A man convicted of a murder described as a "daytime execution," received a sentence of life plus 35 years, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
Derrick Rucker was convicted of first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and possession of a handgun for the November 2015 murder of Trevor Joyner. The sentence Rucker received was the maximum he faced for the crime.
On Nov. 7, 2015, at about 1:33 a.m., Baltimore Police responded to a reported shooting at a convenience store in the 5400 block of Belair Road. There, officers found Joyner lying on the ground in front of the store with a gunshot wound to the back of his head, the State's Attorney's Office said. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy later showed Joyner died from that single gunshot wound by a .38 caliber bullet.
Investigating homicide detectives recovered surveillance video from the store that showed Rucker walk up behind Joyner, shoot, then run away, the State's Attorney's Office said. On Nov. 12, Rucker was seen walking nearby and wearing the same clothes he was seen in surveillance footage wearing during the murder. He was taken in by the homicide unit for questioning.
Rucker was left alone in an interview room, but soon smoke alarms were triggered. As police returned to the interview room, police saw Rucker had set his clothes on fire. A search warrant of Rucker's house yielded two boxes of .38 caliber ammunition.
