April 10, 2018 - 10:06 PM
BALTIMORE - An independent city agency has found that four Baltimore police officers used excessive force in the 2015 shooting of a suspect.
Keith Davis Jr.'s attorneys, Latoya Francis-Williams and Natalie Finegar, presented the findings of the city's Civilian Review Board at a news conference Tuesday, The Baltimore Sun reports . The board recommended two officers be terminated and two others receive a 30-day suspension.
A police spokesman told The Sun that all officers involved in Davis' arrest remain employed with the department. A spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office said the board's findings on the officers' actions do not affect the criminal trial against Davis, 26.
The four officers were not named in The Sun's report.
Davis' attorneys said police unjustly shot him, and his murder charges in the death of 22-year-old Kevin Jones, a Pimlico Race Course security guard, should be dismissed. Davis is scheduled to be tried a third time in the case with his next court date scheduled for June 8.
Davis is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the only charge among 15 counts a jury found him guilty of in 2016. Davis was accused of pulling a gun on the driver of a hack, or unlicensed cab, before police chased and cornered him inside a garage. He was shot several times and police recovered a handgun from the scene. Davis was charged in Jones' death after ballistics linked the recovered gun to the killing.
The board's report also raised doubt about the officers' credibility. It said the city's crime lab determined the gun was never fired at the officers and found "inconsistent testimonies" between the officers as to whether Davis had a gun.
Davis has maintained his innocence, and said the murder weapon was planted on him after he was shot by police just hours following Jones' slaying.
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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2018