State v. Ryan Lamont Bell, C-08-CR-21-000325
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Thursday, December 19, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West sentenced Ryan Lamont Bell, 38, of La Plata, to 35 years in prison for Conspiracy to Commit the First-Degree Murder of Leon Nathaniel Inabinett, Jr. and the Use of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime of Violence. Bell will be on supervised probation for 5 years upon release.
Bell pled guilty to the aforementioned charges on November 14, 2022.
On June 20, 2021, officers responded to the Bryans Road Firehouse in the 3000 block of Livingston Road in Bryans Road. Upon arrival, officers discovered victim Inabinett suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in a hallway inside the firehouse. The victim was transported to a local hospital but, unfortunately, was pronounced deceased as a result of his injuries.
An investigation revealed that the victim attended a birthday party at the firehouse before the incident. Bell’s co-defendant, Jahad Karim Frierson, had an issue with the victim due to a prior incident. After learning the victim’s location, Frierson contacted Bell to help confront the victim. Frierson and Bell rode to the firehouse together and hid in bushes waiting for the victim to come out. At the end of the party, the victim was carrying a tray of cookies to put in a vehicle in the rear parking lot. Frierson and Bell approached the victim while he was outside. Frierson brandished a handgun given to him by Bell, struck the victim and then shot him several times. After the shooting was over, both Frierson and Bell fled in the same vehicle. The victim was able to make it inside the firehouse to try to get help but collapsed in the hallway.
An ankle monitor that Bell was wearing for a separate incident indicated that Bell’s location was at the firehouse at the time of the murder. Cell phone records also place Bell and Frierson in the area at the time of the murder. Surveillance video depicts the two confronting the victim and running away.
The handgun used to kill the victim was located in Bell’s vehicle. Bell reported to investigators that he took the gun after the murder and cleaned it.
At sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopelman told the judge that the victim was “loved by so many people” and Bell and Frierson “took him away from all of his family, all of his friends, all of the people that he wanted to make a positive impact on.” She furthered that this was a “senseless act against an innocent man. – He had no idea he was about to be ambushed. They confronted an unsuspecting young man with cookies. It could only end in violence and the defendant understood that. It really doesn’t get more senseless than that. His life was senselessly snuffed out over nothing. He didn’t deserve it. He walked out with cookies and ended up being brutally murdered by Bell and Frierson.”
Before sentencing Bell, the Honorable Judge West stated, “Leon was a lot of things to a lot of people; very few people are inspirational. When people like that vanish from the community, the loss is felt more than what can be described here.” He furthered, “the loss is tremendous. The circumstances are extreme, harsh, and brutal.”
Sentence
Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder
• 100 years with all but 35 years suspended
Use of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime of Violence
• 20 years with all but 5 years suspended
• Concurrent
5 Years of Supervised Probation