Baltimore Officer Sentenced to Decades in Prison Nearly Two Years After Stepson Was Found Dead Inside Pasadena Area Home

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge has handed down a lengthy sentence after accepting the alford plea of a Baltimore Police Officer whose stepson was found dead inside his Pasadena area home nearly two years ago.

This morning, Officer Eric Glen Banks, 35,  (left photo) was sentenced to 42 years in prison in connection with the murder of his stepson, Dasan Jones (right photo).  Banks' October 2022 alford plea to second degree murder and attempting to disarm a police officer allowed him to maintain his innocence while also acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence that could have been used to find him guilty at trial.  

“DJ was a promising young man with his whole life ahead of him,” Leitess said. “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.’ 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.

“I am grateful that responding county officers insisted that DJ be located before they left the premises. 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.” 

Banks and his estranged wife Latrice Banks, who is Jones’ mother, had attended a hearing for temporary restraining orders just an hour before Anne Arundel County police were called to Banks’ Curtis Bay home on July 6, 2021. Latrice Banks told officers she was there to retrieve her son from the home, but had gotten no response from the teen other than a text message saying he had fled the residence. 

After police searched the neighborhood to no avail, Banks consented to officers searching his home where they located Jones deceased inside the wall of the top floor loft. Two young children who Banks shared with his estranged wife were located inside the home unharmed.

While handcuffed, Banks became combative with police and at one point tried to take an officer’s gun, saying that his “life was over,” and telling police to “choke me, choke me.” When questioned, he claimed to have found Jones gurgling in the bathtub and panicked. The death was later ruled a homicide with injuries consistent with an assault. 

***Any suspects/arrested/charged individuals and persons of interest named in the articles are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.***