Judge Finds Probable Cause For Prosecution Of Man Charged In UTC Stabbing Murder

District Court Judge Tiffany H. Anderson Thursday ruled that there is probable cause to prosecute for the June 30

At a preliminary hearing Prince George’s County Police Det. Thomas Hollowell, lead investigator in the case, took the stand and recounted the investigation.

Mason, 17, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the where three others were also stabbed.

Hollowell said when he arrived to 6400 America Boulevard he met with officers from the , who were the first law enforcement presence on the scene.

More than 20 people were engaged in a fight during which Smith-Matthews and the others were stabbed, he said. The group came from outside the state of Maryland, he said told Jonathon Church, a homicide prosecutor with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Witnesses on the scene and victims in the hospital were interviewed and Hollowell said he got a “true account as to what occurred.”

“Witnesses were able to describe the stabber of Mr. Smith-Matthews by clothing and hair style,” he said.

Some of the witnesses were shown a photo lineup of six people and they all identified Mason as the person who stabbed Smith-Matthews, he said.

On cross examination, defense attorney Christopher Griffiths asked Hollowell about a surveillance video tape from the theater which forms one end of the plaza where the murder took place.

Hollowell said the tape showed one person running from a large group of people at the plaza. That person was later identified as a man affiliated with Mason, Hollowell said.

Patch will update you as the criminal preceedings against Mason progress.