A Baltimore murder case tied to a Jan. 19, 2025, double shooting took a sharp turn when a city judge dismissed all charges against one co-defendant after prosecutors entered a nolle prosequi at an April 13 hearing. The move pulls 29-year-old Dylon Tomlinson out of a case that left one man dead and another wounded and reshapes how the remaining trial will play out in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Prosecutors entered the nolle prosequi on every count against Tomlinson, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, multiple assault charges, and firearm offenses, and told the court they “couldn’t charge him,” as reported by Baltimore Witness. The shooting unfolded on the 400 block of Washburn Avenue, where officers found a Dodge Ram and two victims. The driver, identified in court documents as 44-year-old Hasan Howard, was later pronounced dead at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma. The other man survived, and investigators say the scene yielded significant physical evidence.
What A Nolle Prosequi Means
A nolle prosequi is the formal notice a prosecutor files to say the state is not pursuing charges at that time. It is not an acquittal, and it does not prevent the state from refiling the case later, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. In practice, the dismissal removes Tomlinson from the active case for now but keeps the door open for future charges if new admissible evidence surfaces.
What Court Filings Say
Court documents describe surveillance footage that allegedly shows suspects arriving at the parked truck in a dark Hyundai Kona, firing into the vehicle from both sides, then running off on foot before leaving in the same Kona. Investigators recovered 34 9mm shell casings and two projectiles at the scene. The filings and reporting state that the Tomlinson brothers borrowed the Kona the night before and returned it hours after the shooting, and that cell-site data placed Dylon in the area where the vehicle was picked up.
According to those records, a jail call to Dylon’s phone hours earlier included a reference to someone needing to “get the boot,” and his phone stopped connecting to cell towers shortly after 2:12 a.m. The device was later recovered from his home, as detailed by Baltimore Witness.
Where The Remaining Case Stands
Dylon’s brother and co-defendant, Darren Tomlinson, remains charged and is still scheduled for trial later this year. Prosecutors say they intend to press forward against the remaining defendant. In court, defense counsel and the state formalized the dismissal but shared little publicly about whether they might try to refile against Dylon or how the move could reshape witness strategy and evidence presentation for the August proceeding.
Follow The Docket
Official filings, future hearing dates, and case outcomes are public records that can be tracked through the Maryland courts system or the Baltimore City Circuit Court clerk’s office. For official records and docket searches, visit Maryland Courts.
