Two men on trial for witness intimidation have allegedly done it again.

The men first came to trial for shooting a man, Donnie Hill, outside the Greenmount Shopping Center. They went to trial back in November, but the case ended abruptly after one of the men pointed to a juror outside the courtroom and mouthed, “There goes one of them right there.” The juror was too scared to continue the trial; a retrial was scheduled for yesterday.

In the meantime, the men reportedly asked a friend to press false charges against Hill, although the men deny being involved. All charges were dropped against Hill in March. Now prosecutors want to add additional witness intimidation charges to the men’s retrial for Hill’s false charges. The retrial has now been postponed until July so the defense attorneys have time to review the new allegations.

One of the defense attorneys laments the delay, saying that her client is “languishing in prison” on false charges and has witnesses to alibi him for the original charges.

Although this case seems like an episode of The Wire, unfortunately it’s all too real. Is it indicative of Baltimore’s crime-and-justice problems? Maybe. But it will be interesting to see what happens at the retrial — if it ever occurs.

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