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La Plata, MD – David Martin Barnes, 44 of Indian Head, is unfortunately quite familiar with the Charles County and state of Maryland’s legal justice system. He has been a frequent visitor to La Plata.

Having violated probation with a string of third-degree burglary charges, Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Jared I. Albert found himself with a half-dozen cases set for disposition before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Tuesday, Jan. 31.

The judge put the cases all to rest, sentencing Barnes to a flat three years in the Charles County Detention Center with an additional ruling that she would grant him a bed in a treatment facility toward the end of that active-time sentence.

“It is notable that the defendant has three prior convictions for violating protective orders,” Albert argued. “With the new burglary charges, he violated his probation in those cases, some of which are 11 or 12 years old,” he added.

Albert stated, “After being sentenced for violating a protective order, he actually threatened the victim in the courtroom.”

“As is consistent with the written plea, the state is asking for a three-year cap with no probation,” Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Campbell said.

Albert did point out that Barnes was entitled to 204 days of credit for time served.

Charles County Assistant Public Defender Zain Shirazi told the judge his client was in jail-based treatment already. Sharazi said the defendant has smoked marijuana, was addicted to cocaine and alcohol in his past. “He has come to a spot in his life where he recognizes that he has an addiction and he knows he would not be here if it weren’t for the drug abuse,” Shirazi said.

The defense attorney read aloud from a letter Barnes had written, stating, “I just wanted to be in my son’s life. I made a lot of bad decisions,” he read.

The judge gave him concurrent sentences of three years with 204 days of credit. She said if the defendant was able to find work she would grant work release and would consider an 8507 request for treatment toward the end of his sentence.

Originally posted at The BayNet: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0117/manviolatesprobationendsupinjailforthreeyears.html.

La Plata, MD – Sean Michael Allen, 26 of Indian Head, became the second distributor of heroin in Charles County to be sentenced to prison inside of a week when visiting Charles County Circuit Court Judge Eric Nyce sentenced the dealer to 10 years Wednesday, Jan. 18 in La Plata.

Nyce sentenced Allen, arrested last April for distribution with intent to distribute heroin, to 20 years. The judge suspended all but 10 years of the sentence and tacked on another four years concurrent to that sentence for possession of a regulated firearm.

The judge added four more years concurrently for a 2013 possession of oxycodone charge.

Allen was awarded five years of supervised probation upon his release.

Samantha Nicole Thomas, 33 of Waldorf, was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 17 to 16 years for attempting to smuggle heroin into the Charles County Detention Center last year.

Sandra Wade, whose son Christopher died from a drug overdose allegedly provided by Thomas, said that while Allen was not associated with Thomas, he too provided someone with drugs that proved fatal.

“[Allen] is responsible for another mother losing her son,” Wade said. “At the time, police were still responding to overdoses without an investigator. She knew [of Allen] through his phone. Police later asked for his phone but it had already been given to another relative to use.”

Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington said that while heroin deaths statewide have nearly doubled, some lives are being saved by police officers who are now provided with narcon, a drug which counteracts heroin overdoses.

“We are reviving some people,” he said.

Covington also admitted that lawmakers had advanced warning.

“We saw it years ago, what was coming,” he added. “It definitely looks like it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Originally posted at The BayNet: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0117/second-heroin-dealer-in-a-week-sentenced-to-prison.html.

La Plata, MD – Samantha Nicole Thomas, 33 of Waldorf, tried to run, but in the end the law won.

Thomas was sentenced Tuesday, Jan 17 to 16 years of active time for attempting to smuggle heroin into the Charles County Detention Center July 30, 2015.

Thomas has had an interesting couple of weeks leading up to her incarceration.

She was scheduled to appear before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Jan. 11 but called her attorney, Charles County Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Connell that morning, saying she was at University of Maryland Charles Medical Center in La Plata with an infection.

“She was thinking she had pneumonia,” Connell told the judge. “After numerous blood tests, doctors determined she has an infection that affects her heart.”

“I’m going to issue a bench warrant,” Bragunier said. “I would like her to be brought here.”

By Friday, Jan. 13, Thomas was scheduled to appear before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Simpson Jr. for arraignment on the bench warrant and again, was not in court. “She is still in the hospital,” Connell told Simpson on Friday. “I’m waiving her appearance.”

“She has already got an active bench warrant,” the judge noted, setting the matter back before Bragunier Friday, Jan. 20.

The only problem was, Thomas left the hospital Jan. 13 without being discharged.

Sandra Wade of Mechanicsville, whose son, Christopher Wade, 35 of Mechanicsville, died last October in Waldorf, allegedly from heroin supplied by Thomas, confirmed she had fled. “I heard she left the hospital with the IV still in her arm,” Wade said.

Friday the 13th was not the day to be on the lam, however. Thomas was apprehended later that day.

She was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 17 in Charles County District Court but Bragunier sentenced her to 16 years with no chance for parole instead.

Thomas was indicted by a Charles County Grand Jury Dec. 16 on manslaughter charges related to Wade’s death and will face additional legal proceedings in court later this year.

Originally posted at The BayNet: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0117/womanwhotriedtosmuggledrugsintojailsentenced.html.

La Plata, MD –  In July, a male defendant passed out in a Charles County Circuit Courtroom when a jury pronounced him guilty on five reckless endangerment charges. The defendant shot up his Oak Manor neighborhood in 2013 and was given a sentence of 26 years on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

Judge H. James West sentenced Clyde Fitzgerald Jones, 27 of Waldorf, to four three-year consecutive sentences for reckless endangerment, two years on another, tacked on a year for illegally possessing a firearm and another year for illegally possessing ammunition.

The judge added another 10 years, subtracting 602 days for  time served—for violating his probation when he was arrested on the reckless endangerment charges.

“This is not his first offense,” Charles County Assistant States Attorney Jeremy Widder told the court, citing a 2008 trespassing charge, and a 2012 case where he was charged with obstructing and hindering a police officer. He also pled guilty in the past to DUI, Widder said. He called Jones’ actions on the night of April 8, 2015, where he shot into several residences on Oak Manor, unacceptable. “This is behavior that should never happen,” Widder stated. “This is stuff you just cannot do.”

He said Jones was told to stay away from his girlfriend, Laura Barber and to stay away from alcohol. During the night of the shooting, Jones picked Barber up and went to a liquor store before having sex with her. These actions violated two of the conditions of his probation, Widder stated.

“The couple was involved in an abusive relationship,” he said, noting that Barber had accused Jones of punching her in the face, an allegation she later recanted.

“Shooting multiple times into a residence, these are the kinds of crimes that shake a community to its core,” Widder stated.

“Prior to his arrest, he was complying with probation,” Defense Attorney Justin Eisele said. Eisele explained his client was distraught over the death of his sister who was murdered in that same Oak Manor community, a murder that was never solved.

“This was a serious crime for the people in Oak Manor,” West said before putting the hammer down. “I have to respect what the jury decided. Ultimately, there are so many things going on in this case. It was a very serious case.”

West told the defendant when he was finished serving his time, he was done.

“There will be no probation,” the judge said.

Originally posted at The BayNet: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1116/defendantwhopassedoutissentenced.html.

La Plata, MD – A man who slit the throat of the family puppy while threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, and her three children was sentenced to 13 years in prison by Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Thursday, Dec. 1 in La Plata.

Stephen Eugene Paysinger, 38 of Waldorf, was sentenced to three years for the animal cruelty charge and another 10 years for second-degree assault.

Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney John A. Stackhouse asked Bragunier to consider the “sadistic and violent” behavior of the defendant in considering her sentence.

The first assault, Stackhouse noted, occurred on Valentine’s Day 2016 and the second on Feb. 24.

“He picked up the puppy and in front of the victim and the kids, he slit the dog’s throat,” Stackhouse stated. “Just looking at that, to cut a puppy in front of little kids like that, merits some consequence.”

The puppy had emergency surgery and did survive, he added.

“He has shown no remorse for his actions,” Stackhouse continued. “He even tried to pin this crime on somebody else.”

In addition, the prosecutor pointed out, “He comes to the table with quite a record.”

“My children were hurt and traumatized by what the defendant has done,” the victim said. “He violated the protective order several times. I’m asking the court to please protect my family and give them a chance to heal.”

Paysinger’s attorney, Makeba Gibbs, said that her client grew up in a tough neighborhood in New Jersey.

“Where he was raised, it wasn’t unusual to look out of the window and see someone getting murdered,” Gibbs said.

She said her client admitted to her he had an alcohol problem, and expressed regret that he hadn’t left the relationship earlier.

“I hear the defendant saying he regrets not leaving the relationship and for wasting the court’s time, but I don’t hear regret for what he did to the victim, her children, and the puppy,” Bragunier stated. “He seems to have no remorse for the sadistic and violent behavior he has exhibited.”

Bragunier sentenced Paysinger to three years in prison with credit for 187 days served on the animal cruelty charge. She gave him another 90 days concurrent to that sentence for violating the protective order.

In addition, Bragunier handed him a 10-year sentence, consecutive to the three years, for the second-degree assault charge. Then she also tacked on 10 years to run concurrent and 10 years suspended, both on assault charges.

Upon release, the defendant will have five years of supervised probation and she ordered him to undergo an alcohol evaluation. He was also court-ordered not to have contact with the victim or her children.

Bragunier said she would consider transferring his probation to New Jersey upon his release.

Stackhouse said because of the guideline structure, Paysinger will probably only end up serving a quarter of the time he was sentenced.

If Paysinger violates the terms of his probation upon release, the judge made sure he would face significant backup time in prison.

Originally posted at The BayNet: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1216/manwhoslitfamilypuppysthroatgivenjailtime.html.