Crime & Safety
Stepson's Body Found In Wall, Suspended Cop Sentenced In Anne Arundel County: Officials
His stepson's body was found in a wall, Anne Arundel officials said. The suspended police officer was then sentenced to decades in prison.
CURTIS BAY, MD — A suspended police officer was recently sentenced to 42 years in prison in the 2021 killing of his stepson in Curtis Bay, Anne Arundel County officials said.
Prosecutors identified the sentenced man as Eric Glenn Banks Jr. of the Baltimore Police Department and the victim as 15-year-old Dasan “DJ” Jones.
Eric Banks on Oct. 4, 2022 entered an Alford plea in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to second-degree murder and attempting to disarm a police officer, a press release said. An Alford plea means the defendant does not admit to committing the crime but acknowledges that the evidence would likely lead to their conviction.
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Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said “DJ was a promising young man with his whole life ahead of him.”
“A rising sophomore at Glen Burnie High School, he was a member of the all-county orchestra as a talented violinist and attended a challenging magnet program which he said ‘made him want to work harder,’” Leitess stated in the Friday press release announcing the sentence. “His budding life was taken by his stepfather in a likely selfish effort to punish his estranged wife who was granted a protective order just hours before.”
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Officials said Eric Banks and his estranged wife Latrice Banks, who is Jones’ mother, attended a hearing for temporary restraining orders the day the victim was found dead.
The Anne Arundel County Police Department was called to Eric Banks' Curtis Bay home an hour after that hearing on July 6, 2021. Latrice Banks told officers she was there to pick up her son but had not gotten a response from Jones other than a text saying he had fled the home, prosecutors said.
Authorities searched the neighborhood, but they could not find Jones. The state's attorney said Eric Banks consented to police searching his home, where officers found Jones dead inside the wall of the top floor loft.
Officials said they found two young children, who Eric Banks shared with his estranged wife, unharmed inside the home.
Banks became combative when authorities handcuffed him. Prosecutors alleged that he tried to take an officer's gun, said his “life was over” and told police to “choke me, choke me.”
The state's attorney said Eric Banks, when questioned, claimed that he found Jones gurgling in the bathtub and panicked.
Officials said they later ruled the death a homicide with injuries consistent with an assault.
“I am grateful that responding county officers insisted that DJ be located before they left the premises,” Leitess said. “I have no doubt that Banks’ two other children were in grave danger as well given the behavior of the defendant that day. This tragic case highlights the reality of the danger children can face when their caregivers are in crisis and all those who are in the position to intervene, must take that risk seriously.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Poma prosecuted this case. Judge Stacy W. McCormack presided over it.
Anybody who is at risk or knows somebody at risk for domestic violence can call the Sexual Assault Crisis Center and Hotline 24/7 at (410) 222-6800.
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