A man arrested after assaulting a business owner for asking him to stop peeing on the street was convicted on Wednesday.
The jury convicted Jermaine Harrell of first-degree assault and now he is facing a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.
On April 30, 2017, police found Harrell on top of an unconscious man in the 1600 block of Aliceana Street in Southeast Baltimore. He was bashing the person's head into the concrete road and wouldn't stop even when police told him to.
According to video footage and witnesses, Harrell was urinating in the street when a business owner on the block told him to pee somewhere else. Harrell then started screaming profanities at the owner, hit them to the ground, and then bashed their head multiple times onto the road. After the person was knocked unconscious, Harrell then came back and continued to kick the person more.
“Baltimore City is not a lawless society, and this defendant was absolutely wrong for urinating in public and reacted violently when a business owner asked him to stop, then subsequently ignored the commands of officers,” said State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. “Such behavior will not be tolerated in this city, and I am thankful for ASA Mainen’s work on this case. The defendant is a violent repeat offender, who deserves a lengthy sentence for continuing to commit acts of violence against City residents.”
Harrell has had three previous assault convictions. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 30.
