Inmate opts for sentencing by judge

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) — A state prison inmate convicted of first-degree murder for killing a correctional officer opted yesterday to be sentenced by a judge instead of a jury in hopes of avoiding the death penalty.

Brandon T. Morris, 22, of Baltimore, stood and answered, “Yes, your honor,” when Judge Joseph P. Manck asked if Morris understood that the sentence would be decided by him, a retired Anne Arundel County circuit judge, and not by the jury that convicted Morris on Friday of first-degree murder for the January 2006 slaying of correctional officer Jeffery A. Wroten.

Defense attorney Arcangelo Tuminelli told reporters the decision was made by Morris and endorsed by his three-man defense team.

“We just thought the judge would be less influenced by emotional evidence and the jury might be more influenced by that,” Mr. Tuminelli said.

Judge Manck was called “too lenient” last year by Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Mr. Weathersbee cited a case in which Judge Manck sentenced a man convicted of molesting his daughter and another adolescent relative to four months in jail followed by eight months of house arrest.

Judge Manck told the newspaper he aims to help criminals through his sentencing.

He also told the Sun that his handling of cases hadn’t been affected by his mother’s murder. Beatrice L. Manck, 81, was slain in 1995 by an intruder who ransacked her Baltimore home and then sold her jewelry for drugs.

The killer, Richard Green, got life without parole. Judge Manck told the Annapolis Capital that Green “got the sentence he deserved.”

Morris killed Officer Wroten, 44, of Martinsburg, W.Va., by shooting him in the head with Officer Wroten’s service revolver Jan. 26, 2006, at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown. Officer Wroten was the only officer guarding the inmate, who was brought there from nearby Roxbury Correctional Institution for removal of a sewing needle he had jabbed into his abdomen, piercing his liver.

The Howard County jury found Morris guilty of three counts of first-degree murder — first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder during a robbery, and first-degree felony murder during an escape. The maximum penalty for each of those counts is death.

The panel also convicted him of 19 other counts, including kidnapping hospital visitor Tina M. Bussard, who was briefly held hostage, and kidnapping taxi driver Frank L. Fultz, who was robbed and forced at gunpoint to drive Morris into nearby Pennsylvania. The cabbie deliberately crashed into a concrete barrier and Morris, still holding the gun, fled back into Maryland, where he was captured in an industrial park.

Morris was serving an eight-year sentence for assault, robbery and handgun convictions before the slaying.

The trial was moved out of Washington County at Morris’ request, which was his right as a Maryland capital murder defendant.