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Kandes July 24, 2019 No Comments

Man gets probation for role in home invasion

For his limited role in the 2017 invasion and robbery of a Waldorf home, a Derwood man received five years of unsupervised probation in Charles County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Jermel Andrico D’Aubrey Thomas, now 35, was 33 when he said he was invited by a family friend to what he thought was just a group hangout on Sept. 3, 2017. In court before Judge Amy J. Bragunier on Tuesday morning, Thomas said he was unaware of what was actually to transpire at the Elsa Court residence.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Jonathan Beattie, that evening three men who posed as U.S. Marshals knocked on the door of the home and told the victims they were there on official business. Once inside, the men forced the victims downstairs into the basement, where they were bound and assaulted. The men fled the home with stolen money, handguns and marijuana and also stole a car from the victims before absconding. Children were present in the home at the time of the attack but were unharmed.

Beattie told the court Thomas was originally identified as a suspect through the phone records of his co-defendant, 35-year-old Bernard Green of Upper Marlboro. The records showed Green had contacted Thomas during the same time frame as the attack, Beattie said, and the calls were determined to have been transmitted through a cell phone tower near the scene of the crime.

Thomas, Green and 35-year-old Michael Damion Coffer of Waldorf were indicted in May 2018. When Thomas was arrested, Beattie said, he was “very cooperative” and remained so throughout the process. Although he never had to testify against any of his co-defendants, Beattie said Thomas had indicated he was willing to do so, and the information he provided to the state was reliable and helped them identify the other men involved, 36-year-olds Danzie Lee Barron of Washington, D.C., and Dakevis Larry Maryland of Glen Burnie.

Thomas’ defense attorney, Steven Kupferberg, called his client’s decision to even drive to the scene that day “the worst case of a lack of judgment [Thomas] ever made.” Having realized his mistake, Kupferberg said, Thomas’ cooperation in the case proved “instrumental” toward getting justice for the victims. Kupferberg also said Thomas knew his cooperation could potentially put him and his family at risk but he chose to proceed regardless.

Speaking to Bragunier, Thomas said Tuesday he was “truly apologetic” for what had transpired that day, and said he has been “trying to do right ever since.”

Bragunier questioned his level of involvement. She asked Thomas if he knew what they were at the house for the invasion. Thomas replied that he “didn’t realize what was about to take place.” He said “certain suggestions” were made, and he immediately realized he’d been misled.

“Once I figured it out, I said ‘Nah, I’m out of here,” Thomas said. He’d driven to the scene alone, he explained, and so left by himself. Thomas never entered the home that night.

“I’m deeply sorry this ever happened,” Thomas said.

For his role, Thomas received a five-year sentence with all but a day suspended, and he received credit for the day he’d already served when he was arrested. Thomas will be on unsupervised probation for five years.

In December, Dakevis Maryland received 12 years in prison and five years of supervised probation for home invasion as well as 13 years of suspended time. Coffer pleaded to conspiracy to commit home invasion and received a 10-year sentence in December. Barron pleaded guilty to home invasion and was sentenced to 10 years in January.

Green will be sentenced on Sept. 11.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/man-gets-probation-for-role-in-home-invasion/article_56b589eb-982e-51e7-8c66-f3c7538aa7ee.html

Kandes July 10, 2019 No Comments

Temple Hills man pleads guilty to armed robbery

A Temple Hills man pleaded guilty to armed robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime on Monday, the same day his trial was scheduled to start.

Raymund Antoine Bradford, 42, was arrested in November 2018 and charged with the March 21, 2018, robbery of Drive Up Liquors in Faulkner, according to charging documents written by Det. C. Gregory of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. Bradford was arrested based on DNA present on evidence found at both the Faulkner crime scene and one in St. Mary’s County.

Around 2 p.m. the day of the crime, according to the statement of charges, the suspect, later identified as Bradford, entered the liquor store and approached the counter, where a clerk was on the phone. The suspect pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded he get behind the counter while cocking the weapon.

The suspect produced a backpack he began to fill with cigarettes, according to the report, and also emptied the contents of the cash register into it. While stealing the cigarettes, “the gun fired and a round struck [the victim] in the arm,” but the suspect continued taking the cigarettes.

While the suspect was occupied, the clerk retrieved a baseball bat. When the clerk confronted him, he “sprayed [the victim] in the face with a liquid substance,” at which point the report says the victim retreated to the office and locked the door and the suspect fled. As he did, the report states, “the suspect dropped a knife that was attached to a lanyard around his neck.”

Later that night, a witness contacted the sheriff’s office about the robbery earlier in the day, according to the report. The witness told officers she saw the suspect, who she described as a skinny man dressed in black, running across U.S. 301 approximately 10 minutes after the crime had occurred.

The witness also said that shortly thereafter, she was behind a silver Jaguar with Washington, D.C., tags on Charles Street. While stopped at a traffic light in the area of the Zekiah Swamp Run bridge, the witness said, the driver of the car tossed out a black knit hat, which they felt was “odd behavior.”

The following day, according to the report, Det. Riffle of the CCSO reviewed a bulletin from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office about a robbery that had occurred at the McKay’s grocery store in Charlotte Hall. The suspect in that case was dressed similarly to the man who had robbed the Faulkner store and had left a screwdriver behind.

Both the screwdriver and knife were collected to test for DNA, which returned a positive match for Bradford in September. The investigation showed he had been stopped in both counties while driving a silver Jaguar with D.C. registration, according to the report.

Bradford stole $912 worth of Newport cigarettes and $2,394 in cash, per the report.

Armed robbery carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, as does the use of a firearm charge. Bradford will be sentenced Sept. 26.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/temple-hills-man-pleads-guilty-to-armed-robbery/article_35b780e6-38cd-54b6-a2ba-b04dcdbc1934.html

Kandes June 26, 2019 No Comments

Two sentenced in 2017 shooting death

Samuel Keith Gemeny’s life ended over a bong, a bed and a debt of less than $100. Two of the six people involved in his death learned their own fates Tuesday in Charles County Circuit Court.

Dominic Xavier Daniel, now 26, was 24 on May 16, 2017, when he and five others forced their way into Gemeny’s home. Gemeny, 35, and Daniel, according to charging documents, had briefly lived together, and Daniel had moved out in February or March 2017. That night, on the premise that Gemeny owed him money and was holding onto his bed and a co-defendant’s bong, Daniel and five others — Morgan Tyrone Rich Jr., 29; Dominique Ariel Grant, 30; Andrew Loren Webb, 26; Jared Jacob Hayes, 33, all of Waldorf, and Gabrielle Marie Ditella, 21, of Coatesville, Pa. — rode in two separate cars to Gemeny’s Promenade Place apartment in Waldorf, which he shared with his girlfriend who was home at the time of the attack.

Once they arrived, the six split up into two groups and entered the building: one forced a door open, while the other waited for a resident to leave and entered through the open door. The trio of Daniel, Rich and Grant descended on Gemeny’s apartment, knocked on the door and forced their way inside once his girlfriend answered the door. A confrontation ensued, and Gemeny hit Daniel in the head with an iPad.

In turn, Daniel shot Gemeny to death.

Daniel entered an Alford plea to first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm during a crime of violence in February, the Maryland Independent reported. An Alford plea means that while the defendant acknowledges the court has sufficient proof against them to secure a guilty verdict, they do not admit their guilt. According to the plea agreement, the sentence for all three counts will run concurrently.

Until Tuesday, Rich was the only one of the six who had not entered a plea, and was scheduled to stand trial beginning July 22. Before Circuit Court Judge H. James “Jay” West that morning, Rich pleaded guilty to the same three counts as Daniel: first-degree murder, first-degree assault and a weapons charge related to the murder.

As part of the plea agreement, Rich was sentenced to 40 years for Gemeny’s murder. He received 20 years for the weapons charge and 25 for the assault. The latter two counts will run concurrent with the murder charge, and when released Rich will be on five years of supervised probation.

Later in the day, Daniel appeared before Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier. Despite Daniel’s plea that he “be perceived with an open heart and open mind” and therefore sentenced leniently, Bragunier sentenced him to life for Gemeny’s murder. Although he was granted the possibility of parole — as was Rich — in Maryland, parole determinations for those guilty of first-degree murder are determined on a case-by-case basis by the governor.

Gemeny’s family and friends were present in the courtrooms for both cases Tuesday, some of them wearing “Justice for Sam” shirts with Gemeny’s picture on the back, posing with a fish he’d caught. In both cases, his loved ones spoke at length about the man they lost that night.

“This man I never met before that night changed my life in a minute,” Gemeny’s girlfriend said of Rich at his sentencing. “I can forgive all those involved because of the religion I’ve found that I never knew I had, but my life will never be the same. Their lives will never be the same.”

Gemeny was “a good man who would have done anything for anyone,” his girlfriend told the court. “I pray justice is served, and that something good can come out of this.”

Gemeny’s sister-in-law recalled his “ridiculous tight hugs … his stupid laugh and his big goofy grin.” Gemeny was fond of telling bad jokes, she recalled, and now she and the rest of the family would give anything to hear one of those jokes again.

“I’ll never get to hear him say ‘I love you, little sister’ one last time,” the woman said to Rich. “The single moment of my life that defines you will be the moment you stole my brother’s life. Even though it hurts really bad, I forgive you all.”

Rich’s mother made no excuses for her son, saying that although she tried her hardest to raise him right she “lost him somewhere along the line.”

“I just ask that you guys can find it in your heart to forgive him,” she said. “This is not what a mother plans for her son, for both Morgan and Samuel.”

Gemeny’s uncle also spoke at both sentencing hearings. The man said Samuel wasn’t the first relative he’d lost ahead of his time, and that his brother had been murdered years before. He hoped that Rich, he said, “can find his way.”

Regarding Daniel, the man was much less forgiving.

“I hope you go straight to hell,” Gemeny’s uncle said, adding he felt Daniel has “a dark soul.”

“I hope you get life in prison, and I hope you die there. You’ll go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned.”

In delivering Rich’s sentence, Judge West said he couldn’t wrap his head around why the man had allowed his life to go down such a dark path when he had so much love and support from family.

“One day your daughter will need you and you won’t be there. Maybe it will hit you then,” West said.

Judge Bragunier’s remarks to Daniel were succinct, and also focused on the senselessness of that night.

“You’re asking for leniency, but you didn’t show Mr. Gemeny any,” Bragunier said.

Daniel was represented by defense attorney Benjamine Evan, and Rich by Keith Parris. Assistant State’s Attorneys Constance Kopelman and Andre Bruce prosecuted both cases.

Grant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June 2018, and is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 28.

Ditellla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit home invasion in May 2018, as did Hayes to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and Webb to conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary.

All three will be sentenced July 31.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/two-sentenced-in-shooting-death/article_3fe85549-af04-51ad-ab2d-4792c3bee023.html

Kandes June 19, 2019 No Comments

Williams found guilty of second-degree murder

The jury in the weeklong trial of a Waldorf man accused of shooting and killing his close friend in December 2017 declared him guilty of second-degree murder and related weapons charges following a full day of deliberation until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Nicholas Jabbar Williams, 22, was charged with the death of his friend Cameron Marcel Townsend on Dec. 14, 2017. That night, Townsend was found by witnesses lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the area of Holly Avenue and Spruce Street in the Pinefield community in Waldorf. An eyewitness to the crime testified last week to hearing gunshots and seeing a dark vehicle leaving quickly shortly thereafter.

In her closing statement, Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Pettersen reminded the court that Townsend was just 18 when he was shot and killed. She walked the jury through all of the evidence presented over the course of the week, reminding them how “complete strangers” came to his aid after he was shot seven times and dragged out of the car before first responders ultimately declared him dead at 8:37 p.m. Although a motive for Townsend’s death was never confirmed, Pettersen posited the two men may have been arguing, perhaps over money Townsend had made from drug deals he allegedly made that day.

In deciding their verdict, Pettersen asked the jury to “look closely” at the elements of first-degree murder when considering how to find him: Williams’ actions that night, Pettersen said, meet the standard of “willful, deliberate and premeditated.”

“When you shoot someone that many times, you intend to kill,” Pettersen said. “With each pull of the trigger,” she said, Williams “could have walked away, but he didn’t. Hold him accountable by finding him guilty.”

Straight away, public defender Michael Beach said “Nick didn’t do it. That makes no sense.” There was “zero evidence” that Townsend’s body was dragged from the car, Beach said, saying that was something the state “made up, whole cloth.” Townsend was “shot outside the car, and not by Nicholas Williams.” The state presented new and untested theories out of nowhere, he told the court.

Murder is a “senseless” crime every time, Beach said, “but the investigations are supposed to make sense.” By now, Beach told the jury, they probably have several unanswered questions, “each one a reasonable doubt,” adding that “maybe, probably, almost certainly … all of those mean acquit.”

Williams is not responsible for Townsend’s death, Beach said: Rather, his real killer remains unidentified and on the loose. When Williams fled the scene that night, Beach said, he had “acted out of fear of being the next victim.” His client also had “the fear of being falsely accused” of his friend’s death, Beach said, and in this instance that particular fear has come true.

“In their world, do you think he could just go back and say ‘I was there, but I didn’t help’? That’s not how their world works,” Beach said. It was fear of the consequences of even being there that left Williams “stressed out, anxious, hunkered down at home and scared to death” before his arrest. A witness in the case, Beach reminded the jury, initially told police he thought “maybe Nick saw something he didn’t want to see.”

The state’s case, Beach said, asks the jury to assume a lot and is built on “hare-brained theories” developed by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office detectives who investigated the case. Physical evidence went unchecked and leads were not pursued, Beach said, and the jury should not ignore holes in their argument.

“Do not give your blessing to this inadequate investigation,” Beach concluded.

Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse rebutted Beach’s arguments emphatically. The state does not deal in theories but in facts and evidence, he told the jury, and the evidence in this case has been consistent with Williams being Townsend’s murderer all along. What the state says, Stackhouse told the court at several junctures throughout his rebuttal, isn’t what matters: What is important, and what they need to focus on, is the evidence.

Stackhouse urged the jury members to employ their common sense in deciding a verdict. Williams had lied about dropping Townsend off at a liquor store that night, Stackhouse said, both to mutual friends of theirs and Townsend’s family. His conversations that day were odd, to say the least, Stackhouse said.

“You’re telling me someone sees his friend get murdered and doesn’t tell his other friend?” Stackhouse asked. Of his call to Townsend’s mother, Stackhouse said, “Who talks like that? He stayed under her roof for a week.”

There is “absolutely no evidence” anyone other than Williams and Townsend were there the night Townsend was killed, Stackhouse said. Furthermore, he posed, why would a “mystery gunman” have not shot Williams along with Townsend?

All the evidence, Stackhouse said, “points to one thing: Williams shot him to death.”

“He can’t get away from the murder happening in his car,” Stackhouse said. “So what are they left with? ‘Oh, some other dude did it.’ … He didn’t just not tell them what happened, he lied about it.”

Williams faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on the second-degree murder conviction. He will be sentenced in September.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/williams-found-guilty-of-second-degree-murder/article_735d2723-21cb-5389-953d-ffdc7b97570d.html

Kandes June 14, 2019 No Comments

Hemsley found criminally responsible for 2016 murder

The day before he murdered his father-in-law, DeAngelo Hemsley bought himself a new truck. In the end, that purchase may have sealed his fate in court.

Hemsley, now 42, appeared in court last week for a bifurcated trial in the April 2016 first-degree murder of John Edward Yates and attempted kidnapping of his daughter. The first half of his trial began Monday afternoon before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier, with its closing arguments heard Wednesday. In the first half, the jury was tasked with determining his traditional guilt or innocence beyond a reasonable doubt: He was found guilty that afternoon.

The second half of the trial, which began Wednesday afternoon, was to determine whether or not he was criminally responsible for the stabbing death. Hemsley’s defense attorney, Greenbelt-based David M. Simpson, contended that his client, a schizophrenic, had been in the middle of an acute episode of his mental illness. In the second half of the trial, the defense bore the burden of proof.

When the second half of the trial began Wednesday afternoon, Simpson told the jury it was “the real issue why we impaneled you, folks.” Although a plea of not criminally responsible may seem like a way of trying to avoid liability for one’s actions, he said, that is very much not the case. Hemsley’s mental illness is “not something he developed that night,” Simpson said, his illness “manifested in the worst possible way.”

When one enters a not criminally responsible plea, Simpson said, that person is automatically directed to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup for a psychiatric evaluation. Neither the defense nor the state pays the doctors, he explained, so the evaluation is “impartial.” Hemsley had been sent to the hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial previously, and Simpson noted it was “a considerable amount of time” before he was deemed competent. Those doctors, Simpson said, also were of the professional opinion Hemsley was not criminally responsible for Yates’ death.

At the height of his client’s illness, Simpson said, he thought he was “equal with God,” and the court would hear that he was wracked with hallucinations of people trying to poison him with ricin and people following him. While there was no question of Hemsley’s mental illness, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman said, “a history of mental illness, by law, is not enough to find someone not criminally responsible.”

Schizophrenia, Freeman said, has dormant and active phases, and it is only when the illness is in an active phase that one loses rationality. In Hemsley’s case, she told the jury, one shouldn’t look just at his mental illness but at his behavior leading up to, during and after the incident.

When Hemsley bought the truck the day before murdering Yates, Freeman said, that was evidence that he was not in an active phase of the illness, explaining that one experiencing an episode of that nature would be incapable of executing something so goal-oriented. After his arrest, Freeman told the jury, he was “not talking gibberish or nonsensical,” and was non-compliant but largely quiet and calm. Ultimately, Freeman said, Hemsley is criminally responsible for the “savage” murder.

In the second half of the trial, the jury heard from family members present that night, officers involved in Hemsley’s case and two expert witnesses proffered by the defense and the state both, psychiatrists who had evaluated Hemsley.

Det. John Elliott of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office told the court that when Hemsley was told he was being charged with first-degree murder, his response was “We’ll see about that.” He seemed to appreciate the nature of the charges, Elliott said, and declined to speak further.

One of the witnesses that night, Yates’ wife, told the court she couldn’t recall seeing Hemsley behave the way he did that night prior to it, but she was aware his wife and daughter had left their shared home in fear of violence from him.

Another relative of Hemsley’s recalled “a few occasions” on which he confided that he feared he was being followed. The night of the murder, his relative said, Hemsley came to his home unannounced before he ultimately went to the Yates home. He was “fine and cordial,” the man said, “until he just started busting out laughing” at nothing immediately apparent.

Hemsley’s wife testified that he had been hospitalized for his mental illness before, and while medication seemed to keep his symptoms under control he ultimately stopped using them around late 2014 or early 2015.

The night of Yates’ murder, Simpson said in closing, Hemsley was “substantially impaired” by his mental illness, and so he could not have known the impact of what he had done. If not for the voices in his head, Simpson posed, “why would an absolute dream of a husband and a good father” do something like this? Further, Simpson said, the state’s expert witness, Dr. Michael Spodak, made “deceptive” comments on the stand, and reiterated that at one point his client was deemed incompetent to stand trial.

In her rebuttal, Freeman was equally critical of the expert witness posed by the defense, Clifton T. Perkins’ Dr. Annette Hanson. Hanson, Freeman said, was supposed to prove an impartial observer, but had not done so and had “crossed the line,” as she was “focused on advocacy for a patient with schizophrenia” rather than remaining neutral.

“She was so defensive,” Freeman said of Hanson’s testimony. “Do you think she’s going to change her opinions after writing a 20-page report?”

Freeman reiterated the necessity of focusing on what she characterized as the deliberate nature of Hemsley’s actions.

“Behavior is the truth. What they do says a lot about what’s going on in their mind,” Freeman said. “He had goals, he had foresight.”

Hemsley is set for sentencing Sept. 5.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/hemsley-found-criminally-responsible-for-murder/article_3ee96785-cc11-5acc-81d9-45abe06ed795.html

Kandes June 12, 2019 No Comments

Trial begins in 2016 stabbing death and attempted kidnapping

It isn’t often that the defense attorney in a case outright tells you his client did in fact murder the person they’re accused of killing in their opening arguments, but that’s what happened Monday.

The trial of 42-year-old Deangelo Hemsley, accused of killing his father-in-law and attempting to kidnap his daughter at knifepoint, began Monday afternoon in Charles County Circuit Court after about three years of delays.

The Maryland Independent first reported on Hemsley’s arrest in April 2016, when he was allegedly caught trying to flee the scene of the crime with his father-in-law’s blood still on his hands. Hemsley had been separated from his wife for six months on April 23, 2016, when he allegedly entered the home of her father, 71-year-old John Edward Yates. Hemsley confronted the man in the basement, where his 12-year-old daughter allegedly witnessed her father stabbing her grandfather to death.

In August 2016, the Maryland Independent reported, Hemsley was found incompetent to stand trial due to a mental disorder. At a status hearing at the time, Hemsley “immediately became belligerent as proceedings began” and was escorted out of the courtroom shortly thereafter.

During Monday’s proceedings, Hemsley was calm throughout. In giving the state’s opening argument, Deputy State’s Attorney Karen Piper Mitchell opened by musing on the criteria used to evaluate what rating a film gets and how children factor in to those decisions. What the children at the home saw that night, Piper Mitchell said, far exceeded a horror movie.

“The horrific scene you’re going to see, these children weren’t protected from it,” Piper Mitchell said. As she walked the court through the events of that night, Piper Mitchell said Yates was seated in his favorite spot downstairs, watching a baseball game on television. All was as it should be, she told the court, until it wasn’t.

“Hemsley killed Mr. Yates. I represent him on that fact. There’s no dispute in this case,” began defense attorney David M. Simpson. When considering the events of that night, Simpson told the jury, “it gets complicated as we go along.” Simpson said his client allegedly killed Yates amidst a “strange set of circumstances,” a pattern of increasingly bizarre behavior that dated back to 2015 and was also the reason for Hemsley’s wife and daughter leaving home. Even his behavior prior to Yates’ death the night of the crime, Simpson said, was off.

Simpson cautioned the jury that “even trained professionals” were uncomfortable with the level of violence surrounding Yates’ death, as they would see, but urged that they pay close attention. Their attention to detail, Simpson said, would in turn demonstrate Hemsley was not in his right mind when he was accused of killing Yates.

Before court adjourned for the day Monday afternoon, the jury heard testimony from both Hemsley’s daughter and another juvenile male relative who was present at the home that evening and witnessed what happened, along with several of the responding officers from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.

Hemsley’s daughter remained calm throughout her testimony, her voice only trailing off slightly before she began to recollect the particularly gruesome portions of the night. She testified to remembering her father entering the home through the screen door unexpectedly, without first announcing himself. He was demanding to know where she was, the girl said, and she couldn’t recall whether she had responded to him or not. In his testimony, her relative recalled that she did respond.

According to online court records, Hemsley is charged with first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, home invasion, kidnapping, second-degree child abuse, false imprisonment and possession of a dangerous weapon. At press time, Hemsley’s trial was ongoing and expected to continue throughout the week.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/trial-begins-in-stabbing-death-and-attempted-kidnapping/article_7541d760-e412-51d7-92e8-854ea54e3672.html

Kandes June 7, 2019 No Comments

2017 robbery earns man eight years, 10 months backup time

An Accokeek man already on probation for a series of 2015 church and school burglaries was sentenced to eight years on Tuesday morning in Charles County Circuit Court for the Feb. 7, 2017, armed robbery at a Waldorf branch of Old Line Bank.

Mortimer Mumpford Wade, 24, appeared before Circuit Court Judge H. James “Jay” West on Tuesday morning for sentencing in connection to the 2017 crime, for which he pleaded guilty to armed robbery in April 2018. Armed robbery carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; in this case, the defense and prosecution agreed Wade would receive no more than 15 years of active time. Wade was also facing a maximum of 10 years backup time in connection to one of the 2015 crimes, and 18 months with the other. Wade respectively received six and four months of backup time to be served consecutively, along with five years of supervised probation and credit for the time he’s served since Feb. 9, 2017.

Wade’s sentencing Tuesday came about after having been previously postponed several times, beginning in July 2018, which defense attorney Joseph McKenzie noted in court.

The most recent postponement came in January, according to online court records.

It was even delayed several times Tuesday morning: Originally on the docket for 9 a.m., Wade’s case was not heard until around 2 p.m. because of other cases scheduled in the courtroom that day, including jury selection for a trial.

When all parties were assembled before West and the proceedings were underway, Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Campbell opted to keep her remarks brief, saying the court had heard the state’s position at length in previous proceedings.

“It’s clear the defendant has a substance abuse problem,” Campbell said, “but it’s also clear that he poses a danger to society.”

McKenzie, who noted Wade’s display of “abnormal behavior” since he was 14 years old, said his 2015 guilty plea to theft and subsequent unsupervised probation “was one of the worst things that could have happened to my client.” That period of time, he said, saw the worsening of substance abuse and mental disorders that was not disclosed in those proceedings. McKenzie said he was not Wade’s lawyer in that first case, and the first attorney “failed to communicate” with his family entirely. Thus, he said, Wade “fell through the cracks.”

“I’m begging you to rewind and assess the sentence given in 2015,” McKenzie said, noting that the court has more awareness now of Wade’s issues than they did previously.

He recalled a previous court proceeding in which, he said, Wade became agitated to the point of being almost impossible to calm down. His nurse, McKenzie reminded the court, calmed the man down by offering him a coloring book and crayons, which served to soothe him.

McKenzie also pointed to Wade’s conduct the day of the crime itself, which he painted as bizarre. Wade, McKenzie said, “was so calm” when speaking to the bank teller and presenting the note that said he had a gun that he was later found not to have.

“He took possession of the money and walked out as if he was supposed to have it,” McKenzie said.

In administering his sentence, West said that when the time comes, the court will work with Wade and McKenzie to help him explore how to enter into drug treatment programs.

“In most cases, this is a 15-year sentence, easily. But he’s not most people,” West said.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/robbery-earns-man-eight-years-months-backup-time/article_4631f06e-9065-5654-bfa8-0e32d52bf589.html

Kandes May 23, 2019 No Comments

South Hampton HOA treasurer pleads guilty to embezzlement charge

[Update: Pursuant to a plea agreement, Uniqueka Davis-McKinney’s case was placed on a stet docket on April 24, 2019, and was nolle prossed on December 19, 2019.]

Just days before his trial was set to begin, South Hampton Homeowners’ Association treasurer Benedicto Afroilan pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of fraudulent misappropriation, likely bringing an end to court proceedings against Afroilan and his four co-defendants in the case.

Last month Afroilan’s co-defendant Ulysee Davis, president of the HOA, entered a similar plea.

Last October, Afroilan and Davis, their spouses and Davis’ daughter were charged with allegedly stealing over $100,000 from the South Hampton HOA over the course of at least five years

Charles County Circuit Court Associate Judge Donine Carrington Martin agreed to defer Afroilan’s sentencing until Nov. 1 pending the creation of a mutually satisfactory restitution plan with the HOA.

According to the plea agreement, the state will also not proceed to trial against Afroilan’s wife Elsa, which was scheduled for next month, provided that Afroilan makes “substantial progress toward his restitution obligation.”

Davis entered into a similar agreement in April to defer the trials scheduled for his wife Linda and daughter Uniqueka Davis-McKinney.

The Charles County Sheriff’s Office filed charges against the five following a 14-month investigation by CCSO’s financial crimes division that involved tracing payments to and from multiple accounts in least three banks and the seizure of documents from the Davis and Afroilan residences.

The sheriff’s office alleged that Ulysee Davis would issue a monthly payment to Unique Management Company and then transfer the money to personal bank accounts in his, his wife’s and his daughter’s names.

Davis allegedly hired a company owned by Elsa Afroilan, CleanGreen Services, as a subcontractor to provide trash pickup services in the South Hampton neighborhood. The charges alleged that Davis used CleanGreen as a cover for transferring deposits to the Afroilans’ personal accounts.

If convicted, Davis and his wife would have faced up to 25 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. The others could have been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and a $10,000 fine.

The sheriff’s office and the Charles County Office of the State’s Attorney declined to comment for this story.

Originally Posted on Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/south-hampton-hoa-treasurer-pleads-guilty-to-embezzlement-charge/article_6e5f3965-77c5-5bd5-abb3-ca83e3cb6649.html

Kandes May 15, 2019 No Comments

Child abuser sentenced to 15 years

For throwing his 5-month-old daughter down so hard her skull was fractured, a Waldorf man will serve 15 years.

Delontre James Austin, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse and neglect of a minor in January. Appearing before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier on Thursday, the court heard the details of the injuries Austin inflicted upon his infant daughter in his irritation at having been woken up by the sound of her crying.

Charles County Sheriff’s Office Det. Edward Webster, the lead investigator in this case, told the court that after the March 28, 2018, incident, he initially received two conflicting stories from Austin about what happened. Eventually, Austin said he had thrown the infant down into her Pack ‘n Play, Webster said. The infant landed on her back, Austin said at the time, and her arms went up. Hours went by until Austin left for work and the baby’s mother, Laquisha Hawkins, called 911.

Austin’s attorney, public defender Michael Beach, said texts exchanged between the mother and father thereafter painted a different story, one that appeared to have Austin covering for Hawkins’ role in their child’s injury. While questioning Laquisha Hawkins, Beach asked about the delay in the baby’s treatment.

“I saw [the swelling on the side of her head], but I didn’t know my daughter was that hurt,” Hawkins said.

The baby was taken for treatment at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where the full extent of her injuries was revealed. Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman told the court doctors determined the baby’s brain tissue had been damaged, indicative of the sheer force with which she was thrown down.

“To this day,” Freeman said, it’s unclear whether Austin actually threw the baby into the Pack ‘n Play or not, as Hawkins had said the crib was full of clothing at the time. Hawkins said on the stand she’d removed the clothes before first responders arrived because she was scared the Department of Social Services would take her children, as the baby had been sleeping in bed with her prior to the incident.

The baby’s grandmother, Tiffany Hawkins, told the court her granddaughter “was a very happy little baby before this happened, and now she’ll have a lifetime of doctors and other things that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.” The baby cannot hold her head up, and may never be able to walk or see.

She acknowledged her daughter’s lies to authorities, but said she lied out of fear and the desire to protect her children and keep them with her.

“I would like to have justice served,” Tiffany Hawkins said. “I want to know what happened that day, and I haven’t had any answers. I just want answers.”

Because of the severity of the child’s injuries, Freeman asked Bragunier to sentence Austin above guidelines, saying there was “no excuse for the amount of force, the injury done to a 5-month-old child.”

Beach said that while there’s no question about the severity of the baby’s condition, because of the opacity surrounding exactly what had led up to the baby’s injuries and hospitalization, no one will “ever really know what happened” that morning and whether Austin is solely culpable. Beach asked for a sentence toward the bottom of the sentencing guidelines, pointing to Austin’s lack of a criminal history prior to this, calling the incident “a tragedy on a lot of levels.”

After Austin spoke, telling the court he is “not a criminal,” Bragunier asked him to explain once and for all what happened that morning, saying she wanted “a detailed account of what happened.” A brief back-and-forth between Beach and the judge ensued, with Beach telling his client he was under no obligation to respond to the judge’s inquiry, telling the court Austin was taking full responsibility.

Bragunier’s question ultimately went unanswered.

Before handing down her sentence, Bragunier called Austin’s actions “abhorrent.”

“You know what happened to your daughter. If you aren’t willing to say, I can’t make you,” Bragunier said. “I know it’s not easy to live with this. … You’re only a public safety threat to a 5-month-old baby who annoyed you with crying.”

Austin received 15 years for the second-degree child abuse count, and five years for neglect: The latter five years are suspended, and run consecutive to the first count. Austin will be on five years of supervised probation upon his release, during which time he will not be permitted unsupervised contact with children younger than 10.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/spotlight/child-abuser-sentenced-to-years/article_245cd22e-ac15-592c-bbf9-3296ca2affea.html

Kandes April 19, 2019 No Comments

Local legal figures convene traffic stop advice panel

Charles County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Devine, far right, speaks to the crowd gathered for the “So You’ve Been Pulled Over” event at the Waldorf West branch of the library about best practices for one’s day in court following a traffic stop. From left to right next to Devine are Cpl. Steve Bryant of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, public defender Michael Beach and Assistant State’s Attorney Andre Bruce.

(MD Independent) Staff photo by LINDSAY RENNER-WOOD

In the moment, a traffic stop can be an unnerving experience. If the stop results in a ticket, the ensuing trip through the court system can be just as harrowing and confusing for those inexperienced with or uninformed about the legal system and their rights. Last Tuesday in Waldorf, a group of local legal experts convened at the Waldorf West branch of the Charles County Public Library to demystify the process and make it less scary.

In her introductory remarks before the discussion began, law librarian Mary Jo Lazun of the Charles County Public Law Library said she frequently answers questions from the people who come to avail themselves of the library’s services. One of the most common statements she hears before someone asks their questions, she said, is “So, I got pulled over.” On the basis of the frequency, Lazun said she decided to organize a panel that would be able to let Charles County’s citizens know what their rights and responsibilities are in traffic stops, and what to expect if the stop ends with a ticket or court date.

Cpl. Steve Bryant of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office went first, providing a step-by-step breakdown of how most traffic stops proceed. First and foremost, Bryant said, the officers “try to make [the traffic stop process] easier for you.”

When one notices the officer signaling for them to pull over, he said, it’s best to pull over to the righthand shoulder, away from traffic. He advised that one should keep their hands visible and wait, rather than trying to prepare ahead of time — for their own safety.

“From the back, when we see people digging around … it’s a sign to us that things could be going south,” Bryant said. He also advised the crowd to not argue with the officer during the stop, and to “save it for court,” offering that someone providing an explanation of the circumstances to the officer is not necessarily arguing.

Bryant also reviewed different rights individuals may not know they have during a traffic stop. For example, he said, K9 scans of the vehicle aren’t considered searches by the court, and so people have the right to refuse the K9 and ask for the officer to do it instead. As driving under the influence goes, courts do not admit field breathalyzer tests as evidence, Bryant said, but just having a Maryland driver’s license means you have legally already consented to undergoing sobriety testing at the police station.

Bryant also urged citizens to “comply and complain,” or, obey the officer for the duration of the traffic stop, but afterward file a report if one feels their rights have been violated and do so as soon as possible.

“We want that too,” Bryant said. “If we have officers who aren’t doing the right thing, we want to know.”

Public defender Michael Beach told the crowd that while it’s far from out of the realm of possibility that a traffic stop might be unjustified, one should “absolutely cooperate” during the course of it. “You gain nothing from being uncooperative,” Beach said.

Beach also urged the attendees to never consent to a K9 scan, or to a search, adding that K9 scans aren’t considered searches and there’s “no advantage to saying yes” to such scans.

“If they want to go in your car, they can go in your car,” Beach said. “That’s something to fight in court another day. But if you’ve consented to a search, unless that consent was coerced in some way, you’re pretty much out of luck.”

Beach told the crowd that while it’s important and necessary to be respectful of the officer during the stop, if they start asking questions about destination or the like, one is free to ask for a lawyer or refuse answers under Miranda rights. Respect, however, is crucial: “Respect will always look way better than you getting into it with the officer. … That always gets better results than being confrontational.”

Beach also echoed Bryant’s remarks about filing complaints when one has been treated unfairly by the responding officer, and to remember that the sheriff and state’s attorney are elected officials.

“If you have bad experience, give feedback. If you have a good experience, give feedback,” Beach said. “We all want the officers who are doing everything right — and there’s plenty of them — to be recognized.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Andre Bruce said the first thing, when examining the case, is to make sure there was a valid reason for the stop, and if it’s found to be valid were the circumstances around a search valid as well. Invalid stops, Bruce said, can result in the court dismissing the case entirely.

Bruce and Judge Patrick J. Devine also emphasized the previous remarks on the importance of respect at all points.

“The right time to make a challenge is in court,” Bruce said.

“If you confront the officer, that video may show up in court,” Devine said, adding that a traffic stop is “the wrong time to go off” and that a positive disposition can “neutralize” potential threats.

“You’ve got discretion there. Do that and use it,” Devine said. “Even though the officer is in charge, you have a tremendous amount of control over whether this ends poorly.”

Originally Posted on the Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/local-legal-figures-convene-traffic-stop-advice-panel/article_611e4e96-8abc-5bdf-ae70-fb1ddf621843.html