Trial postponed of Baltimore teen accused in rape attack of 83-year-old Black woman

The trial of a 14-year-old boy in Baltimore charged in last year's attack and rape of an 83-year-old woman has been postponed until September. Tyrone Harvin was set to go on trial o...

May 21, 2019
Dorthey Neal Gordon was a slain 83-year-old West Baltimore woman who was found sexualy assaulted and beaten in her home. (GETTY Images - Milan Carnanský)

Last year, a 14-year-old boy in Baltimore was charged in the brutal attack and rape of his 83-year old neighbor. Now, multiple news outlets are reporting that his trial, which was to begin on Monday, has been postponed until September 24. No news organizations are reporting the reason for the postponement.

Tyrone Harvin was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, first-degree rape and various sex offense and assault in the attack that took place in Dorothy Mae Neal apartment on Aug. 29, 2018. Neal was found unconscious by police after neighbors said they hadn’t seen her in days. She died the next morning at a local hospital, WBAL TV reports.

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Harvin originally denied knowing Neal, although he lived next-door to her. Crime scene technicians, however, would later find three used condoms and condom wrappers with Harvin’s fingerprints, blood and a broken lamp in Neal’s apartment, according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press. An autopsy revealed the elderly victim suffered several face fractures and was sexually assaulted multiple times.

Eventually, Harvin allegedly admitted to police he went to her apartment to take out some trash and returned to talk to her about church. He told authorities he might have picked up and dropped a lamp during that time to explain why his fingerprints were found there.

“I went back and was just making sure it wasn’t a typo that when he was in fact 14 and just recently had a birthday,” Baltimore police media relations Chief T.J. Smith told WBAL. “Many of us were probably thinking younger person, but I don’t think anyone was thinking a 14-year-old could be capable of something like this.”

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A judge denied the 14-year old bail last September and classified him as a flight risk because of an extensive criminal past in the juvenile justice system and the seriousness of the charges.

Harvin’s brother, Mooka, told WBAL last year that his brother is innocent and even had a GPS device removed for good behavior.

Dorothy Mae Neal, 83, was found unresponsive in her West Baltimore apartment and later died after being beaten and raped in her home. (POLICE Handout)

“All the things he did, he’s still a good person,” Mooka told the station. “My little brother did not hurt (an) 83-year-old lady.”

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