Many suspected felons in Maryland keep a sharp eye out for police officers, and they are not hesitant about attempting to escape. Unhappily for them, the escape effort rarely succeeds. In a recent trial in Baltimore, the defendant had unsuccessfully attempted to escape from police when they attempted to arrest him.
The allegations
According to court records, two men were wanted by police on suspicion of related gun and drug charges. On July 25, 2019, Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies were investigating a recent shooting when they spotted a man who, they said, looked like one of the two men alleged to have been involved in the shooting.
When officers attempted to approach the two men, they allegedly ran. Officers followed and found one of the men hiding in an apartment building. The man was ordered to drop a black bag that he was carrying. The man refused and threw the bag into a nearby stairwell, where it was recovered by police. In it, police said they discovered a loaded 9mm pistol, 103 grams of marijuana packaged in four separate plastic bags, a scale and latex gloves. The man was under supervised release for a previous federal conviction.
The second man was soon spotted by police, but he allegedly disobeyed a command to surrender and jumped a fence into a nearby yard. The man admitted that he carried the marijuana with intent to distribute and that he carried the firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking scheme.
The first man who was arrested agreed to plead guilty. The second man pleaded not guilty and was tried before a jury in Baltimore.
The jury decided that the man was guilty of participating in a conspiracy to sell drugs. He has not yet been sentenced, but he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Conclusion
The two men in this case are facing serious criminal charges. Both have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of the crimes.
Anyone facing criminal charges may wish to consult an experienced criminal defense attorney for an evaluation of the evidence, suggestions about potential defense strategies, and, where appropriate, assistance in negotiating an acceptable plea agreement.