Jury selection got underway Monday in Baltimore City Circuit Court for the first-degree murder trial of Javon Rivers, accused in the December 2024 shooting death of 31-year-old Donte Bazemore on East Chase Street. The process was expected to wrap up and testimony was expected to begin on Wednesday.
According to Baltimore Witness, jury selection began November 2 in the courtroom of Judge Yolanda Tanner, with William Porter representing Rivers. The outlet's seed reporting lists Rivers' age as 42, though a Baltimore Police arrest announcement identified him as 41 — a discrepancy that has not been independently resolved.
Rivers stands accused of first-degree murder, firearm use in the commission of a violent felony, and having a handgun on his person, the outlet reports. Maryland's first-degree murder statute, as excerpted by the Maryland General Assembly, covers deliberate, premeditated, and willful killings, among other categories.
A Shooting on East Chase Street
Bazemore, 31, was shot on December 18, 2024, in the 2600 block of East Chase Street, according to WMAR-2 News, which reported that he died after being taken to a hospital. Baltimore City police officers found him on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest at the scene, the seed reporting states.
The Baltimore Police Department says officers responded to the block at approximately 3:12 p.m. that day after reports of gunfire, and that Bazemore was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced deceased by hospital staff. Detectives identified Rivers as the suspected shooter through surveillance footage, according to charging documents cited in the seed reporting, which also states that investigators recovered two .9mm shell casings and one projectile at the scene.
Arrest More Than a Year Later
Rivers was not taken into custody until January 20, 2026, more than a year after the killing. A Baltimore Witness report on the arrest gives the location as the 2100 block of Harman Avenue. He was charged with first-degree murder, the outlet reported at the time.
The case now heads toward trial in Baltimore. The police department's own year-end accounting found a 68% homicide clearance rate for 2024, which it said was above the national average alongside clearance rates for several other serious crime categories.
No outcome has yet been reported in the Rivers case, and whether testimony actually began as scheduled this week has not been independently confirmed beyond the expectation reported by Baltimore Witness.
