Defense for man accused of shooting two Baltimore County officers rests; case to go to jury Wednesday

Cassidy Jensen

The Baltimore Sun

September 24, 2024

Attorneys defending a 26-year-old Cockeysville man charged with shooting two Baltimore County Police officers rested their case Tuesday after almost two days of witness testimony.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to give closing arguments Wednesday morning in the trial of David Linthicum, charged with multiple counts of armed murder and related offenses, before jurors begin their deliberations.

Beginning Monday, Deborah Katz Levi, director of special litigation for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and James Dills, district public defender for Baltimore County, called witnesses and presented evidence to suggest county police mishandled the initial call for service and the ensuing search for the armed and suicidal young man.

Linthicum decided not to testify Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Linthicum fired a rifle at police officers who tried to enter his basement bedroom on Powers Avenue after his father called 911 to say his son was suicidal and had a gun Feb. 8, 2023. Officers fled the gunfire and Linthicum escaped, prompting a two-day search.

Jonathan Chih testified last week that Linthicum shot and critically injured him the next evening when the Baltimore County narcotics detective mistook Linthicum for a hitchhiker walking along Warren Road, pulled over and approached him. Linthicum stole Chih’s police truck and drove into Harford County, where law enforcement officers surrounded him in a wooded area in Fallston and eventually arrested him after a multihour stand-off.

Policing expert Tyrone Powers testified Tuesday that county officers did not follow best practices when approaching Linthicum. Linthicum’s attorneys have said their client was trying to commit “suicide by cop,” with Levi saying he shouted, “Kill me, kill me, kill me,” at officers.

When Levi asked Powers how police should treat people experiencing a mental crisis, he said it’s important to try to “verbally” de-escalate the situation while protecting officers’ lives, as he said authorities did in Harford County.

He said Linthicum was in a “barricade” situation when police first arrived at Powers Avenue, having locked himself in the basement, and that officers risked his father, John Linthicum’s, life by letting him lead them to his armed and suicidal son after he picked the door’s lock.

“There’s no need to close that distance,” Powers said under cross-examination from Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox, suggesting officers could have set up a perimeter and tried to build a rapport with Linthicum from a distance rather than risk having him shoot people.

When Cox asked Powers whether officers’ supposed failure to follow best practices justified being shot, he said no.

“No, no one should be shot,” he said.