Man acquitted last week of assault charged with murder

Published March 03, 2016

A man who was shot in the face by Baltimore police after he allegedly brandished a handgun after a robbery was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in an unrelated incident committed hours before the encounter with police.

Keith Davis Jr., 24, was charged in the June death of Kevin Jones, police said.

Last week, a jury acquitted Davis of assault and robbery charges in the second incident. He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a handgun.

Davis' lawyer, Latoya Francis-Williams, said Wednesday that "It really is a shame that police have come back with this charge." She called prosecutors' claims about palm and fingerprints on a gun in last week's trial "junk science." She said she would mount a "vigorous, factual defense" against the murder charge.

Davis remains at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center in Baltimore. He faces a mandatory minimum 5-year term on the gun charge. Sentencing is set for April 20. No trial date has been set for the murder charge.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said at a news conference Wednesday that Jones, 22, was walking to his job as a security guard just before 5 a.m. on June 7 when Keith Davis shot him in an apparent robbery.

Several hours later, at about 10 a.m., officers responding to a reported robbery of a hack driver chased Keith Davis on foot into a garage, the commissioner said. Keith Davis brandished a firearm and officers fired more than 40 rounds when they felt threatened, striking Davis three times, at least once in the face, police said. A gun was recovered at the garage.

"That recovered firearm was ballistically matched to the murder of Kevin Jones," Commissioner Davis said.

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