Cockeysville man convicted of attempting to kill county cops requests new trial; sentencing set for January

Cassidy Jensen

The Baltimore Sun

October 8, 2024

A Cockeysville man convicted of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of two Baltimore County police officers last month filed a motion Monday requesting a new trial.

Jurors last month found David Linthicum, 26, guilty of four counts of attempted murder for shooting at four police officers over the course of two days in 2023, striking two of them. He was also convicted of carjacking and four counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence.

Sentencing for Linthicum, who could receive a sentence of life imprisonment, is set for a day-long hearing on Jan. 24.

Linthicum’s attorneys, Deborah Katz Levi, the director of special litigation for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, and James Dills, the district public defender for Baltimore County, argued during trial that county police botched their response to a mental health crisis.

Three officers responded to a 911 call from Linthicum’s father on Feb. 8, 2023, in which he reported that his son was suicidal and armed.

When police arrived and followed his father into the home’s basement, Linthicum fired a rifle at them, striking Officer Barry Jordan and spurring a two-day-long search for him across Baltimore and Harford counties.

The next evening, Linthicum shot and critically injured Detective Jonathan Chih and stole his police truck, before he was arrested in Fallston early on Feb. 10.

The defense suggested that the three officers acted recklessly by entering the basement and that Chih’s supervisors hadn’t adequately communicated crucial information before he encountered someone who was armed, suicidal and fleeing law enforcement.

In a new motion filed Monday, Levi and Dills listed 14 reasons why they said Linthicum should get a new trial.

Those included accusations that prosecutors made “improper remarks” about them, that Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Garret P. Glennon Jr. “demonstrated bias towards the defense,” and that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict that Linthicum’s attempt to kill the officers, especially the two he missed, was premeditated.

The motion cited Glennon’s denial of the defense’s request to cover a gray granite statue outside the Baltimore County Circuit Courthouse that memorializes fallen county police officers. Jurors and court visitors walk by the statute when entering the Towson courthouse from West Chesapeake Avenue.

Levi and Dills also wrote that the judge improperly allowed hearsay, or evidence a witness offers based on what others have said, to be admitted at trial through the state’s introduction of body-worn camera footage. They alleged that Glennon “interfered with Mr. Linthicum’s constitutional right to present a defense” by refusing to allow testimony related to the Baltimore County Police Department’s policy for its mobile crisis unit and preventing some defense witnesses from answering questions about Linthicum’s mental health after prosecutors objected.

The motion also said prosecutors “made improper remarks in closing argument, denigrating defense counsel, and interfering with Mr. Linthicum’s constitutional rights to a fair trial and effective assistance of counsel.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Zarena Sita referred in her closing argument to a moment during the trial when Levi sat down on the courtroom floor, pointing a black umbrella at herself to demonstrate to jurors how Linthicum could have been holding his rifle on his bed as officers entered the basement. In a rebuttal, Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox called the defense’s attempt to blame the officers for the shootings both “outrageous” and “insane.”

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger declined to comment Tuesday.

Lawyers for both engaged in a contentious back-and-forth over evidence in the case before the trial began, with prosecutors trying to remove Levi from the case over an alleged conflict of interest and defense attorneys accusing the state of prosecutorial misconduct.

Linthicum asked to postpone the trial in early September, a request Judge Robert Edward Cahill Jr. denied.