A 42-year-old Baltimore man accused of shooting his neighbor twice in the back, grazing the man's girlfriend with a bullet, and throwing a glass bottle at the victim's mother has turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 50 years. Derrick Davis Jr. is now headed to a two-day trial set for November 30 on charges including three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
According to Baltimore Witness, Davis appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa K. Copeland in reception court, where prosecutors offered him a life sentence with all but 50 years suspended, including the first five years without parole. His defense attorney, Koryn High, rejected the offer on his behalf, telling the court that she and Davis are still reviewing discovery material in the case. Judge Copeland and both sides agreed on a two-day trial, which will be heard before Judge Jeffrey M. Geller.
The case stems from an alleged dispute that unfolded on the 2000 block of East Hoffman Street on April 2. Per the same account, the male victim reported that Davis was being disrespectful toward his girlfriend, and the two men argued outside their homes before the victim went inside to tell his mother about the neighbor's behavior.
Gunfire Erupts Outside the Homes
The victim's mother told investigators she heard approximately four gunshots and ran outside to find her son suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the same report. She said she saw Davis holding a silver revolver. The 30-year-old victim was shot twice in the back and suffered trauma to his chest, while his 35-year-old girlfriend was struck with a graze wound on the left side of her face.
Court documents cited by the outlet describe Davis pushing the victim's mother, who is 51, to the ground on top of her son and his girlfriend before attempting to fire the revolver again. The weapon appeared to malfunction, the article notes, and Davis returned to his home with it before coming back out and throwing a glass bottle at the mother. Witnesses reported seeing Davis leaving his residence from the back before police arrived, and he was later identified through a photo array.
Baltimore Police Department records show patrol units were dispatched to the 2000 block of East Hoffman Street at approximately 8:27 p.m. on April 2 after an acoustic ShotSpotter alert flagged gunfire in the area, alerting officers before any 911 calls were even routed. Hoodline previously reported on the night of the shooting that department protocol instructs responding officers on ShotSpotter calls to “Respond to the Dot” as a priority dispatch, immediately canvassing the location for shell casings and witnesses. When officers located the victims at an area hospital that night, the male victim was listed in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, while his girlfriend was treated for the facial graze wound, the department said.
Weeks on the Run Before an Arrest
Davis was not taken into custody until May 12, when Warrant Apprehension detectives arrested him at a residence in the 4300 block of Roberton Avenue, roughly six miles from the shooting scene, according to the Baltimore Police Department. That put his capture six weeks after the alleged shooting. The 2000 block of East Hoffman Street falls under the jurisdiction of the department's Eastern District, where specialized shooting detectives handled the photo array and witness interviews that led to his identification.
The neighborhood where the shooting occurred, Broadway East, is a roughly 0.44-square-mile community in East Baltimore bounded by North Avenue, Milton Street, Broadway, and Biddle Street, per Wikipedia, and has been the focus of ongoing redevelopment efforts in recent years.
What Davis Is Facing at Trial
Davis is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, using a firearm in the commission of a felony or violent crime, five weapons violations, and reckless endangerment, according to Baltimore Witness. Under Section 2-205 of the Maryland Criminal Law Code, attempted first-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the same statutory ceiling as a completed murder charge. First-degree assault, charged under Section 3-202, carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years, while the firearm count under Section 4-204 carries a mandatory minimum of five years without parole and a maximum of 20 years, a term that cannot be suspended by a judge.
Open questions remain heading into the November trial, including what the discovery material still under review by High will show, and how ballistics evidence will factor into the case given that the silver revolver allegedly malfunctioned during the assault. Prosecutors will need to establish specific intent for the attempted murder charges alongside physical evidence tying Davis to the firearm, especially given that he fled the scene before his arrest six weeks later at a different Baltimore address.
