News

State v. Shawn Marshall Myers, D-042-CR-20-000656

LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, September 25, 2020, Shawn Marshall Myers, after a bench trial before District Court Judge W. Louis Hennessy, was convicted of two counts of Failure to Comply with an Emergency Order. Immediately after the trial, Judge Hennessy sentenced Myers, 42 of Hughesville, to 1 year of active incarceration to be served at the Charles County Detention Center. Upon release, Myers will be on unsupervised probation for a period of three years.

On March 22, 2020, multiple officers responded to Myers’ residence located in the 15200 block of Lukes Lane in Hughesville for the report of a large party violating Governor Larry Hogan’s State of Emergency and Large Gathering Orders. Large gatherings were strictly prohibited under the orders. Myers had approximately fifty people in attendance at his residence. Upon arrival, officers told Myers that his party violated the current mandate. Myers was argumentative with officers but eventually agreed to disband his party.

Less than a week later, on March 27, 2020, officers responded back to Myers’ residence for another report of a party exceeding fifty people. Officers told Myers to disband the party, but again he was argumentative claiming he and his guests had the right to congregate. Beyond being argumentative, Myers directed his guests to stay in defiance of Governor Hogan’s Orders and the officers’ lawful orders to disband the party. Officers tried to reason with Myers and obtain his cooperation to no avail.Myers was then apprehended.

Count 1 –Failure to Comply with an Emergency Order

• Guilty
• 6 months suspended/$1,000 fine suspended

Count 2 –Failure to Comply with an Emergency Order

• Guilty
• 1 year in jail and $5,000 fine
• 3 years unsupervised probation

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State v. Anthony Tyrone Williams, Jr., C-08-CR-19-000369

LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, September 18, 2020, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West sentenced Anthony Tyrone Williams, Jr., 25 of Waldorf, to 25 years with all but 12 years suspended in prison for Sexual Abuse of a Minor.

On January 9, 2020, Williams entered a guilty plea to the aforementioned charge.

On February 6, 2019, a detective with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office met with the then 14-year-old victim at the Center for Children in La Plata, MD. The victim reported that Williams had inappropriate contact with her through Instagram, Facetime, and text message. The victim also reported that Williams had sexually assaulted her. Williams was an instructional assistant at Mattawoman Middle School in Waldorf, MD, where the victim attended school.

An investigation revealed that in December of 2018, Williams obtained the victim’s Instagram account information and began contacting the victim through Instagram. Williams then began contacting the victim through Facetime and text message. During those communications, Williams asked the victim to send videos of herself unclothed and to Facetime him while she was in the shower. The victim refused.

On one occasion, the victim was walking home after school when Williams approached her in his vehicle and told the victim to get inside of the vehicle. Williams then drove the victim to his Waldorf residence and had sexual intercourse with her. After intercourse, Williams drove the victim back to her neighborhood, where she then walked home.

On February 5, 2019, the victim’s mother was made aware of the inappropriate communications between Williams and the victim by a friend of the victim. The victim’s mother then contacted school officials, who contacted law enforcement once the victim revealed there was inappropriate touching.

Upon release, Williams will be on supervised probation for five years.

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State v. Michael Rashid Moore

 LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, September 11, 2020, Charles County Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer, Jr. sentenced Michael Rashid Moore, 23 of Waldorf, to 35 years in prison for the Attempted First-Degree Murder of Ronald Murphy, Jr., Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence, and Conspiracy to Commit the First-Degree Murder of Walter Thomas.

On January 29, 2020, Moore entered a guilty plea to the aforementioned charges.

On March 3, 2019, officers responded to an apartment complex in the area of Amber Leaf Place in Waldorf for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers found victim Murphy lying on the floor of an apartment bedroom, suffering with multiple gunshot wounds. Murphy was treated on scene then transported to the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, where he was further treated. At the hospital, two bullets were discovered to have traveled to his neck and one bullet traveled to his lung; however, thankfully, he survived.

Two days later, on March 5, 2019, officers responded to the 3000 block of Gallery Place in Waldorf for the report of a missing person. Officers canvassed the area and discovered victim Walter Thomas lying face down by a bike path in the area of Freemantle Court. Thomas, who suffered a single gunshot wound, was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene.

An investigation into the shootings revealed that months prior to Murphy’s shooting, Moore and an acquaintance of Murphy got into a physical altercation. On March 3, 2019, Moore saw Murphy outside of his apartment complex in the area of Amber Leaf Place and Wakefield Circle.During the evening hours, Moore waited by the dumpster and saw Murphy leaving in his vehicle. Moore approached the rear of Murphy’s vehicle and began shooting, because of the prior altercation. Before fleeing, Moore fired off five rounds at Murphy while he was driving his car. Murphy was shot three times in his back.

 During the course of the investigation, Moore admitted to detectives that he shot Murphy. Moore also stated that he conspired with another individual to cover up the shooting by doing a random armed robbery that would result in another shooting if the victim gave resistance. Moore supplied the bullet for the shooting.

 On the evening of March 4, 2019, Thomas was walking with a friend in the area of Fairchild Court in Waldorf. The men were approached by a suspect who commanded them to not run away. Thomas’ friend was able to flee unharmed; however, Thomas was shot. Thomas attempted to flee the area but collapsed a short distance away.

 During sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany L. Campbell called Moore’s actions “senseless, tragic, and selfish” and asked for the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, pursuant to Moore’s plea agreement.

C-08-CR-19-000377

Count 1

• Attempted First-Degree Murder of Ronald Murphy, Jr.
• 80 Years Suspend All But 35 Years

 Count 2

• Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence

• 5 years without parole, Concurrent with Count One

C-08-CR-19-000502

Count 1

• Conspiracy to Commit the First-Degree Murder of Walter Thomas
• 80 Years Suspend All But 35 Years, Concurrent with Other Counts
• 5 Years Supervised Probation Upon Release

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On June 3, 2020, I issued a statement that, among other things, advocated for the creation of a Civilian Review Board (CRB) to review citizen claims of excessive force by police in Charles County.  On June 12^thand 26^thCharles County Sheriff Troy Berry, issued releases that, among other things, advocated for the re-constitution of the Board of Public Safety (BPS) to provide “review andoversight of the entire criminal justice system in Charles County.”  I have been repeatedly asked if the Sheriff is proposing the BPS as a substitute for a CRB. I do not know the answer to that question.  I can say, however, that I would not support any use of the BPS as a substitute for a properly organized CRB.

I have many reasons why I would not support the BPS as an oversight body for excessive force complaints that I will not address in this release.  To hear my reasons, please listen to our “Civilian Review Board” podcast which can be found on the State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) website, www.CCSAO.us.

So everyone is clear on the type of CRB that I will support, below I have outlined the structure/make-up of what I believe would be an effective CRB. This list is not exhaustive nor is it touted as the only way an effective CRB can be organized.  For more details about the makeup of a CRB, again please listen to our “Civilian Review Board” podcast.

Civilian Review Board (CRB)

• The CRB will review all use of force resulting in death or serious bodily injury, all instances of use of deadly force and any citizen complaint of excessive use of force.
• The CRB will be independent from and operate independently from all police agencies.
• The CRB will be comprised of 9 volunteer members who must be residents of the County. None of the CRB members will be elected officials, police officers of any jurisdiction, or a person with a vested interest in the County or a police agency.
• The CRB members will be selected by a combination of the County Board of Commissioners, Charles County legislative delegation, County police agencies, Ministers Coalition, and willing community groups like the Women of Action Charles County, NAACP, Lifestyles etc.
• In addition to the 9-member board, there will be a non-voting police advisor and a non-voting legal advisor attached to the CRB.
• Initially, CRB will have a full-time investigator and a full-time administrator.Staff may increase depending on the volume of cases.
• The CRB will have the same subpoena authority that all State’s Attorneys in Maryland have under Maryland’s Criminal Procedure Article, Section 15-108.
• After review, the CRB will issue a report of its findings to the public.
• If appropriate, the CRB will make public recommendations to the involved police agency and the State’s Attorney.
• The CRB report and recommendations shall be maintained and available to the public.

Click here for podcast.

Update: Published in the Maryland Independent under Letters to the Editor.

In 1963, while standing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.”  Since then those unspeakable horrors have relentlessly continued to be visited upon men of color.  The latest heartbreaking outrage is the murder of George Floyd by four police officers in Minnesota.

I offer my heartfelt condolences to Mr. Floyd’s family, loved ones and friends. I know, however, that condolences are not enough.  Neither is outrage. We have all been outraged and sent our sincere condolences to far too many victims already:  Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Kelly Thomas, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Antwon Rose II, O’Shae Terry. The list keeps growing —but it does not have to. To stop this list from getting longer, to stop the dreadful brutality, all of us, today, right now, must couple our sincere outrage and sympathies with purposed, solution-focused action. With action we can achieve the change we want and need. The action must come from leaders and citizens alike.  It is everyone’s responsibility.

As a leader here in Charles County, I want to tell you about actions I am taking to hopefully be a part of the solution to this curable national problem. To begin, I am calling upon the recently formed Charles County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) to immediately schedule forums or meetings to allow community organizations and citizens to present their solution-focused, actionable proposals designed to eliminate police brutality. We must first devise an action plan before we can execute it.

I am also calling for a Charles County Civilian Review Board that will review allegations of abuse and brutality by police officers.  Please understand this is not a criticism of our local police agencies.  My long-time advocacy of such a body stems from the recognition that no matter how “good” a police agency is, for the community to believe accountability is possible, the system of review must be designed to be impartial and transparent. A civilian review body, like those operating in many jurisdictions throughout the land, provides that structure.

Also, I have reached out to the police agencies operating in Charles County to review protocols and procedures for the investigation and prosecutorial review of brutality allegations.  Likewise, I am reviewing with my prosecutorial colleagues across the State legislative proposals that will improve accountability.

Sadly, for the umpteenth time, Americans have had to take to the streets to demand accountability and justice for another soul killed by the police. Now is the time for the unjustifiable killing of black men to stop.  Our lives matter too.

To make the killings stop all of us must engage in persistent, consistent, and permanent action. In short, we must follow through.  If we do, we can ensure that George Floyd’s death continuously has meaning. Let his death not be in vain. Instead, let his death mark the day when we, as one nation, under God, began the eradication of police brutality so one day soon we can —at least on this point — “be satisfied.”

Governor Hogan issued Executive Order 20-04-18-01 on Saturday, April 18, 2020 which, in the light of COVID-19, details some circumstances and factors that Division of Correction (DOC) prisoners may be released early from confinement.  While the Order applies to all inmates in the custody of the DOC, it does not apply to those inmates in the custody of local detention centers like the Charles County Detention Center.  Nevertheless, I welcome this executive order and view the spirit contained within it as guidance for the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in Charles County.

As the State’s Attorney, I am intent that my office does everything it can to help prevent the spread and impact of COVID-19. While doing so, the public must also be protected from criminal behavior in our streets. This intersection of public safety based on a pandemic, on one hand, and public safety based on crime, on the other hand, makes decision-making more difficult than ever before. The Charles County community, however, should be confident that, based on my observations, all of the decision-makers in the Charles County CJS are making fully informed and well-considered decisions that they sincerely believe are in the best interest of everyone – including detained individuals – in our community.

From the beginning of this crisis, the State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) has worked with the other branches of the CJS to reduce the jail’s population. Even though at the start of the crisis the detention center was occupied at less than 30%, the CJS still sought to reduce the population as low as possible while at the same time maintaining public safety. Many actions have been taken. For instance, at the Sheriff’s request, the Courts and the SAO cooperated to, almost immediately, put an end to work release and weekend sentences at the jail, thereby reducing the number of people coming in and out of the detention center daily.

The SAO has been reviewing the situation of every detainee in the detention center, whether or not a detainee or counsel has made a request for release, to determine whether their release would be appropriate and, if so, under what circumstances would they be released.  As a result, many detainees have already been granted some type of release either by way of furlough, a reconsideration/modification of sentence, home detention, case dismissal, etc.

Also, well before the Governor’s latest order on this subject, the SAO has reviewed the situation of a number of inmates under the jurisdiction of DOC and housed someplace other than our local detention center.  At the time of this press release, at least one of those individuals has been released.

Because of the proactive and robust efforts by the Charles County CJS to reduce our jail population, the number of cases that fall under the umbrella of the Governor’s new order may be small.  That notwithstanding, the SAO, with the Governor’s order in mind, will re-look at the situation of every detainee/inmate in the local jail and make our recommendations to the Court if and when appropriate.

I ask everyone to follow the advice of public health experts and comply with all executive orders concerning COVID-19.  It truly can be a matter of life or death.