Federal court hearing for man accused in McKenzie Elliott's death

The alleged gunman who took a three-year-old's life made an appearance in federal court on Tuesday.

McKenzie Elliott was murdered in August of 2014. This past April, Terrell Plummer was charged with her death.

Plummer was indicted for his involvement in a gang-related shooting that resulted Elliott's death. Elliott was hit by a stray bullet while standing on a porch in the 3600 block of Old York Road.

In a motions hearing Tuesday afternoon, Plummer's attorneys pushed for details on the evidence against Plummer.

“The government hasn’t produced one piece of evidence that ties Mr. Plummer to the shooting,” said Lucius Outlaw III, Plummer’s attorney.  “We're operating from zero information, we’re handcuffed in preparing the defense.”

Police never located a gun.

More specifically, Outlaw requested that the government hand over information on a confidential informant who originally identified the shooter as Tyrone Jamison.

The judge denied their request, at one point calling it a fishing expedition.

The lead Baltimore City homicide detective was also called to the stand.

The defense questioned whether he intentionally misled a judge into granting him a search warrant for Jamison by indicating there were multiple informants.

The detective said he used informants in the plural form to protect the identity of the sole confidential source.

The judge ruled it was a mistake and not meant to bolster evidence.

Plummer could face the federal death penalty. No trial date has been set.