LEONARDTOWN, Md. — A St. Mary’s County jury convicted Joseph Daren Brooks, 23, of Lexington Park, on November 25, 2025, of first-degree murder in the February 2024 fatal shooting of Malic Quinn Freeland, also 23, from the same community.
The five-day trial in St. Mary’s County Circuit Court ended with guilty verdicts on three felony counts: first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, and possession of a regulated firearm by a disqualified person. Brooks, who had prior disqualifying convictions under Maryland law barring certain individuals from owning firearms, fired the shots that struck Freeland before the victim drove his vehicle into a fence and shed near Valley Drive and Fox Ridge Road.
First-degree murder under Maryland statutes requires prosecutors to prove premeditation and willful intent to kill, a threshold the jury affirmed based on evidence including ballistic matches, witness accounts and digital forensics presented during the proceedings. The firearm use charge mandates a minimum five years served without parole, consecutive to any other sentence, while the possession count addresses violations of state regulations on regulated firearms, which include handguns and semiautomatic rifles requiring background checks and eligibility verification.
Brooks faces life imprisonment for the murder conviction, plus up to 20 years for the firearm enhancement and five years for illegal possession, totaling a potential life plus 25 years. He has remained in custody without bond since his February 2024 arrest, following initial leads that tied him to the scene through vehicle debris analysis and surveillance footage from nearby businesses along Route 235.
State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling announced the verdict from her Leonardtown office, emphasizing the case’s progression from a baffling nighttime accident to a deliberate homicide prosecution. “This verdict brings long-awaited justice for the family members devastated by this senseless violence,” Sterling said. “The jury’s decision reflects the strength of the evidence and the tireless work of the detectives and prosecutors who refused to allow these brutal acts to go unanswered. Our office remains firmly committed to prosecuting all violent offenders.”
The shooting unfolded on February 26, 2024, around 9 p.m., in a residential pocket of Lexington Park, a densely populated area spanning parts of Great Mills Road and the Route 4 corridor. Freeland, driving alone in his vehicle, suffered a gunshot wound to the upper body that authorities later determined occurred before the crash. Deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a single-car wreck into a wooden fence and attached shed at the intersection of Valley Drive and Fox Ridge Road, a quiet neighborhood flanked by single-family homes and wooded lots.
Upon arrival, first responders found Freeland conscious but in distress, with visible trauma inconsistent with typical collision injuries. Paramedics rendered aid at the scene, stabilizing him for transport to a regional trauma center. Initial assessments treated the call as a routine motor vehicle accident, common in the county’s winding rural-suburban roads where speed and poor visibility contribute to about 1,200 crashes annually, per Maryland State Highway Administration data.
By the next morning, February 27, 2024, Freeland’s condition deteriorated, and he was pronounced dead at the facility. The revelation of the gunshot wound shifted the investigation squarely to homicide, prompting the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division to secure the crash site for evidence collection. Technicians recovered shell casings from a .40-caliber handgun, tire marks indicating evasive maneuvers, and fragments linking to a nearby exchange of gunfire. Freeland’s body underwent autopsy at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, confirming the bullet’s trajectory as non-self-inflicted and consistent with an external shooter.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Alena Mosier and Assistant State’s Attorney Shaye Reynolds led the prosecution, methodically building the timeline over 21 months of pretrial preparation. They argued Brooks, disqualified from firearm ownership due to a prior juvenile adjudication for a violent felony, obtained the weapon through unregulated channels prevalent in Southern Maryland’s informal networks. Defense efforts focused on alibi witnesses and challenges to chain-of-custody for the recovered pistol, but the jury deliberated less than four hours before reaching its unanimous decision.
Circuit Court Judge Joseph Stanalonis, presiding over the trial in the county’s courthouse on Great Mills Road, ordered Brooks detained pending a sentencing hearing expected within six to eight weeks. Maryland’s presentence investigation process, handled by the Division of Parole and Probation, will compile Freeland’s background, impact statements from his relatives and Brooks’ full criminal record, informing the judge’s discretion under guidelines that treat first-degree murder as a life-eligible offense outside standard scoring ranges.
Maryland’s firearm laws, codified in Public Safety Article §5-101 et seq., prohibit possession by those with felony convictions or certain misdemeanors, enforced through the Maryland State Police Handgun Roster and instant check systems. Violations like Brooks’ carry enhanced penalties, reflecting legislative pushes post-2013 Sandy Hook to curb street-level access in areas like Southern Maryland, where proximity to Washington, D.C., amplifies trafficking risks.
Sentencing will occur before Stanalonis, who in 2024 handed down a 40-year term in a separate Lexington Park drug-gun nexus case, signaling a pattern of stern accountability. Under state code, the mandatory firearm add-on ensures at least five years flat time, barring suspensions or credits that could reduce it.
