MURDER USA: Malachi Ellis found guilty of the homicide of Dalan Plummer during armed robbery during a drug deal

MURDER USA: Malachi Ellis found guilty of the homicide of Dalan Plummer during armed robbery during a drug deal

ANNAPOLIS, MD – A District man has been convicted of murder that took place when two groups of drug dealers met to do business behind a motel in Laurel in 2016.

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Malachi Tavon Ellis, 21, of 212 Emerson Street, N.W. Washington, D.C., was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence and conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury after deliberating for four hours. Ellis’s compatriot in the murder – Brandon Anthony Holmes – entered into a plea deal to felony first-degree murder on June 17, 2019, in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

 Ellis is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18, 2019.

“The jury found that Ellis participated in the robbery and murder of Dalan Plummer,” said Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess. “Ellis will now be held accountable for his participation in this horrendous act which ended the life of a young man.”

On June 25, 2016, the Anne Arundel County Police responded to a report of a shooting behind the Knights Inn located in the 3300 block of Laurel Fort Meade Road. Upon arrival, the police learned that the victim, Dalan Plummer, had been shot while being robbed. Plummer was transported to Shock Trauma in Baltimore, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

During the investigation, Tamar Wallace Jr., a convicted drug dealer, who was with Plummer when he was shot and who was identified as another victim of the robbery, stated that they encountered two suspects – one suspect described as a black male with long dreadlock style hair wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and dark pants and the second suspect describe as a black male with short hair wearing a gray t-shirt and dark shorts later identified as Malachi T. Ellis – inside of the McDonald’s restaurant located near the Knights Inn.

After leaving the restaurant, the four went to a secluded spot behind the Knights Inn where the suspects announced a robbery and stole items and cash from the victims. During the robbery, Ellis shot Plummer as they began to struggle over a gun.  Plummer died on July 3, 2016 from the bullet that entered under his chin and put him into a coma.

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After the robbery, the assailants fled the scene in a silver Chevrolet Malibu. After broadcasting a description of the suspects and the vehicle they were into the public, police received information from a citizen identifying the suspect’s car and its location. Ellis was subsequently identified in a photographic lineup.

Circuit Court Judge Alison Asti presided over the case. The taxpayers of Maryland provided a free attorney, Harry Jacques Trainor Jr., to represent Ellis.  Trainor hammered away at the prosecution witness against Ellis, a jailhouse snitch, Karl Bland. Bland served as a jailhouse lawyer for other inmates and Trainor accused him of trying to make a deal for his own benefit by claiming that Ellis had confessed to him that he killed Plummer.

A compatriot of Tamar Wallace Jr., Kenyon Ross, was identified as having united the two groups of young dealers for the fatal meeting at McDonald’s, which then adjourned to the nearby parking lot area of Knights Inn.

Assistant State’s Attorneys Glen Robert Neubauer and Matt Watt prosecuted the case on behalf of the citizens of Anne Arundel County.

Tamar Asher Wallace Jr., of 8550 Myrtle Ave., Bowie, Md., was convicted of misdemeanor possession with the intention to distribute in a plea deal with the Allegany County States Attorney following his arrest by Allegany Sheriff Deputy Ethan Messineo on Oct. 17, 2018. Wallace evidently was in the business of selling drugs as he attended college at Frostburg State University.  Felony drug dealing charges were dropped as part of the deal concluded in Allegany Circuit Court on April 10, 2019. THE DEAL: Wallace was sentenced to two years in prison with all of the prison term suspended.  Wallace was represented by Michael Stephen Rothman, of Rockville, Md.

Wallace escaped from a slew of drug charges he was papered within District Court for Prince George’s County on Sept. 29, 2018, when he was found not guilty of multiple counts of drug possession and distribution on Feb. 28, 2019.

Brandon Anthony Holmes, of 5118 Kansas Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. had attorneys Michael Lawlor and Gwendolyn Waters as his attorneys in conducting the plea deal for him with guilty pleas to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a misdemeanor crime. Other charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. Sentencing for Holmes has been set for Sept. 3, 2019.  Holmes has been in a jail cell since he was first arrested and can look forward to being in the Maryland prison system for many years to come.

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