Juvenile crime arrests have increased by 146% compared to last year, according to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. In 2023, there were 66 arrests for serious crimes involving minors in Baltimore City. So far in 2024, there have been 163 arrests.
"We all together want to ensure that the 38 individuals that we've indicted know that their toothbrush will be waiting for them," Bates said.
At trial, Okeke argued that Green and his girlfriend were at Popeyes and saw four individuals, one of whom had a gun. Green shot one of the victims while trying to protect himself, defense counsel told jurors.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates and U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek Barron said their united front is not just for appearances, noting the 6-month long wiretap investigation leading to 39 state indictments involving four different crime rings didn’t just materialize from nothing.
“You have an individual that may use drugs and so the police may see them, the police may see them and write a citation,” Bates said. “But they may also be able to recover the drugs and understand where the drug shop is based on the markings and packaging.”
Three more men were sentenced to decades in prison this week for their roles in the fatal shooting of an Israeli man who was visiting Baltimore for a family wedding in May 2021, according to Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates.
Gordon Staron, of Abingdon, said nothing when given the opportunity to address Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy. He also refused to communicate with his own defense attorney throughout the case, the attorney said, citing his client’s silence while arguing that Staron has severe mental health problems and should have been found incompetent to stand trial.
According to Bates’ Office, in November, 103 cases were charged by the juvenile division; 33 of those were special, which means the juvenile facing charges was detained in some way; 70 cases were stack cases, which means the juvenile was not detained.
Defendant William Harris, represented by defense attorney Jason Rodriguez, was convicted of 10 charges Aug. 20 despite his attorney’s self-defense argument. Though five shots were fired during the incident on the intersection of 32nd Street and Greenmount Avenue, the victim was uninjured.
