Dice Game Murder Case Goes to Jury

DUNDALK– A Baltimore County jury began deliberations Friday in the case of a man accused of murdering a bystander at a dice game on the grounds of a Dundalk elementary school.

Deandre Stokes, 28, testified Thursday that he did not intend to shoot Jamel Nation on July 1, 2024. He said he was playing dice on the grounds of Colgate Elementary School in Dundalk when he overheard Nation and others planning a robbery. Stokes said he approached Nation and reached into Nation’s waistband to see if he was armed.

Stokes, who himself was armed, said Nation had a handgun. The two struggled, and Stokes’ gun fired, striking Nation, 20, once in the back of the head.

“The (defense) theory has either been self-defense at some times, accidental discharge at others,” prosecutor Daniel Scapardine told jurors at closing arguments. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Video surveillance showed a man apparently taking a gun from the area of Nation’s body before police arrived. Neither gun was ever recovered.

Stokes said the dice games involve “a lot of money.” He said he brought $1,500 to the game that night and had armed himself because he knew from experience the games could attract violence. Stokes testified that he had a friend who was killed at a dice game in 2020.

Stokes said he had won $300 to $400 so far that night. When he saw someone putting on a face mask and pulling up his hood, he took notice. He said he heard a man with Nation saying, “Yeah, we getting ready to take all that sh__.”

“I knew what he was trying to do to us,” Stokes said. “He was trying to rob us.”

Stokes said he pulled his gun from his waistband and pointed it toward the ground as he approached a man who had been with Nation. A few seconds later, Stokes can be seen on video approaching Nation and grabbing him. The two struggled and fell together to the ground. It was at that point that Stokes’ gun fired, out of the view of the school's security cameras. Stokes can be seen running away from the scene with his face partially covered by his shirt.

Defense attorney Robert Cole said Nation had been watching the games all day and had put on a face mask and hood around nightfall.

“He walks around, just observing who’s got the money,” Cole said. “He’s scoping out the game.”

Prosecutor Scapardine said the fact that Nation put on a face mask and hood meant nothing.

“Why would it make sense for someone who has been at the games all day to suddenly decide to put on a mask and to maybe rob a game 30 or 40 minutes from now?” Scapardine asked. “He had been there all day. Everyone knew what he looked like.”

Cole asked the jury to notice how little evidence the state had presented. Prosecutors called a total of three witnesses, none of whom had been at the school that night when the shot was fired.

Prosecutors said no one saw Nation with a gun that night, and Nation was never seen on video with a gun.

“The only person who was brandishing a firearm, the only person who used a firearm to execute another, was this defendant,” Scapardine said.