A man accused of setting fire to a house occupied by his ex-girlfriend on Bolton Hill’s northern edge is in jail and likely to stay there for a while after his plea bargain with the state’s attorney’s office was rejected by a Baltimore judge. A day later Luther Moody Trent was charged in federal court as well.
Trent, 21, allegedly set fire on May 21 to a rented house in the 1900 block of Linden Avenue in Spicer’s Run, occupied by Alexis Young and two other people. He was charged in state court with arson, attempted murder and a variety of other offenses. At a state court hearing in December Trent’s attorney and a prosecutor from the Baltimore Office of the State’s Attorney agreed that Trent would plead guilty and accept a short prison term, which amounted to time already served.
But the occupants of the house, whose lives were endangered, said they were not given a chance to be heard by the court, and so the judge withdrew her approval of the negotiated deal and ordered Trent held in jail for a new trial date of Feb. 18. Meanwhile, charges were also brought against Trent in federal court for malicious destruction of property by arson.
The house had $40,000 in damages, according to police reports. The U.S. Attorney who brought the federal charges against Trent has also indicted State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby for lying on an application for a bank loan and misrepresenting her financial situation to get federal COVID relief. The Baltimore Sun has more details.
– Bill Hamilton
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