Two Baltimore City teenagers were convicted Thursday of killing a man over a $1 cover charge to his daughter?s Sweet 16 birthday party.
A Baltimore City Circuit Court jury found Jamal Charles, 16, and Dwayne Drake, 17, guilty of second-degree murder in the April 14, 2006, shooting death of Bryan Jones, 42, on the front porch of his North Augusta Avenue house.
“They felt that $1 was enough reason to end Bryan Jones? life,” prosecutor Rita Wisthoff-Ito told the jury during closing arguments.
Prosecutors said the two teens were kicked out of the Jones? house ? after the father ordered “no cussing, no smoking, no drinking, no guns” ? then returned to kill Jones after he wouldn?t return their money.
Margaret Mead, Charles? defense attorney, told jurors that Charles argued with Jones, but was standing too close to have fired the fatal shot.
“There was no evidence of close-range firing,” she said. “He did not commit murder.”
Mead said 10 to 12 people were standing behind Charles and Drake ? and none of them were seriously pursued by police.
“There was no follow-up,” she said. Drake?s attorney, Stephen Sacks, said all his clientdid was encourage a confrontation.
“Am I a criminal because I told somebody to do something?” he asked the jury.
But Wisthoff-Ito said the two teens “wanted to show Bryan Jones how they handled business” and killed him. Second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
