Darrin Barnes

Darrin Barnes was a 30-year-old father of three children. Remembered as having a good heart, he was a man who was often misunderstood but always did what he could for others. His life was cut short in the summer of 2021.

In the early morning hours of June 14, 2021, Darrin Barnes, a Black man, was in the parking lot of BJ Mallards Bar & Grill on Ingleside Avenue in Gwynn Oak, Maryland. Shortly after 12:40 a.m., gunfire erupted. Baltimore County Police officers arrived to find Barnes and a 30-year-old female companion suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Both were taken to a local hospital, where Barnes died from his injuries after being shot four times. The woman was shot several times in her legs but survived.

Investigators quickly determined the shooting was not random. They believed the suspects had targeted Barnes in retaliation for a dispute that had occurred a few days earlier. According to charging documents, surveillance video captured the attack, showing a masked man stepping out of a car, shooting Barnes, and then standing over him to fire more shots as Barnes tried to crawl away. On June 29, 2021, police arrested two men, Jamell William Smith, 32, and Michael J. Curry, 40. Both were charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder and held without bond.

Jamell Smith was tried and convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. A judge subsequently sentenced him to life in prison for the murder, with an additional 20 years to be served consecutively for the firearm conviction. "Settling what was presumably a minor dispute with a gun and the loss of life is outrageous," Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said after the verdict.

Smith’s case was not over. He appealed his conviction, and the Appellate Court of Maryland reversed the jury’s decision. In an opinion filed in August, a three-judge panel ruled that the trial court had made a mistake by allowing the jury to hear an un-redacted recording of Smith’s police interview, during which he invoked his right to remain silent and asked for an attorney. The appellate court ordered a new trial for Smith, and as of that August decision, the case remained in litigation.