March 19, 2024
Annapolis, US 35 F

Eric Banks sentenced to 30 years for Glen Burnie Murder

Eric Banks
Eric Banks

Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess announced  that a jury found Eric Banks guilty of second-degree murder in the January 2013 killing of Darren Bell in the Marley Neck area of Glen Burnie.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Philip Caroom sentenced Banks to the maximum 30 years in prison following the verdict.

“Eric Banks says he went to the woods that night to stop his daughter from doing something she would regret. What he should have done is called 911. If he had done the right thing, Darren Bell may be alive today,” Leitess said.

Emergency dispatchers received multiple phone calls from Bell in the early morning hours of January 27, 2013 asking them to trace the calls because he feared he was going to be killed. He was on the phone with dispatchers when he was shot.

Anne Arundel County police responded to the scene and found Banks’ daughter, 28-year-old Erica Banks, and Tremain Calhoun Jr., 25, in a parked sport utility vehicle. Soon after, Eric Banks emerged from a wooded area with blood on his hands.

 Bell was found in the woods suffering from a gunshot wound and multiple knife wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eric Banks, Erica Banks and Calhoun were each charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and weapons offenses.

On March 7, Calhoun entered an Alford plea to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. In exchange for the plea, he agreed to testify in the trials of his co-defendants. Sentencing is scheduled for May 14.

Erica Banks is scheduled to stand trial April 29 in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

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