Prosecutor: “Clear photos” identify shooter outside erotic club in murder in 2023

By Andrew Michaels
– 23 September 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Murders | Shootings | Suspects | Victims |

On Labor Day weekend 2023, East Baltimore Street was crowded outside Norma Jean's adult club as Kwante Betters was charged with shooting 29-year-old Stephon Stinnett. At the start of Betters' trial on Sept. 23, prosecutors told jurors that surveillance footage from the city and nearby businesses showed not only the shooting but also “clear photographs of the shooter,” whom they identified as Betters.

The 30-year-old defendant is currently on trial before Judge Yolanda A. Tanner in Baltimore District Court on charges of first-degree murder, use of a firearm as a felony or crime of violence, and possession of a firearm with a felony conviction. Betters is represented by defense attorney Michael Tomko.

According to prosecutors, the shooting occurred after 1 a.m. on September 3, 2023, in the 400 block of East Baltimore Street – an area known as “The Block.” The video allegedly shows Betters pulling out a gun, pointing it at the victim, and then starting a struggle. Stinnett was shot once in the chest and died from his injuries.

Although there were no witnesses to the shooting, they said, two people who claimed to know the defendant later identified him as the suspect from a photo shoot conducted by the Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

Tomko did not identify the suspect in the video as his client, but acknowledged that witnesses would identify the suspect as Betters at trial. The defense argued that the video showed Stinnett taking an “aggressive stance” toward the suspect and “fighting back” against him. The shooter then attempted to strike the victim with the gun, according to his attorney, when a shot was fired.

Although it was a “terrible, regrettable circumstance,” concluded Tomko, “no murder took place.”