The man accused of shooting a Baltimore police officer might have remained in jail had a judge denied him bail as prosecutors requested six months ago, when he was arrested on drug and weapons charges.
That was one of two opportunities the criminal justice system had in June to keep 19-year-old Donte Jones off the streets. In the other, a probation agent failed to send a judge a request for an arrest warrant that had been prepared.
Jones is now in jail after police say he shot Officer Andrew Groman in the abdomen Sunday night during a traffic stop in West Baltimore. Groman, 27, is recovering from surgery and remained hospitalized Wednesday.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said it did not know why its probation division did not complete the process to secure a warrant against Jones when police say he violated his probation in June. He had previously pleaded guilty to a handgun charge.
Baltimore police union president Gene Ryan called it "unbelievable" that there were multiple instances to keep Jones jailed. He said probation agents and judges need to be held accountable for their decisions, just as police are being held accountable by the public for mistakes.
"Our guys are working diligently and do on their end what they need to do, and then watch these criminals walk out," Ryan said. "That's a problem in Baltimore. You have to keep the bad guys incarcerated."
On Tuesday, Jones appeared in court, where a Baltimore district judge denied him bail during a brief hearing. Afterward, his attorney questioned whehther the climate surrounding recent police conduct nationwide might have caused Jones to panic.
Police have repeatedly labeled Jones a "violent repeat offender." Court records show he was on probation after pleading guilty to a January 2013 handgun charge, and arrested again June 20 of this year after police say the found him in possession of a handgun.
The June charge should have triggered an arrest warrant under the terms of his probation, and his probation agent wrote in court papers that she requested one June 24.
But the request was "never received by the court," the probation agent wrote in a new request for a warrant made Sunday after Jones' arrest in the shooting of Groman.
Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the correctional services agency, said an "investigation is focusing on why the paperwork did not get to the court, as well as why the supervision of Mr. Jones continued without any follow-up with the court on the June warrant request."
The findings could result in disciplinary action or procedural changes, he said.
State courts are not automatically advised when someone on probation is rearrested. Probation agents prepare a short summary of the charges and ask a judge to issue a warrant for probation violation. It is common for a handgun charge to result in a no-bail warrant, but prosecutors say it's up to a judge.
When Jones was in court in June facing his second gun charge, Baltimore prosecutors told a district judge at a bail review hearing that the teen was on probation for a weapons charge. Baltimore Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Embry said the judge set bail at $150,000, though prosecutors had recommended that Jones not be granted bail.
It's not clear which judge granted Jones bail because the public court file in that case was not available Wednesday. A Maryland District Court spokeswoman said she could not reach judges late Tuesday afternoon to question them about Jones' bail.
Court records show Jones posted bond and was released June 30.
On Sunday night, police say, Jones was riding in a silver Cadillac with three other men when an officer smelled marijuana coming out of the vehicle at a West Baltimore gas station. The car was pulled over, and Groman and other officers asked the occupants to step out, police said.
Despite warnings that he would be shocked with a stun gun if he didn't comply, police say, Jones refused and kept his hands concealed.
Police say Groman reached for his department-issue Taser as Jones pulled a .357-caliber revolver and fired three times, striking Groman under his bulletproof vest. Jones fled, but officers caught him after a short foot chase.
This week, Jones' probation agent, Benita Hill, filed paperwork notifying the court of Jones' arrest in the shooting, as well as the June arrest. Judge Michael A. DiPietro signed a no-bail warrant.
Police say Jones has confessed to shooting Groman, though he denied that at Tuesday's bail hearing.
On Tuesday, Jones' attorney Warren A. Brown said he has several questions about the traffic stop that led to Groman's shooting, including whether smelling marijuana was a valid reason to pull a car over.
"I don't know that any marijuana was found," he said. "I think the state's attorney's office and the police are going to have to play it honest no matter the warts and all [in the case], because if a Baltimore City jury gets the impression that they're lying about anything, it's going to taint their ability to get a conviction."
While Brown said he was not justifying the shooting, he wondered whether Jones' "survival instincts" kicked in because he thought he was facing a gun. Brown said Tasers resemble handguns, and in today's climate, with thousands of people protesting police shootings of black men, Jones might have panicked.
He said he thinks there's more to the story than police have disclosed.
"I don't think someone just shoots a police officer," Brown said.
Brown unsuccessfully argued Tuesday to have Jones held on home monitoring. He noted that Jones' relatives had packed the courtroom, and he told the judge that the teen had a supportive family.
Jones appeared on a live video feed at the bail hearing wearing a light blue prisoner uniform with his hands cuffed in his lap and his body slumped against the back of a chair.
"Can I say something, though?" he asked the judge after she had finished explaining his right to legal counsel. "I did not confess to that."
His lawyer cut him off before he could elaborate.
Jones' cousin, Mia Tubman, wiped tears from her face as she watched Jones on the monitor. After the hearing, she said that police officers had abused Jones while he was in custody and that he was injured after his mugshot was taken. "They beat the [expletive] out of him," she said.
Tubman also said police lied about his confession.
Baltimore police spokesman Lt. Eric Kowalczyk said that "there was no other reported use of force other than the deploying of a Taser" on Jones before he was arrested. Police say his confession is on video.
Tubman said Jones lived with her for years, and was a bright child and a gifted math student. "He was raised up in the church," she said.
She said Jones has a young child and a second on the way.
As Jones' family criticized his treatment, city officials responded to the anger some activists and others have expressed about a comment Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts made hours after Groman was shot.
At a news conference outside the hospital Sunday night, Batts questioned whether protesters who have been rallying for weeks against police brutality in Baltimore would also march in support of Groman.
The comment was cheered in law enforcement circles, but the NAACP, other civil rights leaders and activists said the suggestion made light of protesters' legitimate concerns and damaged community relations.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the commissioner was feeling a "lot of very raw emotions" after Groman had been shot that may have contributed to what he said.
She said she would not have chosen to make a comment that compared Groman's shooting to police brutality, which she said are not comparable issues.
"The danger in mixing them is you lose the importance of both of those issues," she said.
After Batts made the comment Sunday, Rawlings-Blake shared her feelings with him, said her spokesman, Kevin Harris.
Batts has declined to discuss the comment since he made it. On Tuesday, Kowalczyk said Batts "continues to believe that we must have a reverence for all life. Unnecessary violence against citizens or our police officers is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Baltimore Sun reporters Yvonne Wenger and Luke Broadwater contributed to this article.
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