful and full of pride to serve as your State’s<br />
Attorney and proudly present our seven year <strong>Term</strong> <strong>Report</strong>.<br />
As your State’s Attorney, I firmly believe that every single<br />
community and every single family in our city deserves<br />
fairness and an opportunity to grow and succeed.<br />
As many of you know, I was a young teenager when I first experienced<br />
our criminal justice system. My cousin—who was my best friend—was<br />
shot and killed in a case of mistaken identity, mere feet away from my<br />
home. It was a heartbreaking event and, unfortunately, many of us<br />
know what it is like to lose a loved one so suddenly and without reason.<br />
I decided then that I must do something that was greater than me and<br />
pursuing a career in criminal justice was my way to be a part of the<br />
solution to the incessant problem of violent crime.<br />
This past year, our city and my office continued to face challenges<br />
unlike any that we have ever experienced both as prosecutors and as<br />
citizens of Baltimore. Since taking office in 2015, my team and I have<br />
been steadfast in our commitment to ensuring one standard of justice<br />
for all rregardless of a person’s race, sex, religion or occupation. Our<br />
collective efforts are driving some of the most progressive criminal<br />
justice reforms enacted anywhere in the country. I am proud of the<br />
work underway and my prosecutors especially—we fought to remove<br />
violent offenders from our streets with a 90% felony conviction rate;<br />
we ended the war on drug users and people of color by decriminalizing<br />
drug possession and sex work; we pushed for second chances for people<br />
serving life sentences; we have exonerated 12 innocent black men; and<br />
we continue in our commitment to restore trust between communities<br />
we serve and law enforcement. That obligation to the people of<br />
Baltimore remained unwavering in 2021 in the face of a global<br />
pandemic and an unprecedented case backlog.<br />
It is my hope that this <strong>Term</strong> <strong>Report</strong> reflects our tremendous<br />
growth and progress over the past seven years to bring<br />
meaningful change to Baltimore. Please conduct an in-depth<br />
analysis of the wealth of information and data contained in<br />
this report. This body of work is evidence of the hard work<br />
of my dedicated staff who reflect the best of dedicated<br />
public service. I encourage you to share this <strong>Term</strong> <strong>Report</strong><br />
with family, friends, and neighbors because the effort<br />
to interrupt the cycle of violence in Baltimore cannot<br />
be done alone. Success is best achieved through our<br />
continued work together to create a safer, healthier city<br />
for our children, our families and our communities.<br />
Looking forward together, there is still so much<br />
work to be done, but I am more confident than ever<br />
that our best days are ahead of us.<br />
Marilyn J. Mosby, Esq.<br />
Baltimore City State’s Attorney
HOW THE<br />
PROCESS WORKS<br />
Citizen calls 911<br />
Citizen calls 311<br />
Citizen files complaint<br />
with commissioner<br />
CRIMINAL CASE<br />
INITIATED<br />
Arrestee is taken to central booking<br />
intake facility to be booked<br />
State’s Attorney’s Office either<br />
agrees to formal charges against<br />
the arrestee or signs for charges to<br />
be dropped and person released<br />
POLICE MAKE<br />
ARREST OR<br />
COMMISSIONER<br />
ISSUES SUMMONS<br />
Defendant who are<br />
arrested appear before<br />
the commissioner<br />
COURT<br />
COMMISSIONER<br />
THREE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES<br />
RECOGNIZANCE - released with summons to report to court on trial date<br />
BAIL - Pay monetary amount to be released until court date<br />
NO BAIL - held in jail until the court date<br />
DISTRICT COURT<br />
MISDEMEANOR/<br />
TRAFFIC CRIMES<br />
CIRCUIT COURT<br />
FELONY CRIMES/<br />
MISDEMEANOR<br />
JURY TRIALS<br />
Misdemeanor trials<br />
prayed from District<br />
Court are heard in<br />
Circuit Court<br />
Jury Trial to determine<br />
guilt for innocence<br />
Bench trial to determine<br />
guilt or innocence<br />
Defendant, in certain cases,<br />
can request to be heard in<br />
front of a jury in circuit court<br />
INCARCERATION<br />
CASE<br />
PREPARATION<br />
In felony cases, a preliminary<br />
hearing is held in district court or<br />
the case is presented to the grand<br />
jury in circuit court to determine if<br />
there is sufficient probable cause<br />
to sustain the charges. if the judge<br />
or grand jury determines there is<br />
probable cause to charge, the case<br />
is charged and scheduled for an<br />
arraignment and then for trial at<br />
circuit court, if not, the charges<br />
are dismissed.<br />
CITY JAIL OR<br />
STATE PRISON<br />
Court mails summons<br />
to all complainants,<br />
witnesses and victims<br />
Assigned prosecutor contacts<br />
the victim(s) and witness(es)<br />
to discuss the case.<br />
Judge or Parole commission assignees<br />
supervision in the community by the state<br />
after being released from incarceration, or<br />
may receive in lieu of being incarcerated<br />
PAROLE AND<br />
PROBATION<br />
OUT OF<br />
SYSTEM
ABOUT<br />
US<br />
ADMINISTRATION<br />
CRIMINAL<br />
INTELLIGENCE<br />
EXTERNAL<br />
AFFAIRS<br />
MAJOR<br />
CRIMES<br />
OPERATIONS<br />
Administration<br />
provides all<br />
administrative, nonlegal<br />
support to the<br />
office and includes<br />
the following units:<br />
Human Resources,<br />
Finance, Information<br />
Technology,<br />
Operations, and<br />
Policy & Legislation.<br />
The Criminal Intelligence<br />
Bureau includes the<br />
Conviction Integrity Unit,<br />
the Public Trust and Police<br />
Integrity Unit, the Forfeiture<br />
and Economic Crimes Unit,<br />
the Criminal Strategies Unit,<br />
the Evidence Review Unit,<br />
and the Sentencing Review<br />
Unit. The recently created<br />
Baltimore Community<br />
Intelligence Centers and<br />
the Community Engagement<br />
unit now fall under this<br />
bureau as well.<br />
The External Affairs<br />
Bureau, created under the<br />
Mosby Administration, is<br />
responsible for fostering<br />
and strengthening<br />
relationships with the<br />
Baltimore community<br />
and includes the following<br />
units: Communications,<br />
Victim and Witness<br />
Services, and Crime<br />
Control and Prevention.<br />
The Major Crimes<br />
Bureau is the largest<br />
division in the office,<br />
and is comprised<br />
of all Felony Trial<br />
units, including;<br />
Major Investigations,<br />
Homicide, Special<br />
Victims, Gun Violence<br />
Enforcement, General<br />
Felony and Narcotics.<br />
The Operations<br />
Bureau is comprised<br />
of the District Court,<br />
Central Booking,<br />
Misdemeanor,<br />
Juvenile, Problem<br />
Solving Courts, and<br />
Training units.
SAO AT A GLANCE<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong><br />
T<br />
he past seven years have not been without their fair share of challenges<br />
as the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Office (SAO) aims to continue<br />
Baltimore’s crime fight and restore faith in our local criminal justice<br />
system. Since Freddie Gray’s murder, we have had four mayors; five police<br />
commissioners; a scathing 163-page report by the Department of Justice<br />
exposing a pattern and practice of discriminatory policing; the subsequent<br />
federal consent decree; and experienced one of the largest police corruption<br />
scandals in the history of the country. Compounded with the court closures,<br />
case backlogs, staffing and budgetary challenges due to a global pandemic, in<br />
spite of these unprecedented obstacles, the Baltimore City SAO has remained<br />
steadfast and persistent in our mission to seek one standard of justice.<br />
5ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance <strong>2015–2021</strong>
T<br />
hrough all of the City’s challenges, the data shows my office has maintained a 90%<br />
conviction rate on average for violent offenses, an average 88% conviction rate<br />
for mandatory minimum eligible cases, and a 92% conviction rate for violent repeat<br />
offenders, all of which is consistent with the conviction rates of my predecessors over<br />
the past ten years. For the past seven years, my office and my prosecutors have been the<br />
only stability in this city, and they should be valued and appreciated for their public<br />
service and their commitment that each of them exhibit every day. As the data shows,<br />
every single day my prosecutors go up against voluminous case dockets, uncooperative<br />
witnesses, and judges to ensure accountability against violent individuals in this city.<br />
Marilyn J. Mosby,<br />
State’s Attorney for Baltimore City<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
6ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
ONE<br />
On January 8, 2015, Marilyn J. Mosby was<br />
sworn in as the 25th State’s Attorney for<br />
Baltimore City, making her the youngest<br />
chief prosecutor of any major American<br />
city. Her first year was marked by many<br />
achievements and challenges as she began<br />
her term. Four months after being sworn in<br />
her swearing in, on April 12th, 2015, Freddie<br />
Carlos Gray, Jr,. an innocent 25-year-old<br />
Black man by the name of Freddie Carlos<br />
Gray, Jr. made eye contact with a police<br />
officer in a high crime neighborhood and<br />
was unconstitutionally arrested, placed into<br />
a metal wagon headfirst, feet shackled and<br />
handcuffed. His spine was partially severed<br />
in the back of that wagon and following a<br />
seven day coma, he died.<br />
This tragic event was the start of the SAO’s<br />
commitment to one standard of justice. On<br />
May 1st, 2015, State’s Attorney Marilyn<br />
Mosby she stood on the steps of the War<br />
Memorial Building to announce criminal<br />
charges against six police officers, - an<br />
unheard of demand for police accountability.<br />
This same year, the Body Worn Cameras pilot<br />
program was introduced in the Baltimore<br />
Police Department and their change in<br />
leadership led to the hiring of a new police<br />
commissioner, Kevin Davis.<br />
As Mosby assumed her new role and began<br />
transforming the office into a model for<br />
progressive, holistic prosecution, she<br />
exemplified the mantra of not just being<br />
“tough on crime” but more importantly<br />
“smart on crime. At this time, the SAO<br />
reached an 80 percent homicide conviction<br />
rate despite a 20 percent increase in the<br />
homicide caseload.<br />
She also reinstated the Community<br />
Engagement division; hired and assigned 10<br />
new community liaisons to each region of<br />
the city; personally attended more than 500<br />
community events, churches, and schools;<br />
and increased SAO grant funding by more<br />
than 27 percent.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
93%<br />
FELONY<br />
93%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
79%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
95%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
7ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2015
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
29<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
30<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
30<br />
STUDENTS ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS<br />
Great Expectations launched in Franklin Square<br />
Elementary in September of 2015.<br />
VICTIM AND<br />
WITNESS SERVICES<br />
OVER<br />
3200<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
549<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSION<br />
96<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă SECURED 126<br />
CONVICTIONS including<br />
public enemy #1 Darryl<br />
Anderson and double<br />
murderer Quinton Bass.<br />
Ă Convicted serial sex<br />
offender Nelson Clifford<br />
who was sentenced to<br />
over 30 years in jail.<br />
Ă Violent repeat offender<br />
and Black Guerilla Family<br />
Gang member Capone<br />
Chase was convicted<br />
for the 2013 murder<br />
of Ramon Rodriquez.<br />
Ă Former Bishop Heather<br />
Cook was prosecuted for<br />
the drunk driving death of<br />
cyclist Thomas Palermo.<br />
Ă Carlos Wheeler, member<br />
of the Broadway East drug<br />
gang known as the “Gucci<br />
Boys” was sentenced to<br />
life in prison after being<br />
convicted of conspiracy<br />
to commit first degree<br />
murder, attempted first<br />
degree murder, and second<br />
degree assault.<br />
COURT IN THE COMMUNITY<br />
Court in the Community is an event<br />
created by State’s Attorney Mosby<br />
and held quarterly by the Community<br />
Engagement Division with the purpose<br />
of educating the public about the<br />
criminal justice process.<br />
Topics Covered in<br />
2015 Included:<br />
• Sexual Assault`<br />
• Domestic Violence<br />
CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
Ă THE CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT (CIU) investigates both in-court and out-of-court claims<br />
of innocence including investigating post-sentencing issues related to DNA evidence and<br />
wrongful conviction claims.<br />
Ă The CIU also enforces<br />
violations of probations<br />
and, when appropriate,<br />
makes diversionary<br />
recommendations for<br />
probation violators with<br />
drug problems, mental<br />
health challenges, and<br />
other lifestyle challenges<br />
that would respond to an<br />
alternative to incarceration.<br />
• Juvenile Violence<br />
• Re-entry<br />
Ă RELIEF FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE<br />
VICTIMS: Enables judges and court<br />
commissioners to tailor the relief provided<br />
by the courts to each victim’s individual<br />
needs, ensuring that we are doing everything<br />
possible to keep survivors safe.<br />
Ă JUVENILE TRANSFER DETERMINATIONS:<br />
Requires courts statewide to hold juveniles<br />
charged as adults in juvenile facilities<br />
pending transfer determinations.<br />
Ă In 2015, the CIU complied<br />
with the SAO’s legal<br />
obligations by reviewing<br />
over 8,400 petitions<br />
for expungement for<br />
statutory eligibility,<br />
resulting in nearly<br />
6,000 expunged cases.<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă The General Assembly<br />
passed laws expanding<br />
expungement eligibility<br />
beginning on October 1,<br />
2015. The CIU vigorously<br />
pursues violations of<br />
probation committed by<br />
violent repeat offenders<br />
in order to keep the<br />
community safe from these<br />
dangerous offenders.<br />
Ă SECOND CHANCE ACT: Allows individuals<br />
to petition a court to shield certain nonviolent<br />
misdemeanor convictions, enabling<br />
them to obtain jobs without their criminal<br />
record blocking their paths. Shielded<br />
records, however, remain fully accessible to<br />
law enforcement and the court ensuring that<br />
the public’s safety is not compromised.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
8ANGLE-RI
JANUARY 2015<br />
Marilyn Mosby was sworn in as<br />
the new State’s Attorney for<br />
Baltimore City, being the<br />
youngest chief prosecutor in any<br />
major city. After successfully<br />
completing one of the largest<br />
upsets in Baltimore City election<br />
history, Mosby assumed office<br />
and her leadership immediately<br />
transformed the State’s<br />
Attorney’s office into a national<br />
model for progressive holistic<br />
prosecution, exemplifying the<br />
mantra of not just being “tough<br />
on crime” but more importantly<br />
“smart on crime.”<br />
APRIL 2015<br />
Freddie Gray died in police<br />
custody - a citizen video of his<br />
arrest showed Gray screaming in<br />
pain, and his death prompted<br />
both the peaceful protests and<br />
headline-grabbing riots. The<br />
subsequent two-week police<br />
investigation ultimately<br />
concluded that Gray’s injury<br />
happened sometime during the<br />
van’s route while he was in<br />
police custody.<br />
JULY 2015<br />
Batts was fired from the<br />
Baltimore Police Department<br />
in the aftermath of a spike in<br />
homicide rates weeks after the<br />
2015 Baltimore riots related to<br />
the untimely death of Freddie<br />
Gray while in police custody.<br />
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings<br />
-Blake named Kevin Davis as the<br />
Interim Police Commissioner.<br />
He was later confirmed as the<br />
city’s 38th police commissioner<br />
YEAR<br />
ONE<br />
CREATED NEW CRIME<br />
STRATEGIES UNIT (CSU)<br />
that uses intelligence and<br />
data analyses to more<br />
effectively prosecute<br />
violent crime. The CSU is<br />
modeled on the successful<br />
Crime Strategies Unit in<br />
the Manhattan District<br />
Attorney’s Office.<br />
MAY 1, 2015<br />
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby<br />
stood on the steps of Baltimore’s<br />
War Memorial to announce<br />
criminal charges against six<br />
police officers, an unheard of<br />
demand for police accountability.<br />
Grand Jury issued indictments<br />
for all six officers involved in the<br />
death of Freddie Gray.<br />
FORM<br />
REVIEW<br />
respo<br />
revie<br />
uploadi<br />
footage f<br />
a defe<br />
a<br />
9ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2015
Developed innovative youth programming,<br />
including the Junior State’s Attorney program<br />
and Great Expectations. These programs strive<br />
to engage community youth in positive aspects<br />
of the criminal justice system and reach these<br />
youth before they become entangled in the<br />
criminal justice system.<br />
LAUNCHED NEW POLICY AND<br />
LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS UNIT,<br />
within the SAO because in order<br />
to have an effect on the laws in<br />
which we implement,<br />
prosecutors must do more<br />
than just advocate in the<br />
courtroom. Prosecutors must<br />
also advocate for fair and just<br />
laws, which requires us to have<br />
a voice in Annapolis.<br />
ED THE EVIDENCE<br />
UNIT (ERU), which is<br />
nsible for locating,<br />
wing, redacting and<br />
ng body worn camera<br />
or all offenses in which<br />
ndant is required to<br />
ppear in court.<br />
REINVIGORATED THE COMMUNITY<br />
ENGAGEMENT UNIT, which is staffed<br />
by 9 community liaisons who work in<br />
each district in the city on a daily basis<br />
to educate, engage and empower<br />
while working alongside law<br />
enforcement partners.<br />
DECEMBER 2015<br />
The trial of the first officer to be<br />
tried in relation to Freddie<br />
Gray’s death, William Porter,<br />
ends with a hung jury.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
10ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
TWO<br />
In 2016, the office continued to transform to<br />
better serve the citizens of Baltimore. To that<br />
end, State’s Attorney Mosby created the Gun<br />
Violence Enforcement and the Crime Control<br />
and Prevention divisions to remove guns<br />
from our streets, tackle recidivism and deter<br />
youth violence through the implementation<br />
of innovative criminal justice initiatives such<br />
as Aim to B’More, the Junior State’s Attorney<br />
program and Great Expectations. The SAO<br />
was also awarded a $2.4 million grant—the<br />
largest grant it has ever received—to provide<br />
the necessary services to support victims and<br />
witnesses of crime.<br />
The Gray trials continued and in 2016,<br />
following three bench trials, three of the six<br />
police officers charged in the death of Freddie<br />
Gray were acquitted by a judge and the SAO<br />
announced they were dropping all charges<br />
against the remaining three officers involved.<br />
The acquittals, and subsequent dropping of<br />
charges, made it clear that when it came to<br />
police accountability — without being able<br />
to work with an independent investigatory<br />
agency from the start; without having<br />
a say on whether cases will be seen in front<br />
of a judge or a jury; without community<br />
oversight of policing; and, without real<br />
substantive systemic reforms to the criminal<br />
justice system, the case for Freddie Gray<br />
could have been tried one hundred times,<br />
and cases just like it, and the same result<br />
would still be reached.<br />
In response to the injustices brought to<br />
light during this time, in August of 2016,<br />
the Department of Justice (DOJ) released<br />
a scathing 160+ page report outlining the<br />
discriminatory practices of the Baltimore<br />
Police Department (BPD). The report found<br />
that BPD disproportionately targeted Black<br />
people for stops and arrests, after BPD took<br />
a “zero tolerance” approach to policing<br />
in the early 2000s. Iin response, the SAO<br />
published a white paper titled: Investigating<br />
and Prosecuting Police Misconduct: Reform<br />
Proposals. This was the start of the SAO’s<br />
subsequent years of advocacy that continues<br />
today for police reform proposals.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
93%<br />
FELONY<br />
92%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
77%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
97%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
11ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2016
CONVICTION<br />
INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
Ă In May of 2016 the Conviction Integrity Unit secured its first<br />
exoneree since restructuring and successfully exonerated<br />
Malcolm Bryant for the second degree murder<br />
of 16-year-old Toni Bullock. Bryant had spent 17 years behind<br />
bars.<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR REPEAT<br />
DRUNK DRIVERS: Increased the maximum penalties for<br />
repeat offenders who kill or seriously injure someone<br />
while driving under the influence or impaired.<br />
Ă INCREASED MAXIMUM PENALTY FOR SECOND<br />
DEGREE MURDER: Included in the Justice Reinvestment<br />
Act, increases the maximum penalty for second degree<br />
murder from 30 to 40 years.<br />
Ă PRETRIAL RELEASE FOR CONVICTED OFFENDERS:<br />
Prohibited District Court Commissioners from authorizing<br />
the pretrial release of a defendant charged with certain<br />
firearm crimes if they have a previous crime of violence<br />
conviction.<br />
Ă ANIMAL FIGHTING PARAPHERNALIA: Prohibits the<br />
possession of dogfighting paraphernalia.<br />
Ă DEFINITION OF STALKING AND HARASSMENT: Enabled<br />
Maryland judges to treat harassment and destruction of<br />
property like other types abuse and protect victims from<br />
potentially escalating abusers.<br />
Ă INTERNET CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN: Created a<br />
special fund to investigate and prosecute internet-based<br />
crimes and sexual exploitation of children.<br />
Ă SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS AND PREVENTION:<br />
Required the State Board of Education and certain<br />
nonpublic schools to develop and implement ageappropriate<br />
programs relating to sexual assault awareness<br />
and prevention.<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
30<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
4<br />
COURT IN THE COMMUNITY<br />
EVENTS HOSTED<br />
Topics Covered in<br />
2016 Included:<br />
• Homicide<br />
• Domestic Violence<br />
• Expungement<br />
• LGBTQIA+ and the<br />
criminal justice system<br />
VICTIM AND WITNESS SERVICES<br />
OVER<br />
3400<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
1,881<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSIONS<br />
42<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
SINCE 2015<br />
Over 3,300 community services hours completed<br />
by AIM To B’More participants<br />
30<br />
STUDENTS ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS<br />
Great Expectations hosted at<br />
William Penderhughes Elementary<br />
School in West Baltimore.<br />
131<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
In 2016, the SAO reinstituted the popular Crime Victims Emergency Fund Run/<br />
Walk, supporting victims of crime in Baltimore City. 2016 was the first year the<br />
SAO hosted this event since 2012. Over 100 individuals braved the cool, rainy<br />
weather on that day to race 3.2 miles through downtown Baltimore for Victims<br />
of Crime and their families.<br />
Ă Secured conviction of Bagada Dionas for the 2007 double<br />
murder of Wayne and Maurice White.<br />
Ă Secured Conviction of<br />
Rashid Mayo, a public<br />
enemy #1, for his role in<br />
the tragic death of one year<br />
old Carter Scott in 2013<br />
and sentenced to two life<br />
sentences plus 45 years.<br />
Ă Using cell-site technology,<br />
BPD and the SAO brought<br />
to justice Andre Mixon,<br />
convicted of first degree<br />
murder and use of handgun<br />
in the commission of a<br />
crime of violence.<br />
Ă Convicted former BGF<br />
hitman Kenneth “Slay”<br />
Jones, he was one of nearly<br />
50 indicted in a massive<br />
investigation of BGF.<br />
Ă Christopher Goode, public<br />
enemy #1, was convicted<br />
in the attempted murder of<br />
his daughter’s mother.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
12ANGLE-RI
MAY 2016<br />
After investigation by the SAO<br />
CIU and it’s partners, Malcolm<br />
Bryant is released after<br />
spending 18 years in prison for a<br />
crime he did not commit.<br />
JULY 2016<br />
State’s Attorney Mosby<br />
announces that all charges<br />
have been dropped for<br />
remaining officers who were<br />
facing trial in relation to Freddie<br />
Gray’s death, after two officers<br />
were found not guilty and one<br />
ended with a hung jury.<br />
THE NARCOTICS U<br />
was created to investi<br />
and prosecute the drug<br />
in Baltimore City. The<br />
uses a geographic prose<br />
model with ASAs work<br />
teams to cover specific<br />
of the City. Prosecuto<br />
responsible for investi<br />
and prosecuting the f<br />
narcotics cases in th<br />
assigned district, as<br />
as developing relation<br />
with their counterp<br />
from BPD.<br />
YEAR<br />
TWO<br />
THE GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION<br />
(GVED), on September, the SAO<br />
announced a collaborative<br />
division devoted to<br />
investigating and prosecuting<br />
gun crime in Baltimore. GVED<br />
uses intelligence gathered by<br />
BPD detectives and CSU in the<br />
State’s Attorney’s Office to<br />
apprehend, charge and convict<br />
specific gun offenders who have<br />
been identified as top drivers<br />
of crime in Baltimore.<br />
AUGUST 2016<br />
The Justice Department released<br />
a 160 page report announcing<br />
that it found reasonable cause<br />
to believe that BPD engages<br />
in a pattern or practice of<br />
conduct that violates the First<br />
and Fourth Amendments of the<br />
Constitution as well as federal<br />
anti-discrimination laws.<br />
13ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2016
NIT<br />
gate<br />
crimes<br />
Unit<br />
cution<br />
ing in<br />
parts<br />
rs are<br />
gating<br />
elony<br />
eir<br />
well<br />
ships<br />
arts<br />
OCTOBER 2016<br />
The SAO released a white paper<br />
titled: Investigating and<br />
Prosecuting Police Misconduct:<br />
Reform Proposals. The<br />
recommendations were in<br />
response to the issues faced in<br />
the case of Freddie Gray and<br />
that are illustrated in the DOJ<br />
report released earlier in 2016.<br />
This was the start of the SAOs<br />
six years of advocacy that<br />
continues today for police<br />
reform proposals. The purpose<br />
of this paper is to ensure that<br />
the truth is known and justice<br />
done when there are allegations<br />
of police misconduct.<br />
SAO JOINS COALITION TO COMBAT<br />
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL<br />
ASSAULT, in partnership with BPD,<br />
Baltimore Child Abuse Center, House of<br />
Ruth, and the Governor’s Office of Crime<br />
Control and Prevention to improve the<br />
criminal justice system’s response to<br />
domestic violence victims and teenage<br />
victims of sex assault. The coalition used<br />
grant funding to hire a full-time prosecutor<br />
and two full-time advocates to work<br />
exclusively with the victims of these crimes.<br />
This significantly improves information and<br />
data sharing among agencies, increase<br />
victims’ access to services, and improves<br />
prosecutorial outcomes.<br />
CREATED NEW CRIME<br />
STRATEGIES UNIT (CSU)<br />
that uses intelligence and<br />
data analyses to more<br />
effectively prosecute<br />
violent crime. The CSU is<br />
modeled on the successful<br />
Crime Strategies Unit in<br />
the Manhattan District<br />
Attorney’s Office.<br />
VWS ADVOCATES DEDICATED<br />
TO MISDEMEANOR JURY<br />
TRIALS (MJT). MJT, with a grant<br />
the SAO received, was able to<br />
hire two advocates to work<br />
exclusively with victims and<br />
witnesses in the MJT. These<br />
advocates work with to identify<br />
and contact victims and<br />
witnesses, and assist them in<br />
arranging interviews, escorting<br />
them to court, and more.<br />
DECEMBER 2016<br />
Catherine Elizabeth Pugh was<br />
sworn in as the 50th Mayor of<br />
the City of Baltimore.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
14ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
THREE<br />
Whether it was kicking off the third year<br />
of the Junior State’s Attorney Program or<br />
starting the new B’More PopUps on Friday<br />
nights, the SAO continued to illustrate<br />
ways to be “smart on crime” and address<br />
crime holistically by tackling recidivism<br />
and deterring youth violence through the<br />
implementation of innovative criminal<br />
justice initiatives.<br />
Leadership in the city once again changed<br />
when Mayor Catherine Pugh removed<br />
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and<br />
replaced him with Commissioner Darryl<br />
DeSouza, who then shortly thereafter<br />
resigned after criminal charges were filed<br />
against him.<br />
This year also witnessed one of the largest<br />
police corruption scandals in the history of<br />
the country. Eight Baltimore police officers<br />
who served in a high-profile gun unit, The<br />
Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), were indicted<br />
on federal racketeering charges — the<br />
officers abused their power by planting<br />
guns and drugs on citizens and stole large<br />
sums of cash between 2014 and 2016. The<br />
indictments and convictions resulted in<br />
numerous investigations and the SAO<br />
reviewed more than 2,500 cases related<br />
to GTTF.<br />
Despite these challenges, the SAO<br />
continued to hold violent offenders<br />
accountable and saw major successes. This<br />
included the doubling in size of the Victims<br />
and Witnesses Services division, made<br />
possible by a competitive $2.4M grant<br />
awarded to the SAO from the Governor’s<br />
Office of Crime Control and Prevention<br />
through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
93%<br />
FELONY<br />
87%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
95%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
80%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
97%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
99%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
Gun Violence Enforcement Division (GVED)<br />
and Narcotics were established during the Mosby<br />
administration in November of 2016.<br />
15ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2017
CONVICTION<br />
INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
Ă LAMAR JOHNSON was exonerated by CIU in 2017 after<br />
nearly 14 years behind bars for the first degree murder of<br />
Carlos Sawyer. The subsequent investigation of the case<br />
began in 2016, and resulted in several independent witnesses<br />
confirming that Johnson was not the shooter.<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă REMOVING PHYSICAL RESISTANCE AS A<br />
REQUIREMENT TO PROVE A SEX CRIME: Established<br />
that evidence of physical resistance is not required to<br />
prove that a sex crime occurred.<br />
Ă RETAINING RAPE KIT EVIDENCE/NOTIFYING<br />
VICTIMS OF RAPE KIT DISPOSAL: Required all<br />
jurisdictions to retain rape kits for at least 20 years.<br />
Ă PROHIBITING DOMESTIC ABUSERS FROM<br />
POSSESSING A REGULATED FIREARM: Closed a<br />
dangerous loophole in the law that enabled individuals<br />
to possess a firearm despite receiving a ‘probation<br />
before judgment’ for a domestically-related second<br />
degree assault.<br />
Ă CLARIFYING ANIMAL CRUELTY STATUTES: Further<br />
defined the state’s animal cruelty statutes, enabling<br />
prosecutors to more effectively prosecute and convict<br />
animal abusers.<br />
VICTIM AND<br />
WITNESS SERVICES<br />
The Victim & Witness Services Unit nearly doubled<br />
thanks to a significant increase in grant funding from<br />
the federal Victims of Crime Fund. This means, that<br />
even after 2017, Baltimore’s victims and witnesses<br />
of crime are served by nearly 30 employees in the<br />
Victim/ Witness Unit, including social workers and<br />
bilingual advocates.<br />
OVER<br />
5200<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
699<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSIONS<br />
125<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
45<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
4<br />
COURT IN THE COMMUNITY<br />
EVENTS HOSTED<br />
Topics Covered in<br />
2017 Included:<br />
• Homicide<br />
• Domestic Violence<br />
• Juvenile Justice<br />
• Police Integrity<br />
MORE THAN<br />
2500<br />
Launched a new Community<br />
Court Watch App, Tracking<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă Convicted Alan Ford who barricaded two<br />
people inside a home in late 2015 before<br />
lighting it on fire, resulting in the death of a<br />
61-year-old woman. He was sentenced to life,<br />
suspend all but 25 years.<br />
Ă Nathaniel Green was convicted by a jury<br />
of first degree murder and two counts of<br />
attempted first- and second-degree murder<br />
for a triple shooting in 2016. Green shot<br />
and killed 60-year old Sheila Jordan and<br />
shot and wounded two others. Green<br />
was sentenced to three consecutive life<br />
sentences plus 60 years.<br />
Ă Elias Alvarado was convicted by a jury of<br />
murdering two women within a week’s time<br />
in 2016. Alvarado strangled Annquinette<br />
Dates in Northwest Baltimore on September<br />
2, 2016. Just six days later, on September<br />
8th, he strangled Ranarda Williams. He was<br />
sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.<br />
59<br />
180<br />
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES<br />
ATTENDED THE BMORE POP-UPS.<br />
750–1000<br />
at any<br />
CASES given time<br />
By the end<br />
of 2017, the 3,200<br />
map had been<br />
viewed over<br />
TIMES<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
SINCE 2015<br />
Over 3,300 community services hours completed<br />
by AIM To B’More participants<br />
STUDENTS ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS<br />
In 2017, with grant funding from the Substance<br />
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,<br />
Great Expectations expanded to three schools:<br />
Gilmor and Matthew A. Henson Elementary<br />
Schools in West Baltimore and City Springs<br />
Elementary School in East Baltimore<br />
Ă Angel Fury was sentenced to life in prison,<br />
suspend all but 50 years, for the first<br />
degree murder and robbery of Edward<br />
Yesaitis. Fury befriended Yesaitis at Penn<br />
Station, then lured him back to a motel<br />
in Southeast Baltimore. Fury, with her<br />
co-defendant Christopher Wilkins, then<br />
bludgeoned Yesaitis to death before fleeing<br />
to North Carolina.<br />
Ă Avery Little was convicted of second degree<br />
murder and multiple handgun charges for<br />
the violent murder of Derrill Crawley in<br />
2014. Crawley was laying on the ground<br />
unconscious when Little retrieved a gun,<br />
and shot him multiple times. Little was<br />
sentenced to a total of 50 years— 30 years<br />
for the murder and 20 years for the handgun<br />
charges to be served consecutively.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
16ANGLE-RI
FEBRUARY 2017<br />
JANUARY 2017<br />
The City of Baltimore and the<br />
Justice Department announced<br />
that they agreed on a court<br />
enforceable consent decree to<br />
institute sweeping reforms in<br />
Baltimore's police department.<br />
The SAO launched a new, online<br />
tool to engage the community in<br />
the fight against crime called<br />
Community Court Watch, a<br />
citywide database that enables<br />
the public to track the trajectory<br />
of arrests that have occurred in<br />
their neighborhoods.<br />
MARCH 2017<br />
Governor Larry Hogan signed an<br />
Executive Order declaring a<br />
State of Emergency in response<br />
to the heroin, opioid, and<br />
fentanyl crisis ravaging<br />
communities in Maryland and<br />
across the country as Maryland’s<br />
rate of overdose deaths climbed<br />
to new heights, with Baltimore<br />
City being the most impacted.<br />
APRIL 2017<br />
The City of Baltimore and the<br />
DOJ entered into a Consent<br />
Decree, which is a court<br />
enforceable agreement to<br />
resolve DOJ's findings that it<br />
believed BPD had engaged in a<br />
pattern and practice of conduct<br />
that violates the First, Fourth,<br />
and Fourteenth Amendments to<br />
the United States Constitution,<br />
and certain provisions of federal<br />
statutory law.<br />
YEAR<br />
THREE<br />
THE GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION<br />
(GVED), on September, the SAO<br />
announced a collaborative<br />
division devoted to<br />
investigating and prosecuting<br />
gun crime in Baltimore. GVED<br />
uses intelligence gathered by<br />
BPD detectives and CSU in the<br />
State’s Attorney’s Office to<br />
apprehend, charge and convict<br />
specific gun offenders who have<br />
been identified as top drivers<br />
of crime in Baltimore.<br />
MARCH 2017<br />
Seven Baltimore police officers<br />
who served in a high-profile gun<br />
unit, The Gun Trace Task Force<br />
(GTTF), were indicted on federal<br />
racketeering charges —the<br />
officers were accused of shaking<br />
down citizens, filing false court<br />
paperwork and making<br />
fraudulent overtime claims. This<br />
would ultimately later be found<br />
to be one of the largest police<br />
corruption scandals in the<br />
history of the Nation.<br />
MARCH 2017<br />
The SAO announced a new<br />
policy, requiring it to post all<br />
“use of force” investigation case<br />
summaries to its website any<br />
time a Baltimore police officer is<br />
suspected of criminally<br />
assaulting or fatally wounding a<br />
person in Baltimore City. The<br />
case summaries explain the<br />
Office’s and/or an independent<br />
investigator’s decision not to<br />
press charges against the<br />
accused officer(s), as well as<br />
provide supporting evidence<br />
and documentation for the<br />
declination to charge.<br />
T<br />
ENF<br />
(GVED<br />
ann<br />
inves<br />
gun c<br />
uses<br />
BPD<br />
Sta<br />
appre<br />
specifi<br />
been<br />
o<br />
17ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2017
PARTNERED WITH THE UNIVERSITY<br />
OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE FAIR<br />
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, THE<br />
UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE INNOCENCE<br />
PROJECT CLINIC and other partners to<br />
release a root cause analysis report, also<br />
known as the Baltimore Event Review Team<br />
(BERT) report. The report provides<br />
recommendations on how the criminal<br />
justice system can decrease the occurrence<br />
of wrongful convictions. Recommendations<br />
included best practices for investigating and<br />
charging single witness identification cases,<br />
sharing discovery and evidence between<br />
the SAO and BPD, and developing an<br />
objective team within the SAO to review<br />
claims of innocence.<br />
OCTOBER 2017<br />
The SAO doubled the size of the<br />
Victim & Witness Services Unit,<br />
by having a total of 30 Victim &<br />
Witness advocates and support<br />
staff to meet the needs of<br />
Baltimore City residents when<br />
they may be most vulnerable.<br />
SUCCESSFULLY CONVICTED<br />
EVERY PUBLIC ENEMY #1<br />
who has been brought to trial<br />
since 2015; collectively, their<br />
sentences included six life<br />
sentences plus 700+ years in<br />
prison. This list is no longer<br />
maintained by BPD<br />
HE GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ORCEMENT DIVISION<br />
), on September, the SAO<br />
ounced a collaborative<br />
division devoted to<br />
tigating and prosecuting<br />
rime in Baltimore. GVED<br />
intelligence gathered by<br />
detectives and CSU in the<br />
te’s Attorney’s Office to<br />
hend, charge and convict<br />
c gun offenders who have<br />
identified as top drivers<br />
f crime in Baltimore.<br />
SEPTEMBER 2017<br />
The SAO and the Mid-Atlantic<br />
Innocence Project had their joint<br />
motion to vacate Lamar<br />
Johnson’s convictions granted<br />
and he was released from prison<br />
after serving nearly 14 years for<br />
a crime he did not commit.<br />
VICTIM/WITNESS WAITING<br />
ROOM RENOVATION began in the Mitchell<br />
Courthouse to make it a more welcoming space<br />
for victims and witnesses to receive services and<br />
await their appearances in court. Thanks to grant<br />
funds from the Governor’s Office of Crime<br />
Control and Prevention, the Design Angels<br />
nonprofit, and the Department of General<br />
Services, updates began for a dedicated play<br />
area for children, updated power-integrated<br />
furniture, and a computer so visitors can<br />
access resources while they await trial.<br />
NOVEMBER 2017<br />
BPD Detective Sean Suiter<br />
was found dead due to a<br />
gunshot wound to the head<br />
while on duty in West<br />
Baltimore. His death came one<br />
day before he was scheduled<br />
to testify before a federal<br />
grand jury investigating a<br />
2010 drug-planting incident,<br />
involving the GTTF police<br />
corruption investigation.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
18ANGLE-RI
CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
YEAR<br />
FOUR<br />
In 2018, State’s Attorney Mosby secured her<br />
second term by winning the June 26th primary<br />
election. This same year, the SAO advocated<br />
for the Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act<br />
(RSPPA) to bring Maryland’s rules of evidence<br />
in line with the federal system and the majority<br />
of other states, This was a significant legislative<br />
victory. The passage of such critical bipartisan<br />
legislation in 2018, granted prosecutors the<br />
ability to introduce evidence of a defendant’s<br />
other relevant sex crimes in sexual assault cases.<br />
Thirty separate organizations and agencies<br />
supported this bill and nearly 5,000 individuals<br />
signed a petition urging legislators to pass this<br />
critical legislation.<br />
2018 also saw countless achievements for<br />
SAO prosecutors, including two noteworthy<br />
exonerations. In December 2018, the Conviction<br />
Integrity Unit (CIU) collaborated with the<br />
University of Baltimore Innocence Project Clinic<br />
and exonerated Clarence Shipley after serving 27<br />
years in prison for a murder he did not commit.<br />
Mr. Shipley was wrongfully convicted for the<br />
murder of Kevin Smith in 1991. In July 2018, CIU<br />
and its partners united to exonerate Jerome<br />
Johnson, the third person in three and a half years<br />
for the office. Mr. Johnson was released from<br />
prison after serving nearly 30 years in prison for<br />
the 1988 murder of Aaron Taylor who was shot to<br />
death at the Night Owl Bar.<br />
The SAO continued to ensure that victims and<br />
witnesses in the city are a priority and unveiled a<br />
new trauma informed Victim & Witness Services<br />
Waiting Room in the Mitchell Courthouse and<br />
secured $360,000 in additional funds for victim<br />
and witness relocation. The renovation created a<br />
more welcoming space for victims and witnesses<br />
of crime to receive services and await their<br />
appearances in court. The nonprofit organization<br />
Design Angels of America designed the room<br />
in partnership with the Department of General<br />
Services. The renovation includes a dedicated<br />
play area for children, power integrated furniture,<br />
and a computer allowing visitors to access<br />
resources while they await trial. The therapeutic<br />
space focuses on instilling a sense of worth,<br />
security, and empowerment for visitors.<br />
CLARENCE<br />
SHIPLEY<br />
Ă In December 2018, CIU collaborated with<br />
the University of Baltimore Innocence<br />
Project Clinic and exonerated Clarence<br />
Shipley for the murder of Kevin Smith after<br />
serving 27 years in prison for a crime<br />
he did not commit.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
97%<br />
FELONY<br />
91%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
55<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
4<br />
COURT IN THE COMMUNITY<br />
EVENTS HOSTED<br />
105<br />
STUDENTS ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS<br />
85%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
94%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
JEROME<br />
JOHNSON<br />
Ă In July 2018, CIU and its partners exonerated<br />
Jerome Johnson, the third person in three<br />
and a half years. Mr. Johnson was released<br />
from prison after serving nearly 30 years in<br />
prison for the 1988 murder of Aaron Taylor<br />
who was shot to death at the Night Owl Bar.<br />
98%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
94%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
89<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
SINCE 2015<br />
Over 3,300 community services hours completed<br />
by AIM To B’More participants<br />
MORE THAN<br />
1500<br />
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES<br />
ATTENDED THE BMORE POP-UPS<br />
19ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2018
VICTIM AND<br />
WITNESS SERVICES<br />
OVER<br />
8550<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
575<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSIONS<br />
139<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă THE REPEAT SEXUAL PREDATOR PREVENTION ACT OF 2018 (RSPPA) was passed after five<br />
years of lobbying to bring Maryland’s rules of evidence in line with the federal system and the<br />
majority of other states. The passage of this critical bipartisan legislation in 2018 means that<br />
prosecutors can<br />
now introduce evidence of a defendant’s other relevant sex crimes in sexual assault cases.<br />
Ă WITNESS RELOCATION FUNDING, mandated four years<br />
of State funding for emergency housing when witnesses<br />
are threatened. The funding totals $360,000 per year from<br />
FY 2020- 2023.<br />
Ă BODY ATTACHMENTS FOR ADULT WITNESSES IN JUVENILE CASES, allowed the juvenile<br />
court to compel adult witnesses.<br />
Ă PENALTY FOR VIOLATING PRETRIAL STAY AWAY ORDERS, the SAO joined House of Ruth<br />
and other stakeholders in advocating for penalties if a defendant violates a pre-trial stay away<br />
order in cases involving sexual assault, domestic violence, and all other violent crimes.<br />
Ă ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THOSE WHO THREATEN WITNESSES, the SAO supported<br />
increased penalties for victim, witness or juror intimidation.<br />
Ă LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTED DIVERSION©, which provided for four years of<br />
mandated state funding to sustain the Baltimore City Law Enforcement Assisted<br />
Diversion© (LEAD) program.<br />
Ă FIREARMS TRANSFER. The SAO joined Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action<br />
for Gun Sense in America for this bill which requires the surrender of firearms by convicted<br />
domestic abusers.<br />
Ă “BAN THE BOX” ON COLLEGE APPLICATIONS, the SAO supported a successful veto override<br />
and passage of 2017 legislation expanding access to higher education for individuals with prior<br />
criminal convictions.<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă Eddie Tarver was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit<br />
Murder of Rashaw Scott that resulted in the death of oneyear-old<br />
Carter Scott in May of 2013. He was sentenced to<br />
Life in prison.<br />
Ă Damon Alexander was sentenced to two Life sentences<br />
plus 110 years for a mass shooting outside of a store in<br />
November of 2016.<br />
Ă Anthony Clark Jr. was convicted of second degree murder,<br />
attempted second degree murder, and two counts of using<br />
a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.<br />
Ă Dashonn Gipson was sentenced to life in prison for<br />
the first degree murder of Tiffany Lowery. He was also<br />
convicted and sentenced to 20 years for the use of a<br />
handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, and<br />
sentenced to 5 years for being a prohibited person in<br />
possession of a firearm.<br />
Ă The SAO stood with representatives from several federal,<br />
state, and local law enforcement agencies to announce<br />
the indictments of several members of a drug trafficking<br />
organization operating out of South Baltimore’s Brooklyn<br />
community.<br />
Ă The SAO and members of the law enforcement community<br />
announced the indictment of several senior members<br />
of a drug trafficking organization operating out of<br />
Cherry Hill.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
20ANGLE-RI
JUNE 26, 2018<br />
2018 States Attorney Mosby<br />
won the Democratic Primary<br />
election and became the city's<br />
first top prosecutor to be<br />
re-elected in over a decade.<br />
JANUARY 2018<br />
Mayor Catherine Pugh fired<br />
Baltimore’s top cop Kevin<br />
Davis, saying she had grown<br />
“impatient” his inability to<br />
stem the historic pace of<br />
killings in the city.<br />
REVIEWED OVER 2,100 CASES<br />
impacted by the indictments and<br />
convictions of eight members of<br />
the Baltimore Police Department<br />
Gun Trace Task Force.<br />
YEAR<br />
FOUR<br />
FEBRUARY 2018<br />
Darryl De Sousa, a career officer<br />
confirmed as Baltimore’s new<br />
police commissioner.<br />
MARCH 2018<br />
MAY 15, 2018<br />
De Sousa resigned amid<br />
revelations that federal<br />
prosecutors were probing<br />
deeper into his past. Pugh<br />
announced a national<br />
search for his replacement<br />
and appointed Deputy<br />
Commissioner Gary Tuggle<br />
as interim commissioner.<br />
CIU EXPAND<br />
A NEW, GR<br />
INVESTIGAT<br />
investigati<br />
actual innoce<br />
conviction. T<br />
was receive<br />
with the<br />
Innocence<br />
University<br />
Innocence<br />
The SAO developed an agreement<br />
with the city law department,<br />
requiring police officers involved<br />
in bringing felony and “serious<br />
misdemeanor” charges against<br />
criminal defendants in the city to<br />
disclose any misconduct<br />
allegations in their internal affairs<br />
files to prosecutors, and the law<br />
department must respond to<br />
prosecutor requests for those<br />
files within 48 hours.<br />
21ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2018
SAO HOSTED A COMMUNITY<br />
FORUM FOCUSED ON SENIORS.<br />
SAO staff, prosecutors,<br />
government officials, and<br />
community members met at<br />
Humanim Inc. to discuss the<br />
criminal justice challenges faced by<br />
Baltimore’s senior citizens during<br />
the summer of 2018<br />
THE SAO PARTNERED WITH THE<br />
BALTIMORE CITY SOLICITOR’S OFFICE<br />
to streamline the process for how the<br />
Internal Affairs (IA) documents of BPD<br />
officers are reviewed and released during<br />
trial proceedings. The ground breaking<br />
MOU, still in effect to this day, requires that<br />
Baltimore City police officers disclose—<br />
with or without a specific request by the<br />
ASA handling a case in which the officer is<br />
an integral witness—if an IA file exists that<br />
charges him or her with any past or present<br />
misconduct. Officers should relay this<br />
information to the ASA at the earliest<br />
opportunity, whether or not the<br />
misconduct issues have been resolved.<br />
DECEMBER 2018<br />
Clarence Shipley is released<br />
from prison, after the SAO<br />
and it’s partners filed a joint<br />
motion, after serving 27<br />
years for a murder he did<br />
not commit.<br />
ED TO INCLUDE<br />
ANT-FUNDED<br />
OR dedicated to<br />
ng the claims of<br />
nce and wrongful<br />
he federal grant<br />
d in partnership<br />
Mid-Atlantic<br />
Project and the<br />
of Baltimore’s<br />
Project Clinic.<br />
SEPTEMBER 2018<br />
The SAO CIU and its partners<br />
united to exonerate Jerome<br />
Johnson, the third person in<br />
three and a half years. Mr.<br />
Johnson was released from<br />
prison after serving nearly 30<br />
years in prison for the 1988<br />
murder of Aaron Taylor shot<br />
to death at the Night Owl Bar.<br />
UNVEILED A NEW TRAUMA-INFORMED<br />
VICTIM & WITNESSES SERVICES WAITING<br />
ROOM IN THE MITCHELL COURTHOUSE<br />
that was renovated to create a more welcoming<br />
space for victims and witnesses of crime to<br />
receive services and await their appearances in<br />
court. The new trauma-informed, therapeutic<br />
space focuses on the victim and witness’ sense<br />
of worth, security, and empowerment.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
22ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
FIVE<br />
In 2019, the Conviction Integrity Unit<br />
secured five exonerations and State’s<br />
Attorney Mosby announced that her office<br />
would no longer prosecute marijuana<br />
possession as doing so has no public<br />
safety value; is counterproductive to<br />
limited law enforcement resources; and<br />
disproportionately impacts communities of<br />
color. The SAO’s policy shift is detailed in the<br />
policy paper entitled, “Reforming A Broken<br />
System: Rethinking The Role Of Marijuana<br />
Prosecutions In Baltimore City.”<br />
The new policy began a change in how the<br />
SAO handles substance use and also led to<br />
State’s Attorney Mosby testifying before<br />
the U. S. House of Representatives Judiciary<br />
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and<br />
Homeland Security at the “Marijuana Laws<br />
in America: Racial Justice and the Need for<br />
Reform” hearing. This was the first hearing<br />
of its kind as Congress began to take an<br />
in-depth look at the injustices of marijuana<br />
prohibition and began discussions to initiate<br />
federal law reform.<br />
During her testimony, State’s Attorney<br />
Mosby highlighted poignant data that<br />
depicts the wide-spread inequitable and<br />
disparate enforcement of marijuana laws on<br />
communities of color as the cause for her<br />
full support of federal decriminalization and<br />
legalization of marijuana possession. She<br />
also provided recommendations to “right<br />
the wrongs of the past” as it pertains to<br />
the disproportionate application of federal<br />
cannabis laws on people of color. This bold<br />
move would lay the foundation for the State’s<br />
Attorney’s prosecution policy that would<br />
come in March of 2020 during the onset of<br />
the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
97%<br />
FELONY<br />
91%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
98%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
4<br />
COURT IN THE<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
EVENTS HOSTED<br />
Topics Covered in<br />
2019 Included:<br />
• The SAO Marijuana Policy<br />
• Legislative Changes<br />
and Expungement<br />
• Domestic Violence<br />
and Elder Abuse<br />
• Crime in the Community<br />
MORE THAN<br />
2700<br />
55<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S<br />
ATTORNEYS<br />
85%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
94%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
94%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES<br />
ATTENDED THE BMORE POP-UPS.<br />
105<br />
STUDENTS<br />
ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT<br />
EXPECTATIONS<br />
89<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
SINCE 2015<br />
Over 11,300 community services hours completed<br />
by AIM To B’More participants<br />
23ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2019
CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
ALFRED CHESTNUT,<br />
RANSOM WATKINS,<br />
& ANDREW STEWART<br />
KENNETH MCPHERSON<br />
& ERIC SIMMONS<br />
Ă In 2019, CIU exonerated five men. Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins,<br />
and Andrew Stewart, were exonerated for the murder of a 14-year old<br />
Baltimore teenager after 36 years in prison. Detectives targeted the three<br />
men, all 16-year-old Black boys, using coaching and coercion of other<br />
teenage witnesses to make their case.<br />
VICTIM AND<br />
WITNESS SERVICES<br />
Ă Kenneth McPherson and Eric SimmonS, who are brothers, were wrongfully<br />
incarcerated for nearly 25 years in prison for a murder they did not commit.<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
O V E R<br />
11,200<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
797<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSION<br />
286<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
In January 2019, the SAO launched the Together We Are<br />
Stronger campaign which told authentic stories from the<br />
perspective of family members directly impacted by crime<br />
while highlighting the services available for victim and<br />
witnesses of crime in Baltimore City. The campaign included<br />
an overhaul of the SAO’s website, the launch of an on-line<br />
app for citizens to track case information, billboards, and a<br />
series of public service announcements.<br />
Ă GTTF TAINTED CASES - In the pursuit of justice, the SAO and the Office of the Public Defender<br />
filed joint motions to “throw out” cases tainted by the BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).<br />
Vacatur legislation provided the SAO with the legal remedy to ask a judge to vacate those<br />
convictions. By the end of 2019, nearly 650 motions to vacate were granted<br />
Ă SEXUAL ASSAULT EVIDENCE COLLECTION KITS - Required that a sexual assault evidence<br />
collection kit be submitted to a forensic laboratory for analysis and inform a victim who wishes<br />
to remain anonymous that they may initiate a criminal complaint at a future time.<br />
Ă GRACE’S LAW 2.0 - ELECTRONIC HARASSMENT AND BULLYING - Prohibited a person<br />
from maliciously engaging in electronic communications, which can intimidate, harass or<br />
cause serious physical or emotional distress to a minor.<br />
Ă CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING SCREENING AND SERVICES ACT OF 2019 - Required a law<br />
enforcement officer and social services agency who suspects a child that has been detained<br />
is a victim of sex trafficking to notify a regional navigator.<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă In 2019, the Felony Trial Division and Special<br />
Victims Unit closed the term with 90 and 96<br />
percent conviction rates respectively. This<br />
year the SAO prosecuted the perpetrators in<br />
Baltimore City including:<br />
Ă A 75-year sentence for Keon Gray, a repeat<br />
violent offender that took the life of 7-yearold<br />
Taylor Hayes.<br />
Ă A 65-year sentence for high-ranking Black<br />
Guerilla Family gang affiliate, Roderick King,<br />
who was convicted of attempted firstdegree<br />
murder, first-degree assault, armed<br />
carjacking, armed robbery, and use of a<br />
firearm in a crime of violence.<br />
Ă A 60-year sentence for Sean Malley for<br />
home invasion, second-degree assault,<br />
wearing a dangerous weapon openly with the<br />
intent to injure, and conspiracy to commit a<br />
home invasion.<br />
Ă A 15 month sentence for former BPD<br />
Officer Michael O’Sullivan for perjury<br />
and misconduct in office after a three-day<br />
sentencing hearing. During a Baltimore<br />
City district court handgun case, O’Sullivan<br />
conscientiously lied under oath resulting in<br />
an innocent man’s wrongful conviction and<br />
imprisonment.<br />
Ă Life plus 40 years sentence for the killer of<br />
18-month-old Zaray Gray, Francois Browne.<br />
Browne was convicted of second degree<br />
murder and child abuse resulting in death.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
24ANGLE-RI
JANUARY 2018<br />
State’s Attorney Marilyn<br />
Mosby announced that<br />
her office will no longer<br />
prosecute any marijuana<br />
possession cases, because<br />
prosecuting these cases have<br />
no public safety value,<br />
disproportionately impacts<br />
communities of color and<br />
erodes public trust, and is a<br />
costly and counterproductive<br />
use of limited resources.<br />
Mosby’s policy shift is<br />
detailed in a white paper<br />
her office produced called,<br />
“Reforming A Broken System:<br />
Rethinking The Role Of<br />
Marijuana Prosecutions In<br />
Baltimore City.”<br />
VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT- In FY19,<br />
the SAO secured $1.7 million in<br />
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant<br />
funds from the Governor’s Office of<br />
Crime Control and Prevention to fill<br />
24 victim advocate positions—<br />
including three new bilingual<br />
advocates—bringing the advocate<br />
total to 40.<br />
The SA<br />
characterize<br />
moves to cre<br />
criminal justic<br />
MARIJUAN<br />
Attorney Mo<br />
she would u<br />
prosecuto<br />
resources to<br />
marijuana p<br />
regardless o<br />
history. The<br />
vacate the c<br />
5,000 ma<br />
convictions<br />
YEAR<br />
FIVE<br />
MARCH 2019<br />
Michael Harrison was sworn<br />
in as the Baltimore Police<br />
Department's 41st Commissioner.<br />
APRIL 2019<br />
Council President Jack Young<br />
becomes acting Mayor as current<br />
Mayor Catherine Pugh takes a<br />
leave of absence during a federal<br />
investigation into her actions<br />
AMICUS BRIEFS - An amicus<br />
brief is a legal document that<br />
supports a position under<br />
discussion in a court case.<br />
State’s Attorney Mosby signed<br />
onto briefs during 2019 in<br />
support of; overdose<br />
prevention sites in Philadelphia,<br />
the Deferred Action for<br />
Childhood Arrivals (DACA),<br />
and ending cash bail.<br />
25ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2019
O in 2019 was<br />
d by bold progressive<br />
ate a more equitable<br />
e system including: A<br />
A POLICY - State’s<br />
sby announced that<br />
se her discretion as a<br />
r to stop devoting<br />
the prosecution of<br />
ossession charges,<br />
f weight and criminal<br />
SAO then moved to<br />
onvictions of almost<br />
rijuana possession<br />
dating back to 2011.<br />
JULY 2019<br />
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby<br />
testified before the U.S.<br />
Congress in support of federal<br />
decriminalization and<br />
legalization of marijuana<br />
possession, stating the war on<br />
drugs was a failure and the<br />
enforcement of marijuana<br />
possession policies were<br />
ultimately racist, as evidenced<br />
by decades of research across<br />
the country.<br />
JULY 2019<br />
The SAO CIU and it’s legal partners agree to vacate<br />
the convictions and dismiss all charges against<br />
Ransom Watkins, Alfred and Andrew Stewart.<br />
The three men have each spent the past 36 years<br />
in prison for a murder they did not commit.<br />
MAY 2019<br />
Catherine Pugh resigned as<br />
Mayor of Baltimore City and<br />
Acting Mayor Jack Young was<br />
made mayor. Brandon Scott<br />
replaced Jack Young as City<br />
Council President.<br />
JULY 2019<br />
The State’s Attorney joined<br />
the United States Attorney<br />
for the District of Maryland<br />
Robert K. Hur, officials from<br />
the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice<br />
Assistance, BPD, and other<br />
federal law enforcement<br />
officials to initiate the<br />
National Public Safety<br />
Partnership program.<br />
RESURRECTION AFTER<br />
EXONERATION PROGRAM - The<br />
Conviction Integrity Unit announced<br />
the development of the “Resurrection<br />
After Exoneration” program in honor of<br />
Malcolm Bryant, an exoneree who<br />
spent 18 years in jail for a murder he<br />
did not commit. The program works in<br />
collaboration with other agencies to<br />
ensure exonerees are supported, both<br />
physically and mentally, after release<br />
from prison.<br />
MAY 2019<br />
The SAO CIU and it’s partners<br />
support the release of two<br />
innocent men, Kenneth<br />
McPherson and Eric Simmons,<br />
who are brothers. They were<br />
released from prison after<br />
being incarcerated for nearly<br />
25 years in prison for a murder<br />
they did not commit.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
26ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
SIX<br />
In tandem with convictions and lengthy<br />
sentences for repeat violent offenders, the<br />
SAO once again showed that it has the ability<br />
to carefully utilize resources to hone in on violent<br />
crime while addressing the systemic issues that<br />
fuel crime in the first place.<br />
In the face of a global pandemic, the SAO<br />
adapted to the restrictions imposed on the<br />
court system in 2020 and took massive steps to<br />
curtail the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the<br />
crisis, the SAO continued to work to safeguard<br />
communities in Baltimore through the effective<br />
prosecution of crime and offer all services,<br />
ensuring the safety of the community and staff.<br />
Understanding the need to focus on victim<br />
and violent crime, especially during a global<br />
pandemic, and after consulting with public health<br />
experts on how to slow the spread of COVID-19<br />
in prisons and jails to minimize public and police<br />
exposure, State’s Attorney Mosby decided to<br />
stop prosecuting minor offenses that did not<br />
impact public safety. Those offenses included:<br />
CDS (drug) possession, paraphernalia possession,<br />
prostitution, trespassing (with exceptions<br />
allowed), minor traffic offenses, open container,<br />
and urinating/defecating in public. The SAO also<br />
dismissed 1423 pending cases because of this<br />
policy and quashed (eliminated) 1415 warrants<br />
for the aforementioned offenses, and refined<br />
the bail and bench warrants process to focus<br />
exclusively on those individuals that posed<br />
public safety risks.<br />
At the same time and continuing to be responsive<br />
to the COVID-19 crisis, the office also pushed<br />
Governor Hogan to reduce the prison population,<br />
resulting in two executive orders on the early<br />
release of 2000 people and created a new<br />
Sentencing Review Unit to review and reduce<br />
excessive sentences for juvenile lifers and<br />
elderly individuals. The Office hired former<br />
Deputy Public Defender Becky Feldman to<br />
head the unit and led SRU’s support for<br />
Maryland’s longest serving female prisoner,<br />
Eraina Pretty. To date the SRU has released 23<br />
individuals for an estimated savings of $12.5M<br />
to the DPSCS Budget.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
93%<br />
FELONY<br />
91%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
MELVIN<br />
THOMAS<br />
Ă In 2020 Melvin Thomas was exonerated for his role in a non-fatal shooting. His conviction<br />
was predicated wholly on the testimony of one witness, the victim, who recanted his<br />
testimony in 2018.<br />
SENTENCING REVIEW UNIT<br />
CALVIN<br />
McNEILL<br />
Ă After launching in 2020, within the same<br />
year, the SRU secured the release of Calvin<br />
McNeill who was incarcerated at the age<br />
of 16 years old and given a life sentence for<br />
which he served 39 years of.<br />
85%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
91%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
98%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
100%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
ERAINA<br />
PRETTY<br />
Ă The unit later secured the release of<br />
Maryland’s longest serving female inmate,<br />
Eraina Pretty, who served 42 years of<br />
her life sentence beginning at the age of<br />
18. Both released individuals demonstrated<br />
tremendous personal growth while<br />
incarcerated and deep remorse for<br />
their crimes.<br />
27ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2020
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă FORFEITURE BY WRONGDOING: This legislation made<br />
it easier to present out-of-court statements against those<br />
that intimidate witnesses by lowering the burden of proof<br />
needed for a prosecutor to secure convictions. This standard<br />
puts Maryland in line with the federal government and the<br />
majority of the states in our country.<br />
Ă PARTIAL EXPUNGEMENT, MARYLAND JUDICIARY CASE<br />
SEARCH: This legislation began the process to dismantle the<br />
‘unit rule’ and requires that Maryland Judiciary Case Search<br />
no longer provide information on an individual’s record<br />
related to any cases that were acquitted, dismissed (except<br />
if there were requirements for drug or alcohol treatment)<br />
and allows for the expungement of additional misdemeanor<br />
charges.<br />
Ă PARTIAL EXPUNGEMENT, POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA<br />
RECORDS: This legislation provided those who have a<br />
marijuana possession record, to have an opportunity to gain<br />
meaningful employment and move past other roadblocks by<br />
having their records automatically removed from Maryland<br />
Judiciary Case Search.<br />
Ă JAILHOUSE INFORMANTS LAW: This bill toughened<br />
restrictions and requires the State to take specific<br />
precautions regarding testimony from jailhouse informants<br />
including reporting the information to the Governor’s<br />
Office of Crime Prevention, Youth and Victim Services<br />
and disclosing it to the defendant. In Maryland alone, four<br />
innocent people have been proven to have been wrongfully<br />
convicted as a result of jailhouse informant’s false testimony.<br />
VICTIM AND<br />
WITNESS SERVICES<br />
In FY21, the SAO secured $1.7 million in VOCA grant<br />
funds from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention,<br />
Youth, and Victim Services to fill 24 victim advocate<br />
positions, including bilingual advocates and social<br />
worker therapists, for an advocate total of 40.<br />
8,644<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
722<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSIONS<br />
153<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
138<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă Rodney Harris was sentenced to 35 years<br />
for Assault and Manslaughter of his pregnant<br />
girlfriend who lost her unborn<br />
child as a result.<br />
Ă Michael Williams, a violent repeat offender<br />
was sentenced to 45 years in prison for<br />
Armed Robbery and Weapon Charges.<br />
Ă Ryan Hazel was sentenced to 22 years on<br />
11 counts of Firearm and Drug Trafficking<br />
Offenses.<br />
Ă Victor Robinson was sentenced to Life<br />
suspend all but 40 Years for Strangulation<br />
of his pregnant girlfriend. The victim,<br />
Shawna Davis, was found dead on a<br />
playground bench in the Waverly community.<br />
58<br />
VIRTUAL JUNIOR<br />
STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
9,734<br />
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES<br />
PARTICIPATED IN THE SAO’S FIRST<br />
EVER VIRTUAL #BMOREPOPUP’S<br />
SUMMER SERIES.<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS SINCE 2015<br />
Over 3,300 community services hours completed by AIM To B’More participants<br />
The SAO’s First Virtual Court in the Community Event discussing the impact<br />
of the global pandemic on the criminal justice system.<br />
Ă Willard Turner was sentenced to Life<br />
plus 80 Years for Kidnapping, Torture,<br />
and Murder. The victim, Tiffany Jones was<br />
abducted in broad daylight and found dead<br />
inside a burning vacant home the next day.<br />
Ă De’Andre Sleet was sentenced to life plus<br />
25 years with the first 10 years to be served<br />
without the possibility of parole. Sleet<br />
was found guilty in December 2019 for the<br />
murder of Timothy Moriconi in Federal Hill.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
28ANGLE-RI
MARCH 2020<br />
All courts in the Maryland<br />
Judiciary, court offices,<br />
administrative offices, units of<br />
the Judiciary, and the Offices<br />
of the Clerks of the Circuit<br />
Courts closed to the public due<br />
to the spread of COVID-19 and<br />
the global pandemic that was<br />
just beginning in the United<br />
States. Courts would not<br />
return to full operations until<br />
June of 2021. Governor Larry<br />
Hogan announced statewide<br />
stay at home orders, in order to<br />
reduce the spread of the<br />
COVID-19 virus.<br />
COVID PROSECUTION POLICY —<br />
In March of 2020, the SAO consulted<br />
with the Office of the Public Defender,<br />
the ACLU, and Johns Hopkins public<br />
health professionals to lead a bold plan<br />
that did not impact public safety, but did<br />
address public health concerns by not<br />
prosecuting and incarcerating<br />
individuals who were in violation of<br />
several low-level, nonviolent offenses<br />
including Drug Possession, Prostitution,<br />
Trespassing, Minor Traffic Offenses,<br />
Attempted Drug Distribution, Open<br />
Container, Rogue and Vagabond, and<br />
Urinating/Defecating in Public.<br />
YEAR<br />
SIX<br />
MARCH 2020<br />
States’ Attorney Mosby<br />
instructed prosecutors to<br />
immediately dismiss any charges<br />
and release individuals arrested<br />
for nonviolent offenses that pose<br />
no threat to public safety and to<br />
reduce COVID-19 spread in<br />
correctional facilities. The State’s<br />
Attorney also joined public<br />
health officials in advocating for<br />
the development of decarceral<br />
guidelines for the state’s prisons<br />
and jails, which was ultimately<br />
successful following Governor<br />
Hogan’s announcement that he<br />
would release 1000 individuals<br />
from correctional facilities.<br />
RELEASE OF AT-RISK INMATES -<br />
The State’s Attorney insisted that the<br />
Governor use his power to make sweeping<br />
reductions to the prison population and reduce<br />
the exposure to the virus. In partnership with<br />
the Office of the Public Defender, ACLU, and<br />
Johns Hopkins public health professionals, the<br />
State’s Attorney sent proposals to express the<br />
need for decarceration. This persistence paid<br />
off in April when the Governor announced an<br />
executive order to release 700 people. The SAO,<br />
the Department of Corrections, and the parole<br />
board provided feedback on those individuals<br />
who could be released. In November, the<br />
Governor issued a second executive order<br />
for early release of 1200.<br />
ST<br />
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29ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2020
OCTOBER 2020<br />
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby<br />
instructed prosecutors not to<br />
sign off on so-called “no knock<br />
warrants,” a controversial police<br />
tactic that allows officers to<br />
enter a home unannounced.<br />
The tactic which is used<br />
thousands of times per year<br />
is used disproportionately<br />
on people of color.<br />
RESTRUCTURING OF THE CRIME<br />
STRATEGIES UNIT - New to 2020,<br />
the CSU took the SAO community liaisons<br />
under their umbrella. The liaisons represent<br />
the State’s Attorney at inter-agency, BPD,<br />
and community association meetings. As<br />
part of the CSU, liaisons now perform<br />
essential functions such as; Identifying<br />
important meetings and events in a<br />
designated police district; Identifying<br />
options and solutions to the issues raised<br />
by the community; Track cases that are of<br />
concern to the community and secure<br />
community/victim impact statements<br />
where appropriate; Compile information to<br />
assist CSU with its mission to use data<br />
more effectively in prosecutions.<br />
DECEMBER 2020<br />
SAO CIU and it’s partners<br />
requested that the conviction of<br />
Melvin Thomas be overturned.<br />
Thomas who has spent nearly<br />
19 years in prison for an<br />
attempted murder he did not<br />
commit was released.<br />
LAUNCH OF TOGETHER WE ARE<br />
RONGER CAMPAIGN (PHASE II) -<br />
At the end of October, the SAO<br />
unched Phase II of the ‘Together We<br />
e Stronger’ campaign, continuing the<br />
public education push to remind<br />
residents about the support and<br />
ervices for victims and witnesses of<br />
ime in Baltimore City. The campaign<br />
included a targeted push to share<br />
resources available for domestic<br />
olence survivors in light of the spike<br />
during the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
uring October through December,<br />
the campaign generated over 53<br />
million impressions across various<br />
media platforms.<br />
DECEMBER 2020<br />
State’s Attorney Mosby<br />
announced the launch of a<br />
Sentencing Review Unit (SRU).<br />
This unit is a new division of<br />
the agency that reviews cases<br />
of incarcerated people to<br />
determine whether the office<br />
supports their release.<br />
DECEMBER 2020<br />
Brandon M. Scott took the oath of<br />
office and was officially sworn in<br />
as the 52nd Mayor of Baltimore.<br />
Council President Nick Mosby<br />
assumed his position as Council<br />
President, replacing Mayor Scott,<br />
on December 10, 2020.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
30ANGLE-RI
YEAR<br />
SEVEN<br />
2021 was a year of constant adaptation as courts<br />
began to slowly reopen to the public and jury trials<br />
could finally commence. The SAO transitioned to a<br />
hybrid work model to allow for social distancing while<br />
in-office and flexibility for staff. The court system and<br />
the SAO began tackling the massive case backlog that<br />
occurred during the shutdown by prioritizing violent<br />
crime cases. This resulted in numerous high-profile<br />
convictions and sentences for some of the city’s most<br />
heinous crimes.<br />
During this same year, the SAO announced the<br />
permanent decision to cease prosecuting low-level<br />
offenses like drug possession and sex work to<br />
prioritize victim and violent crimes. Following this<br />
year, the SAO was able to draw three conclusions :<br />
1. There is no public safety value in prosecuting<br />
low-level offenses. Johns Hopkins University<br />
researchers concluded that the reoffending rate<br />
for those who had charges dropped was 0.8%.<br />
2. SAO is able to reprioritize scarce law enforcement<br />
resources to pursue violent offenders. As<br />
the courts reopen from COVID-19 closures,<br />
prosecutors are able to now focus on clearing<br />
the backlog of victim crimes.<br />
3. Low-level offenses are discriminately enforced. A<br />
Johns Hopkins University study showed that our<br />
approach to these very same low-level offenses<br />
prevented arrests that would have fallen almost<br />
exclusively on the backs of black people.<br />
Prosecutors and police must realize that<br />
criminalization of these minor, low-level offenses<br />
too often lead to a death sentence for Black people.<br />
Eric Garner was stopped for a loose cigarette. Sandra<br />
Bland was arrested for a traffic infraction. Michael<br />
Brown was confronted over shoplifting.<br />
In April 2021, the Maryland Legislature passed<br />
numerous police reform bills that signify the end<br />
of community-damaging police tactics and the<br />
beginning of a holistic approach to law enforcement.<br />
This legislative victory was the culmination of six<br />
years of advocacy by the SAO and local partners.<br />
The bills address a variety of necessary police<br />
reform measures including: limiting no-knock<br />
warrants, requiring body-worn cameras for officers,<br />
establishing a statewide use-of-force policy, and<br />
prohibiting police officers from stopping civilians<br />
from recording their actions in public.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
93%<br />
FELONY<br />
87%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
95%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS UNIT<br />
71%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
97%<br />
MAJOR<br />
INVESTIGATIONS<br />
UNIT<br />
99%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
31ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2021
CONVICTION<br />
INTEGRITY UNIT<br />
Ă In November, David Morris was exonerated after nearly 17<br />
years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Morris was<br />
convicted in 2005 for the murder of Mustafa Carter and was<br />
sentenced to life suspend all but fifty years.<br />
Ă In December, Paul Madison had his murder conviction<br />
overturned and was released after 30 years in prison. The<br />
case against Madison rested almost exclusively on the<br />
uncorroborated testimony of a jailhouse informant who was<br />
promised a deal to testify in exchange for dropping felony<br />
narcotics and handgun charges.<br />
SENTENCING<br />
REVIEW UNIT<br />
Ă In April, 55 year old Donald Braxton was released after<br />
serving nearly 40 years in prison for the 1981 fatal shooting of<br />
Dr. George Franklin Phillips during a failed robbery attempt.<br />
Six teenagers, including Mr. Braxton, were arrested for the<br />
crime. He was 16 years-old at the time of the crime.<br />
Ă In June, 64 year old Kenneth Maurice Tucker, believed to be<br />
one of the longest-serving “juvenile lifers” in Maryland was<br />
released. Tucker was 17 years old at the time of the crime<br />
and spent the last 46 years in prison. In May, 52 year old<br />
Carnell Scott was released after serving 34 years in prison. A<br />
jury found Scott guilty for the fatal shooting of Melvin Louis<br />
Wilson, 83, during a failed robbery attempt which occurred<br />
when Scott was 17 years old.<br />
POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE<br />
AFFAIRS VICTORIES<br />
Ă JUVENILE RESTORATION ACT: This bill ended life<br />
sentences without parole for juveniles, and would allow<br />
courts to reconsider the sentence of juveniles who<br />
have spent a minimum of 20 years in prison and have<br />
demonstrated that they’re no longer a danger to the public.<br />
Ă MARYLAND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2021:<br />
This legislation includedv numerous police reform bills that<br />
signify the end of community-damaging police tactics and<br />
the beginning of a holistic approach to law enforcement. It<br />
includes the following bills:<br />
• HB670 - POLICE DISCIPLINE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT<br />
PROGRAMS AND PROCEDURES<br />
• SB71 - BODY-WORN CAMERAS, EMPLOYEE PROGRAMS,<br />
AND USE OF FORCE<br />
• SB600 - SURPLUS MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND<br />
INVESTIGATION OF DEATHS CAUSED BY POLICE<br />
OFFICERS;<br />
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION<br />
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
42 152<br />
VIRTUAL JUNIOR<br />
STATE’S ATTORNEYS<br />
ALMOST<br />
3000<br />
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES<br />
PARTICIPATED IN THE VIRTUAL<br />
#BMOREPOPUP’S<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESS SERVICES<br />
O V E R<br />
12,600<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME SERVED<br />
711<br />
SURVIVORS OF HOMICIDE OFFERED<br />
COUNSELING SESSIONS<br />
VIOLENT OFFENDERS<br />
Ă Davon Roberts was sentenced to 80 years in<br />
prison after shooting at two women, striking<br />
one in the face and chest.<br />
Ă Anthony Michael Bryant was convicted<br />
of several charges for dragging a woman<br />
into an alley at screwdriver point and was<br />
subsequently sentenced on November 1<br />
with the maximum penalty totaling 43<br />
years in prison.<br />
Ă Arnold Johnson was sentenced to the<br />
maximum penalty of Life plus 20 years<br />
for the first-degree murder of Maryann<br />
Wellington after shooting her in the head in<br />
her kitchen.<br />
Ă Dayon Cooper was handed-down a Life<br />
sentence for the First Degree Murder of<br />
Cameron Anderson on June 12, 2018. The<br />
victim was listening to music on his back<br />
porch when Cooper drove by and shot him.<br />
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS<br />
SINCE 2015<br />
NEARLY<br />
150<br />
STUDENTS ENGAGED<br />
WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS<br />
128<br />
VICTIMS AND WITNESSES<br />
OF CRIME RELOCATED<br />
Ă BPD Officer Welton Simpson Jr., was<br />
convicted of all charges for offenses that<br />
occurred while he was an officer on January<br />
17, 2020 including, False Statement to Law<br />
Enforcement and one count of Misconduct<br />
in Office.<br />
Ă Keith Smith, 55, was convicted by a<br />
Baltimore City jury of all charges for the fatal<br />
stabbing of his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, age<br />
54. Smith faces a maximum penalty of Life<br />
plus three years. This case gained notoriety<br />
after Smith conspired with his daughter to<br />
blame a panhandler for Jacquelyn’s death.<br />
• HB178 - SEARCH WARRANTS AND INSPECTION<br />
OF RECORDS RELATING TO POLICE MISCONDUCT -<br />
“Anton’s Law”<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
32ANGLE-RI
MARCH 2021<br />
The SAO announced the oneyear<br />
success of the Covid<br />
Criminal Justice policies<br />
alongside the Mayor’s Office<br />
on Neighborhood Safety and<br />
Engagement (MONSE) and<br />
partners from Baltimore Crisis<br />
Response Inc., Johns Hopkins<br />
University, the National<br />
Association for the Advancement<br />
of Colored People (NAACP), and<br />
other stakeholders. The policies<br />
enacted over since March of<br />
2020 resulted in a decrease in<br />
arrests, no adverse impact on<br />
the crime rate, and address the<br />
systemic inequity of mass<br />
incarceration. Therefore, the<br />
State’s Attorney also announced<br />
today the permanent adoption<br />
of these policies as we continue<br />
to prioritize the prosecution<br />
of public safety crimes over<br />
low-level, non-violent offenses.<br />
A new report from researchers<br />
at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School<br />
of Public Heath found that Baltimore’s<br />
no-prosecution policy for minor drug<br />
possession and prostitution, enacted<br />
at the start of the COVID-19<br />
pandemic, led to fewer new low-level<br />
drug and prostitution arrests, almost<br />
no rearrests for serious crimes for<br />
those who had charges dropped,<br />
and fewer 911 calls.<br />
YEAR<br />
SEVEN<br />
APRIL 2021<br />
The SAO launched a series<br />
of nine virtual town hall<br />
meetings in each police<br />
district throughout the city,<br />
in partnership with local<br />
community organizations<br />
and BPD. These events provided<br />
the community with a Q&A<br />
discussion on the continuing<br />
COVID-19 prosecution policies<br />
and the SAO’s new approach to<br />
focus resources on violent<br />
crimes and the needs of victims.<br />
The Johns Hopkins report found<br />
AN ESTIMATED 443 NEW<br />
DRUG/PARAPHERNALIA<br />
POSSESSION AND PROSTITUTION<br />
ARRESTS WERE AVERTED as a result<br />
of the new no-prosecution policy, 78<br />
percent of which were averted in the<br />
Black community. Of the 741 people<br />
whose drug and prostitution charges<br />
were dropped, six—less than 1<br />
percent—had new arrests for serious<br />
crimes during the study period. Calls<br />
to 911 about drug/paraphernalia and<br />
prostitution declined significantly in<br />
the post-policy change period.<br />
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33ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2021
SEPTEMBER 2021<br />
The SAO hosted nine Chat<br />
and Chew events in each police<br />
district throughout the city<br />
providing attendees with an<br />
update of the SAO activities<br />
since the pandemic and offering<br />
an in person opportunity for<br />
informal discussions about<br />
questions the community had.<br />
A judge freed David Morris after he<br />
spent just short of 17 years in prison for<br />
a murder he did not commit. The<br />
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP)<br />
brought the case to the attention of the<br />
Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s<br />
Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). In 2018,<br />
the CIU began a lengthy<br />
re-investigation of the case, and agreed<br />
that Mr. Morris had been wrongfully<br />
convicted. Paul Madison had his murder<br />
conviction overturned and was released<br />
after 30 years in prison. Madison was<br />
freed following an investigation by The<br />
SAO CIU and the Mid-Atlantic<br />
Innocence Project (MAIP).<br />
FIRST GVRS MEETING –<br />
State’s Attorney Mosby joined Mayor<br />
Brandon Scott and Police Commissioner<br />
ichael Harrison at the New Shiloh Baptist<br />
Church to launch the first Group Violence<br />
eduction Strategy (GVRS) meeting. GVRS<br />
gs city resources together with social services<br />
o address the causes of shootings and stop<br />
ple from turning to violence. Part of the GVRS<br />
implementation includes the Baltimore<br />
Community Intelligence Centers (BCICs).<br />
By incorporating staff from the SAO –<br />
cluding a dedicated community liaison and<br />
rosecutor - at the district level, BCICs will<br />
provide the physical infrastructure to<br />
convene all GVRS law enforcement<br />
and community partners<br />
OCTOBER 2021<br />
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby<br />
and Prince George’s County<br />
State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy<br />
published their offices’ ‘Do Not<br />
Call’ lists. The Do Not Call list<br />
includes those police officers<br />
who have engaged in conduct<br />
that renders their potential<br />
testimony unreliable or<br />
non-credible. The State’s<br />
Attorney’s Offices will not call<br />
officers on the Do Not Call list<br />
as a witness.<br />
OCTOBER 2021<br />
The SAO launched the 'Faces of<br />
Actual Innocence' campaign to<br />
inform residents and students in<br />
Baltimore City about the stories<br />
of men who were wrongfully<br />
incarcerated and the support<br />
underway for crime victims and<br />
their family members who were<br />
denied justice. In partnership<br />
with WJZ, the campaign included<br />
video interviews with the<br />
exonerated men, a partnership<br />
with restorative justice nonprofit<br />
"Healing Justice", and culminated<br />
in a panel discussion on<br />
International Wrongful<br />
Conviction Day - at the University<br />
of Maryland, Baltimore School of<br />
Social Work.<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
34ANGLE-RI
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN:<br />
VICTIMS OF HOMICIDE 2021<br />
Tiffany Wilson<br />
Jayvon Montgomery<br />
Marcus Wilson<br />
Ephraim Gordon<br />
Stephon Boyer<br />
Leonard Heath<br />
Dereck Jackson<br />
Deyonte Francis Davis<br />
Curtis Berry<br />
Marvin Dessaure<br />
Damen Fortson<br />
Terrell Scott<br />
Markeese Stanford<br />
Dante Barksdale<br />
Devonta Williams<br />
Breonna Rogers<br />
Tavaughn Shamont<br />
Anderson<br />
Rickey Martin<br />
Ricky Dixon<br />
Melvin Anthony<br />
Johnson<br />
Alissa Simone Traylor<br />
Andrew Charles<br />
Johnson<br />
Angelo Baldwin<br />
Reginald Taylor<br />
Darryl Oliver<br />
Kevin Wallace<br />
Frankye Duckett<br />
Aaron Jefferey Shipley<br />
Kenneth Gerstley<br />
Tameshia Robeson<br />
Marlon Royster<br />
Timothy Orem<br />
Terrell Billie<br />
Dontae Green<br />
Dionte Green<br />
Heidi Pierce<br />
Donya Bea<br />
Donna Berry<br />
Marcus Bentley<br />
Kamiri Williams<br />
Guy Leon Thomas<br />
Seymour Hall<br />
Ervin Talley<br />
Justin Bucalo<br />
Melvin Darnell<br />
Hairston<br />
Stephanie Chandler<br />
Todd Fitzgerald<br />
Sean Horton<br />
Kendrick Hasty<br />
Preston Hill<br />
Tavon Hutton<br />
Jaileel Jones<br />
Terry Antonio<br />
Williams<br />
Renard Prioleau<br />
Dominic Simmons<br />
Courtney Rice<br />
Jamal Pinchback<br />
Aubrey Faulkner<br />
Mustafa Bates<br />
Lewis Wrightt III<br />
Durrell Wilson<br />
Hezekiah Pettiford<br />
Matthew Wayne<br />
Blevins<br />
Danyae Mariec<br />
Tremaine Conyers<br />
Kendall Norman<br />
Talathia Teann<br />
Catrice Smith<br />
Brennan Charles<br />
Richardson<br />
John Worrell<br />
Denita Barrett<br />
Nathaniel Anthony<br />
Brown<br />
Devon Little<br />
Craig Underwood<br />
Randolph Jones<br />
Cameron Green<br />
Ashley Lynn Lambert<br />
(Ebenal)<br />
Keyon Jones<br />
Fabian Mendez<br />
Robert Bates<br />
Walter Anderson<br />
Dominick Carr<br />
James Anthony<br />
Fullard Jr.<br />
Walter Johnson<br />
Georgio Johnson<br />
Vernell Tavon Moton<br />
Darrell Richardson<br />
Robert Uzzell<br />
Daquar Gerrod<br />
Harrison<br />
Deondre Gilliam<br />
Tony McLean<br />
Shamyar Da’andre<br />
Austin<br />
Shari Smith<br />
Edward William<br />
Johnson<br />
Antoine Oglesby<br />
Ivan Green<br />
Rudolph Smith<br />
Rodney Williams<br />
Nikea Jackson<br />
Dayvon Mason<br />
Quentin Brice<br />
Demetris Kendrick<br />
Henry<br />
Bruce Bernard Lemon<br />
Kevin Eugene Adams<br />
Wayne Williams<br />
Fernando Terrance<br />
Rouse<br />
Rakis Wende Nana<br />
Marvis Pollock<br />
Daquan Redd<br />
Kaylia Player<br />
Brittaney Hayes-Smith<br />
Renee Jones<br />
Danny Henson<br />
Donell Avery<br />
Angelo Tyrone Jones<br />
George Hawkins<br />
Larry Randel Jr<br />
Montrell Harvey<br />
Gary Dewayne<br />
Wilson<br />
Jackie Kallen Dunbar<br />
Timothy Jerome<br />
Fleming<br />
Zorii Pitts<br />
Ronald White<br />
Orlando Smith<br />
Emmanuel Holley<br />
Harrison Morten<br />
Donte Bernard Scott<br />
Tony Hedgespeth<br />
Dorian Shropshire<br />
Sarah Steel<br />
Tayvon Kenan<br />
Dontee Domonic<br />
Nicholson<br />
Robert Lee Jones, Jr<br />
John Hall, III<br />
Harry Prather<br />
Cincere Johnson<br />
Clinton Gray<br />
Erik Wilson<br />
Dana Ross<br />
Isiah Willis<br />
Torron Jackson<br />
Julius Dunbar, III<br />
Kenneth McCoy<br />
Jameo McClean<br />
Keonna Brittan<br />
Ali Bey<br />
Keith Nathaniel<br />
Carter<br />
Michael Burley<br />
Terrance McPhaul<br />
Shammarh Tavonn<br />
Jenkins<br />
Desmond Williams<br />
Curtis Cashwell<br />
Dunham<br />
Kozee Spriggs<br />
Deandre Davis<br />
Cyril Lynch<br />
Leslie Jerome Gibson<br />
Lee Johnson<br />
Devonte Jerrod Clark<br />
Levar Steels<br />
Terrell Rheubotton<br />
Quante Rashawn<br />
Thompson<br />
Tyrell Johnson-Woods<br />
Steven Reddick<br />
Ali Hines<br />
Joseph Evans<br />
Daurell Hudson<br />
Dwayne Edmonds<br />
Ishmael Davenport<br />
Jayvon Te-Sun Ghim<br />
Brandon Boone<br />
Jermail Sellers<br />
Clark Hohrein<br />
Kenyall Wilson<br />
Enrico Jones<br />
Lawrence Mack<br />
Christopher Mccargo<br />
Anthony Henry<br />
Keith Darnell Hughes Jr.<br />
Kavon Demari Hall<br />
Troy Rush<br />
35ANGLE-RI Gone but not forgotten: Victims OF Homicide 2021
Anthony Cain<br />
Alysse Gardner<br />
Darnell Maurice Jones<br />
Joseph Frazier<br />
James David Glover, 3 rd<br />
Candace Acevedo<br />
Eric Berry<br />
Nicholas Lee<br />
Delante Laboo<br />
Jose Vasquez<br />
Kim Allen<br />
Josiah Rogers<br />
Zachary Weaver<br />
Donta Simpson<br />
Vaseles Nettles<br />
Derick Lilly<br />
Tywan Murry<br />
Deontae Brown<br />
Travon Hopkins<br />
Corey Jermaine Drake<br />
William Crayton<br />
Jaquan Purvis<br />
Raynard Booker<br />
James Bennett 3 rd<br />
Brian Palmer<br />
Darrin Stewart<br />
Jermaine Antawon<br />
Dixon<br />
Bernard Knotts<br />
Santiago Loyal<br />
William Smith<br />
Anthony Neville<br />
Steven Savoy<br />
Ja’nyi Weeden<br />
Mickel Holman<br />
Anthony Bugg<br />
Rashad Marshall<br />
Sherry Birmngham<br />
Jhosy Portillo<br />
Jason Mcnair<br />
Colin Perry<br />
Shaketa Causey<br />
Darius Kimbrough<br />
Isaac Caldwell<br />
Davin Thomas<br />
Daneria Thomas<br />
Carlos Amador-Funez<br />
Adam Seward<br />
Dante Crawford<br />
Antwan Roberson<br />
Daniel Laurey<br />
Grace Jackson-West<br />
Keith Vernon Carter<br />
Terrence Broughton<br />
Travis Ben-Watkins<br />
Silas Montre Davis<br />
Montrell Graham<br />
Seth Turnstall<br />
Dayeion Tayevon<br />
Diggs-Smalls<br />
Kendell Scott<br />
Domonick Antoine<br />
Dukes<br />
Melvin Joseph White<br />
Linique Danielle<br />
Green<br />
Davon Barnes<br />
Abraham Ludd<br />
Shabro Meridith<br />
Pamela Pitts<br />
Chavez Goss<br />
Phillip Hamilton<br />
John Gilliam<br />
Deoyntae Tracey<br />
Thompson<br />
Latonya Wright<br />
Kevin Kelly<br />
Donnell Smith<br />
Tyquan Watson<br />
Millissa Joann<br />
Rogalski<br />
Christopher Weaver<br />
Troy Steve Harrison, II<br />
Tyriq Bowden<br />
Johnnie Lamont<br />
Brown, Jr.<br />
Devin Kashawn<br />
Turner<br />
Daevon Lee<br />
Farran Dazad<br />
Meredith<br />
Corey James Harris<br />
Reginald White, Jr.<br />
Albert Clark, Jr<br />
Myesha Cuffey<br />
Delmonte Keels<br />
Brionna Glasgow<br />
Lamont Wade<br />
Jonus Timothy Ben, Jr.<br />
Tayshawn David<br />
Allen Detron Parker<br />
DuJuan Murray<br />
Whitney Purnell<br />
Ronald Morris<br />
Morgan, Jr.<br />
Garrell Talley<br />
James Middleton<br />
Leandra Sampson<br />
James Byrd<br />
Jacques McFadden<br />
Antion Spyre<br />
Stacy Hill<br />
Jeremy Nkosi Bryant<br />
Vincent Price Evans II<br />
John Quinston<br />
Wilford Jr<br />
Tyrese Toney<br />
Antwan Lamont<br />
Andrews<br />
Davon Dentrell<br />
Woodrup<br />
William Foster, III<br />
Saeed Hall<br />
Qwize Yaso Butcher<br />
Phillip Hayes<br />
Alton Kevin<br />
Henderson<br />
Carlos Smith<br />
Dontay Carlton Hill<br />
Devin Benton<br />
Anthony Rollins<br />
Charles Simmons<br />
Roy Cantler, III<br />
Javier Francisco<br />
Villegas Cotto<br />
Carlos Ortega<br />
Rafael Jeffers<br />
Christopher Ryles, Jr.<br />
Evelyn Player<br />
Jeffrey Lamont<br />
Thornton<br />
Nivea Anderson<br />
Bradley Hampton<br />
Maliyah Turner<br />
Tyquan Dodd<br />
Lee Edward Wilkins, Jr.<br />
Donald Eason, Jr.<br />
Teaundre Donzel<br />
Shannon<br />
Edward William<br />
Keene, III<br />
Dontae Joseph<br />
Johnson<br />
Kyree Pompey<br />
Fanon Williams-El<br />
Monti Cisse<br />
Amir Whyee<br />
Lorenzo King<br />
Rashad Dendy<br />
William Russell<br />
Adams<br />
Ronald Barksdale, Jr.<br />
Kevin Antonio Finley<br />
William Flowers<br />
Desmond Carr<br />
Jake Rogers<br />
Tara Labang<br />
Darius Morton<br />
David Anthoney<br />
Harcum<br />
Justin Johnson<br />
Jaquan Robinson<br />
Aaron Adams<br />
Derrick Smith<br />
Ky’Shera George<br />
Raheem Ali Smith<br />
Curtis Lee Brown<br />
Jarrelle Gomez<br />
Tavon King<br />
Keonna Holley<br />
Bryant Levi<br />
Jose Marvin Castron<br />
Morales<br />
Darius Timothy<br />
Walker<br />
Rian Williams<br />
Jordan Braxton<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
36ANGLE-RI
OUR<br />
IMPACT<br />
Since the inception of my administration, I’ve made it clear that the sole mission<br />
of my office is to safeguard communities in Baltimore through the effective<br />
prosecution of crime. To fulfill this mission, our prosecutors have been sworn to<br />
not only aggressively advocate on behalf of the victims of crime, but in the pursuit<br />
of “justice,”— when the evidence exists— to exonerate those that have been falsely<br />
accused or convicted. The public must know that “justice” is the only barometer of<br />
success for this office.<br />
CONVICTION RATES<br />
FELONY<br />
94%<br />
NARCOTICS<br />
96%<br />
GUN VIOLENCE<br />
ENFORCEMENT<br />
DIVISION<br />
94%<br />
SPECIAL<br />
VICTIMS<br />
UNIT<br />
97%<br />
HOMICIDE<br />
80%<br />
PUBLIC<br />
TRUST<br />
& POLICE<br />
INTEGRITY<br />
UNIT<br />
100%<br />
37ANGLE-RI Our impact
OUR IMPACT<br />
CREATING A MORE FAIR AND JUST CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM<br />
12<br />
EXONEREES<br />
Collectively served nearly 300 years in<br />
prison for crimes they did not commit<br />
31<br />
CONVICTED<br />
POLICE OFFICERS<br />
23<br />
INDIVIDUALS SUPPORTED<br />
BY THE SENTENCING REVIEW<br />
UNIT FOR RELEASE<br />
1415<br />
WARRANTS<br />
QUASHED/<br />
ELIMINATED<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
38ANGLE-RI
OUR IMPACT:<br />
SUPPORTING VICTIMS AND WITNESSES OF CRIME<br />
SECURED IN GRANT FUNDING<br />
FOR PREVENTION, PROSECUTION<br />
AND VICTIMS SERVICES<br />
1048<br />
FAMILIES RELOCATED<br />
52,972<br />
VICTIMS & WITNESSES<br />
SERVED<br />
7745<br />
GRIEF COUNSELING<br />
SESSIONS<br />
39ANGLE-RI Our impact
OUR IMPACT<br />
ADDRESSING CRIME HOLISTICALLY<br />
152<br />
AIM TO B’MORE<br />
PARTICIPANTS<br />
Ă 87% acquire and<br />
maintain employment<br />
through AIM<br />
Probation Program<br />
20,000<br />
Ă Provided over 11,000<br />
hours in community<br />
service since 2015.<br />
OVER<br />
20<br />
COURT IN THE COMMUNITY<br />
EVENTS HELD<br />
OVER<br />
YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVED AT<br />
POP-UP COMMUNITY EVENTS<br />
750-1000<br />
CASES TRACKED AT<br />
ANY GIVEN TIME BY<br />
COMMUNITY COURT WATCH<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
40ANGLE-RI
OUR IMPACT<br />
INVESTING IN OUR YOUTH<br />
SCHOOLS SERVED INCLUDE<br />
2015 : Franklin Square Elementary<br />
2016 : William Pinderhughes<br />
Elementary<br />
580<br />
GREAT EXPECTATION<br />
PARTICIPANTS<br />
2017 : Matthew A. Henson<br />
Elementary, Gilmor Elementary,<br />
City Springs<br />
2018 : Furman L. Templeton, Harlem<br />
Park, Sharp Leadenhall<br />
2019 : Dorothy I. Heights, Eutaw<br />
Marshburn, Sharp Leadenhall<br />
2020 : no programming due to<br />
COVID-19 pandemic<br />
2021 : Eutaw Marshburn, Francis Scott<br />
Key, City Springs<br />
OUR<br />
PARTNERS<br />
ARENA PLAYERS INCORPORATED • AVA FIELDS DANCE MINISTRY • BALTIMORE CITY A<br />
• BALTIMORE CITY’S MAYOR’S OFFICE OF EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT • BALTIMO<br />
SCHOOL POLICE • BALTIMORE OFFICE OF PROMOTION AND ARTS (BOPA) • BALTIMORE<br />
MANAGEMENT • BMORETHANDANCE • BROWN ADVISORY • BUILD BALTIMORE • C<br />
BLUESHIELD • CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY • CLEO LEGALLY INSPIRED COL<br />
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION (CHUM) • CONCERTED CARE GROUP • CORI RAMOS • CUPS COFFEE HOUSE • DEPARTMENT OF PU<br />
DUKE LIVE • DJ QUICKSILVA • DJ OK • DJ REDDZ • DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE PARTNERSHIP • DTLR • ELLIS G. BROWN JR. • FEA<br />
CHESAPEAKE OF MARYLAND • H.L.P. CATERING • HOUSE OF FITNESS • H&S BAKERY • LIFEBRIDGE HEALTH • LEADERS FOR TOM<br />
BALTIMORE • MARCHING ELITE • MARYLAND NEW DIRECTIONS • MARYLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (MTA) • MAYO<br />
• MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY • MOVABLE FEASTS • MILE • NO BOUNDARIES COALITION • NORTHEAST COMMU<br />
DEFENDER • OLIVE GARDEN • PATRICE SANDERS OF FOX 45 NEWS • PARTY MARTY • RADIO ONE • ROBYN MURPHY • RONDELL S<br />
• THE FOOD PROJECT • THE MOVEMENT TEAM • THE LAW OFFICE OF JAMES L. RHODES • THE PRETTY GIRL TIARA LANIECE • TH<br />
THERAPY • ULTIMATE STAFFING SERVICES • ULYSSES MILLER • UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF LAW • VERNON KELSON •<br />
41ANGLE-RI Our impact
• JUNIOR STATE’S ATTORNEY •<br />
IOFFICE OF THE STATE’S ATTORNEY FOR BALT MORE CITY<br />
299<br />
JUNIOR STATE’S<br />
ATTORNEY PARTICIPANTS<br />
JSA successes also include those who are now eligible<br />
95%<br />
HIGH SCHOOL<br />
GRADUATION<br />
RATE<br />
33%<br />
OF CURRENT COLLEGE<br />
STUDENTS ARE<br />
PURSUING A DEGREE<br />
IN A CRIMINAL<br />
JUSTICE RELATED<br />
FIELD OF STUDY<br />
23%<br />
WORKING<br />
67%<br />
ARE IN<br />
COLLEGE<br />
95%<br />
ARE EITHER IN<br />
COLLEGE OR<br />
ON A CAREER<br />
TRACK<br />
5%<br />
IN THE US<br />
MILITARY<br />
QUATICS • BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT • BALTIMORE CITY’S MAYOR’S OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SUCCESS<br />
RE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT • BALTIMORE CITY RECREATION AND PARKS • BALTIMORE CITY SCHOOLS • BALTIMORE CITY<br />
RAMS YOUTH FOOTBALL TEAM • BALTIMORE TEACHER’S UNION • BALTIMORE WAR MEMORIAL • BLACKOUT ENTERTAINMENT<br />
AROLINE CENTER • CATERING YOUR WAY • CATHOLIC CHARITIES • CENTER FOR URBAN FAMILIES • CAREFIRST BLUECROSS<br />
LEGE KOHORTS OF STUDENTS (CLICKS) • CLOVERDALE BASKETBALL COURTS • COLDSTREAM, HOMESTEAD, MONTEBELLO<br />
BLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES • DIGITAL HARBOR FOUNDATION • DISTRICT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY • DJ<br />
RLESS DANCE EMPIRE • FRANCISCAN CENTER OF BALTIMORE • FUN CITY • GIRL SCOUTS OF AMERICA • GOODWILL OF THE<br />
ORROW YOUTH CENTER • KIDZ INC. • LIL BLACK • LIVE BENEVOLENT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES • LIVING CLASSROOMS<br />
R BERNARD C. “JACK” YOUNG • MAYOR BRANDON M. SCOTT • MICHAEL BATTLE AND RESTORING INNER CITY HOPE (R.I.C.H.)<br />
NITY RELATIONS COUNCIL • OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT • OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICE • OFFICE OF PUBLIC<br />
TREET • SANTA LUKE OF MONDAWMIN MALL • SHAKE AND BAKE FAMILY FUN CENTER • TAMAR INC. • THE ABELL FOUNDATION<br />
E START UP NEST • THE T. ROWE PRICE FOUNDATION • THE WARNOCK FOUNDATION • TOTAL HEALTH CARE • TOTAL SPEECH<br />
WALK BY FAITH MINISTRIES • WEIS MARKETS • WELLS FARGO • Y OF CENTRAL MARYLAND • YEAR UP • ZION BAPTIST CHURCH<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
42ANGLE-RI
OUR<br />
STORIES<br />
When innocent people are convicted, the impact on<br />
the wrongfully convicted, their families, victims, and the<br />
community is catastrophic. Having a State's Attorney<br />
who recognizes the importance of this problem will not<br />
only help prevent wrongful convictions, but it will help<br />
restore the community trust that wrongful convictions<br />
have irreparably damaged. We're thrilled to continue<br />
our partnership to address these problems and<br />
encouraged that the State's Attorney has partnered<br />
with Healing Justice, the only organization that exists<br />
to address the collective harms to exonerees,<br />
victims-survivors, and their families.<br />
Shawn Armbrust<br />
Executive Director<br />
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project<br />
In a year that has shown us the importance of equity,<br />
both as it relates to the coronavirus and the incidences<br />
of police violence, we are pleased to see that the state's<br />
attorney's office for Baltimore City under the leadership<br />
of State's Attorney Mosby has been responsive to the<br />
community's needs and to calls for equity.<br />
Rev. Kobi Little<br />
Baltimore NAACP President<br />
We have a lot of seniors in this<br />
community, and a lot of families.<br />
Good people. Hardworking people.<br />
But these are scary times. It’s nice to<br />
have someone who will come to our<br />
meetings and let us know what we<br />
need to be mindful of<br />
Eunice Peacock<br />
Berea Community<br />
resident<br />
My growth over the past year has<br />
been everything but easy. Gaining<br />
many experiences in leadership<br />
as well as discovering my passion for<br />
myself and my community’s success has<br />
all been journey. I’ll soon be going to<br />
college and plan to take my leadership,<br />
intelligence, and things I’ve have done<br />
in my city with me. I wouldn’t have been<br />
able to accomplish such great things<br />
without support from the [Junior State’s<br />
Attorney] program other organizations<br />
and individuals who believed in me.<br />
Jima Chester<br />
Junior State’s Attorney Class of 2019<br />
I’m very appreciative of the State’s Attorney’s Office.<br />
Our community liaison has participated in many of<br />
our community crime prevention efforts including<br />
participating in passing out wanted posters throughout<br />
the community. Reinstating the community liaison<br />
program has been a great asset to our community.<br />
Marvin “Doc” Cheatham<br />
President of the Matthew Henson<br />
Community Association<br />
43ANGLE-RI Our stories
We can’t take on mass incarceration without dismantling<br />
every part of its architecture. Part of how we got here<br />
is by building barriers to release even for the most<br />
deserving people who have served many decades and<br />
demonstrated their remorse and change. We applaud<br />
this effort to recognize the important role that State’s<br />
Attorneys must play to correct ongoing injustices and to<br />
invest in restorative approaches for our communities.<br />
Sonia Kumar<br />
Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Maryland<br />
Jahmaine and I are very grateful for<br />
the [Junior State’s Attorney] Program.<br />
As a parent I am proud of him and what the<br />
program has taught him. . . it helped to keep<br />
him focused and engaged towards his goal<br />
of being a detective in the future. Jahmaine<br />
says the mock trials also helped him in his<br />
US History class. Thank you to each and<br />
every member of the SAO for the Junior<br />
State’s Attorney Program.<br />
Lorraine Adams<br />
Junior State’s Attorney Parent<br />
I’m glad Ms. Mosby brought back the community<br />
liaison program. In prior State’s Attorneys<br />
administrations we felt like nobody was listening<br />
or cared about what was happening around here.<br />
Now, we know that we’re not alone.<br />
John L. Crew, Jr<br />
President, Ashburton Area Association<br />
The fact that we saw drops in 911 calls and recidivism<br />
for low-level offenses shows us that communities are<br />
less impacted by these offenses than one might assume.<br />
The trend is different for other offenses during that time<br />
period. The policy is therefore making a positive impact<br />
on communities. By working with researchers, Mrs.<br />
Mosby has shown that she wants to approach these<br />
issues holistically, analyzing the data, and not making<br />
decisions in a vacuum.<br />
Susan Sherman<br />
Johns Hopkins University Professor<br />
The efforts made by the State’s Attorney Office<br />
to connect with the public are a prime example<br />
of what ‘transparency’ and ‘openness’ look like<br />
in their infancy...Ms. Mosby and her team are<br />
definitely on the right track.<br />
Kathy Christian<br />
Member of the Greater Greenmount<br />
Community Association<br />
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
44ANGLE-RI
45ANGLE-RI Our stories
<strong>2015–2021</strong> TERM REPORT<br />
46ANGLE-RI
we are in the<br />
JUSTICE<br />
BUSINESS
OFFICE OF THE STATE’S ATTORNEY<br />
FOR BALTIMORE CITY<br />
120 E. Baltimore St., 9 th Floor<br />
Baltimore, MD 21202<br />
443.984.6000<br />
mail@stattorney.org<br />
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