A Baltimore father is headed back to trial this summer after a jury could not reach a verdict in the death of his 5-month-old daughter, keeping a years-long case very much alive in city court.
Jurors deadlocked last Tuesday after several days of testimony in the case against Anthony Ford, who is accused of the 2018 death of his infant daughter. With no verdict and no deal, the case is now set for a full retrial in August, and Ford remains behind bars while both sides gear up for another round.
According to Baltimore Witness, jurors reached an impasse after proceedings before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams, and prosecutors have scheduled a retrial to begin Aug. 24. The outlet reports Ford faces charges including murder, assault, and two counts of child abuse, and that the State’s Attorney’s Office says he will remain incarcerated until the new trial begins.
What the charges stem from
The charges go back to the morning of Oct. 8, 2018, when police found 5-month-old Brailynn Ford unresponsive at a Mosher Street home in West Baltimore. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Local reporting from WBAL says medical testimony in court has described bruising and brain swelling consistent with blunt-force trauma and injuries commonly associated with shaken-baby syndrome.
Family testimony and defense
At the April proceedings, family members and a friend filled in the hours before the emergency call.
Witnesses, including Brailynn’s grandmother and a family friend, testified that the baby had appeared normal earlier that morning and that the friend had driven the defendant and the child to meet the child's mother, then dropped them off at the Mosher Street residence. The family friend told jurors that shortly after the drop-off, Ford came back carrying Brailynn, and emergency services were called.
Baltimore Witness also reports that Brailynn’s mother died in September 2025 of an asthma attack and that attorney Marci T. Johnson represented Ford at the April trial.
Judge and next steps
Maryland state records show Associate Judge Anthony F. Vittoria sits on the Baltimore City Circuit Court and handles criminal matters in the city. The court will manage scheduling, motions, and other pretrial filings in the run-up to the August jury date.
Prosecutors and the defense are expected to clash again over expert medical testimony and witness availability as they rework a case that has already been argued in front of more than one jury.
Context and legal stakes
The case has a lengthy court history, including earlier jury proceedings in 2022 that featured dueling medical experts over what caused Brailynn’s injuries, as covered by CBS Baltimore. The retrial is expected to revisit many of those technical and emotional fault lines.
Under Maryland law, a conviction for first-degree murder can carry life imprisonment, and related child-abuse and assault counts carry substantial prison terms, according to state criminal code summaries from FindLaw. With Ford still in custody and the possibility of a life sentence on the table, the August retrial will again put all of that in front of a new Baltimore jury.
