Jurors deliberated for more than two hours on Monday but did not reach a verdict in the trial of one of two men accused of killing Baltimore Police Officer Keona Holley and then fatally shooting a man as he sat in his car in Southwest Baltimore.
Elliot Knox, 34, of Mount Holly, stood trial in Baltimore Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and related offenses. Both sides made their closing arguments earlier in the day to the jury.
Prosecutors allege that Knox fatally shot Holley, a two-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, as she sat in her patrol car on Pennington Avenue near Hazel Street in Curtis Bay before 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2021.
Holley died one week later at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. She was 39.
Next, Knox and another man, Travon Shaw, prosecutors assert, shot and killed Justin Johnson at about 3 a.m. as he sat in his 1997 Lincoln Town Car on Lucia Avenue near Airy Hill Avenue in Yale Heights. He was 38.
During an interrogation, Knox told homicide detectives that he was at both crime scenes but denied pulling the trigger. He admitted that he ditched two guns — a Glock 22 and an Extar EXP-556 — at a home in Windsor Hill.
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Knox identified himself and Shaw in surveillance video.
“This was more than brutal,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kurt Bjorklund said in his closing argument. “It’s on you now. It’s on 12 of you. Do your job. Hold him accountable.”
Under Maryland law, Bjorklund contended, Knox was equally culpable even if the jury believed that he acted as an accomplice.
Knox’s attorney, Natalie Finegar, said her client delivered a “cascade of evidence” to investigators and stated that there was no logical reason for the jury to not believe him.
“He was not part of those murders,” Finegar said in her closing argument. “He did not aid and abet. He did not premeditate. He did not conspire.”
Shaw, 34, of Catonsville, was found guilty in 2023 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and related crimes in Johnson’s killing. He’s set to appear back in court on March 28 for sentencing and to stand trial in Holley’s death.
Both Knox and Shaw are being held without bail.