Two teens charged as adults in the fatal attack on a cyclist in North Baltimore were convicted by a judge Monday of robbery and first-degree assault but acquitted of murder charges.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Stephen J. Sfekas, who presided over the bench trial, said it was “clear” that Antwan Eldridge, 18, and Daquan Middleton, 17, did not participate in a premeditated murder of 29-year-old Robert Ponsi.
A co-defendant — a teenager who, by a matter of months, was young enough to have his case waived to juvenile court — was alone responsible for Ponsi’s killing, the judge said.
“It’s clear [the juvenile defendant] was in a homicidal state of mind, and no one was expecting a knife was present or that a murder would take place,” Sfekas said.