Judge postpones trial of man accused of shooting 2 Baltimore County Police officers

Published 10/3/2023 11:34 a.m. EDT, Updated 10/3/2023 5:54 p.m. EDT

A SWAT team investigates a house on Warren Rd near Loch Raven Reservoir during a manhunt for 24-year-old Cockeysville resident David Emory Linthicum.
A SWAT team investigates a house on Warren Road near Loch Raven Reservoir during a manhunt for 24-year-old Cockeysville resident David Emory Linthicum. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Baltimore Banner)

A Baltimore County judge on Tuesday postponed the trial of a man who’s accused of shooting two police officers and sparking a dayslong manhunt to 2024.

Circuit Judge Dennis M. Robinson Jr. rescheduled the trial of David Linthicum to run from May 20, 2024, to June 4, 2024. Robinson made the ruling after hearing from both the state and the defense about the status of discovery in the case.

“In light of the ongoing discovery issues in this case, I am going to postpone it,” Robinson said.

Linthicum, 25, of Cockeysville, is charged with five counts of attempted first-degree murder and related offenses.

On Feb. 8, Linthicum’s father, John, or “Whit,” called 911 to report that his son was armed and experiencing suicidal thoughts. Linthicum shot Officer Barry Jordan, police allege, after he responded to their home on Powers Avenue near Sherwood Road in Cockeysville.

Next, Linthicum on Feb. 9 shot Detective Jonathan Chih, stole his 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 and led law enforcement on a chase that ended near the Fallston mall in Harford County, police assert.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 10 arrested Linthicum.

Deborah Katz Levi, director of special litigation for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, and James Dills, district public defender for Baltimore County, Linthicum’s attorneys, have argued that what happened was a “mental health crisis with a response gone wrong.”

David Emory Linthicum

David Emory Linthicum. (Courtesy Baltimore County Police Department)

Throughout the hearing, Levi expressed exasperation that the state has not provided complete discovery and took several months to turn over body camera video. She previously stated that there was a “zero percent chance” that she would be ready to proceed to trial on the originally scheduled date of Nov. 2.

“My job is to do everything I can to protect Mr. Linthicum’s liberty,” Levi said.

Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox has maintained that the state has complied and will continue to do so with its discovery obligations.

Cox said the state was not asking for a postponement of the trial.

Linthicum is set to appear back in court on Nov. 2. He’s being held without bail in the Baltimore County Detention Center.

dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com

This story has been updated to correctly identify Sherwood Road.

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