Violent Westport Drug Dealer Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering a Federal Witness

Defendant Obtained FBI Report Containing the Murder Victim’s Statements from a Criminal Defense Attorney; Also Murdered a Crack Dealer and Shot a Drug Customer Who Was a Police Informant

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Antonio Hall, a/k/a “Mack,” age 31, of Baltimore, to four life terms: one each for the murder of federal witness Kareem Kelly Guest on September 20, 2009, conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, using a gun during the murder of Mr. Guest, and being a felon in possession of ammunition. A federal jury convicted Hall of those charges on August 11, 2011.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.

“This tragic case demonstrates what can happen when information about witnesses in criminal cases is not protected,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “We use every available resource to pursue criminals who attack or intimidate witnesses.”

According to testimony at the two week trial, from at least 2004 to 2010, Hall sold crack cocaine on the streets of Westport. Witnesses testified that Hall used a 9mm pistol on February 10, 2004, in the 2400 block of Huron Avenue in the Westport area of Baltimore to shoot one of his drug customers in retaliation for the customer having provided information to the police about an individual who was under investigation for a shooting. Trial evidence showed that on March 21, 2009, at 2635 Maisel Street in Westport, Hall and another individual shot a crack dealer, Martie Williams, eight times with a .40 caliber handgun and a .32 caliber handgun, resulting in the death of Williams.

Trial testimony further showed that Hall killed Guest in retaliation for Guest providing information to the Baltimore City Police Department and the FBI about drug trafficking and firearms violations in Westport. The substance of the FBI’s January 9, 2008, interview of Kareem Guest was detailed in a nine page FBI report that was disclosed to a defense attorney with the attorney’s promise that it would not be further distributed. According to the evidence presented at trial, the defense attorney distributed copies of the FBI interview reports of Kareem Guest and several other individuals, which were then distributed and displayed throughout the Westport community, including on telephone poles and on a common area known as “the blacktop.” On September 20, 2009, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Hall used a 9mm handgun to shoot and kill Kareem Guest on a walkway near the 2400 block of Maisel Court in Westport. Mr. Guest suffered numerous gunshot wounds to the head and body.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys John F. Purcell and Clinton J. Fuchs, who prosecuted the case.