On Saturday, July 24th, three days shy of his 24th birthday, a young man was dropped off at Penn Station by the bus that had brought him from visiting his sister in N.Y.C   He was walking home and was on his cell phone talking with his mother. About a mile from Penn Station, and just four blocks from his apartment near the Johns Hopkins main campus, he was robbed and stabbed in the chest, as his mother listened from her home. "Five minutes into the walk, I heard him be approached. He offered his wallet, (they) still attacked and killed him," said his mother. Her son died holding the hand of the witness who had called 911. (Although he wasn’t pronounced dead until the ambulance reached the hospital). His wasn't the only murder in Baltimore that night, although it is perhaps the most poignant.

The young man was from Jupiter, FL; had gone to college in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and had become fluent in Japanese while working in Japan on stem cells. Returning to the U.S. he got a job in Baltimore working as a research assistant on breast cancer and wound research at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, where he was highly regarded. Although he had majored in economics in college, he was planning on attending medical school. One of his professors at Michigan had encouraged him to go into medicine.

His apartment is in an area of Baltimore that’s considered “very safe” by Baltimore police, in part because Hopkins has beefed up security on and off campus in recent years.

The two people arrested for his murder had no business being out of jail, but they were out of jail because of the multiple failures of Baltimore City’s “justice” system. The purpose of this post is to alert you to the opportunity to do something about this broken system.


The  Suspects

There’s little doubt that police have arrested the culprits; although they must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the state should have no problem proving its case.

In charging documents, police said they were told by witnesses that [the two suspects] were overheard saying that they had "robbed and 'hurt' a 'white boy.'" Detectives recovered a brown wallet [Pitcairn‘s], Pitcairn's iPhone, several folding and fixed blade knives — and shoes containing what appeared to be blood.

Finally, Baltimore city is keeping these suspects in jail, without bond – for now.

The two suspects are married and have a long history with the police. They were arrested together at least once before. Both have struggled with addiction; both were on probation. He (JAW) is 34 and she is 24.

The man has armed robbery convictions starting in 1991. In the early 1990’s he received a 15 year sentence. In 2008 he pled guilty to 1st degree assault for the “vicious assault on his then-girlfriend” in a Baltimore City court. He received an eight year suspended sentence and supervised probation for 3 years. When a defendant receives a suspended sentence, he serves no jail time, provided he abides by his probation. This man failed to abide by the terms of his probation: he was supposed to stay out of trouble, check in with his probation supervisor, and take anger management classes, but did not.  Despite this, he was let out to walk the streets.


Baltimore County had a chance to keep this couple in Jail

In 2009 the couple was picked up by Baltimore County police in a stolen car. JAW was In the driver’s seat and she was in the passenger’s seat. “In the passenger's side door was a bag containing suspected crack cocaine and needles, and a knife was in the center console.”

At the time, the woman was also under supervised probation from a 2008 drug conviction.  One would think this would be considered a violation of her probation, but there’s no mention of any action being taken against her. JAW was sentenced in Baltimore County to two years for theft, but this sentence was also suspended. His County conviction should have been considered a violation of his probation in the City. [More about this below.]

When JAW failed to pay $300 restitution to the victim in the car theft, a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 22nd and sent to a Baltimore County police station. It’s not clear whether the police tried to serve the warrant, but regionally, “there is a backlog of more than 40,000 outstanding warrants.” At least Baltimore County was trying to put him back in jail when he failed to abide by the terms of his sentencing. In any event, it was only two days before the fatal robbery, there’s no guarantee any jurisdiction could have had him in jail within that time frame.

Still, Baltimore County missed an opportunity to keep this couple off the streets.


Baltimore City’s Final Chance to Avert This Tragedy

Now this is where it gets really interesting. In April of this year, a witness called Baltimore City police about a possible robbery in progress. The whole thing was captured on surveillance cameras and the police used the footage to track down the victim, and the perpetrator, who was … yup, JAW. The victim identified JAW, and told police that JAW had approached him, asked him if he was in a particular gang, then hit him in the face and put him in a headlock while another man rifled through his pockets. All of this can be seen on the surveillance footage. So, JAW is arrested.

It’s not clear if he was kept in jail or let out pending the trial. As prosecutors get ready for a hearing, the victim says that he doesn’t want to go to court that they have the footage, the 911 call, and the fact that JAW was found with his belongings; that should be enough. Informed that his “cooperation was necessary,” the victim “says he's not coming to any court … did not want to speak further."

At court, the prosecutors ask for an extension, but the judge refuses to grant it.  The prosecutors dismiss the case against JAW. "’No victim, no case,’ said … a spokeswoman for Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. ‘Without the victim's presence, the evidence is hearsay. Even if they recant their original statements, we need them present in court so we can play the statements back and let the jury decide.’” So the case against JAW is dropped. If he wasn’t on the street before, he is now.

Reluctant Witnesses

The victim in the April beating and robbery, actually works with the city’s “wayward youth and ex-offenders.” What would make him so reluctant to testify when the chances were good that JAW would be found guilty? Perhaps the witness has watched one of Baltimore’s notorious “Stop Snitchin” videos.

Or, perhaps he’s familiar with frequent incidents like the following:

Another young man, 21 yo, was killed Thursday. He had apparently been inside an apartment where another man was stabbed and killed Saturday night, the same night as the research assistant. The 21 yo had been questioned by police, although it’s not known whether he was cooperating. Still, in the wee hours Thursday, an officer on patrol in the area heard shots, and found the 21 yo “slumped over in a green lawn chair in front of the [same] house with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.”  “Hours later, a chair with blood drops on it was visible out front, and a group of people on the front steps of the house said they didn't know what had happened.” Apparently, the mere possibility of cooperating with the police may be enough to get you killed as a “snitch.”