In a gray shirt with a collar low enough to show the word "murder" tattooed on his neck, Shane E. Pardoe stood before Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela L. North yesterday and begged for a second chance.
"I'm sorry a thousand times," the 20-year-old convicted murderer from Glen Burnie told the judge. "I know I need to be punished for the wrongful things I did do, but I beg you to have mercy on me."
Calling Pardoe a "very, very dangerous person," North sentenced him to 55 years in prison for the killing of his neighbor, Robert E. Hightower, in February 2000. The case drew attention this year because several jurors were ordered to testify amid defense allegations that they discussed the case before hearing all the evidence.
North dismissed the defense claims in June, and Pardoe was in court yesterday for sentencing. Given his history of mental disabilities, North said, she would recommend that Pardoe serve his sentence at Patuxent Institution, a maximum-security facility in Jessup that focuses on rehabilitation.
Hightower, 18, was bludgeoned to death as he slept on the couch at Pardoe's apartment after a party there. One week later, Pardoe and his friend David Joseph Shepeta were arrested after leading police to Hightower's body in a wooded area about 20 miles from Pardoe's apartment.
Pardoe was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in January and could have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Instead, North sentenced Pardoe to two terms of "natural life," with all but 55 years suspended. The sentences will run concurrently.
Shepeta entered an Alford plea to a charge of second-degree murder last year. Under the terms of an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction. He is to be sentenced next month.
During the hourlong sentencing, the families described to North two images of Pardoe: one as a troubled young man who could make something of his life, the other as a "monster" who wore his victim's shoes around town.
"I would hate to be Shane Pardoe because of the life that he has endured," defense attorney William C. Mulford II said moments before holding up Pardoe's arms to show what Mulford said was a recent suicide attempt.
Pardoe's aunt, Gail Winebrenner, asked North to consider that Pardoe did not act alone when meting out his punishment. Corinne A. Catramados, whom prosecutors identified as Pardoe's girlfriend, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for cleaning Pardoe's blood-stained apartment. She was sentenced to five years' probation.
Assistant State's Attorney Frank J. Ragione, who prosecuted the case, disagreed with the pleas for leniency. After the killing, Ragione said, Pardoe showered, went out for breakfast and got a haircut. He was seen in Hightower's clothes and was wearing his boots when police arrested him. Some time later, he acquired the tattoo, which reads "C-Murder."
Mulford maintained that the tattoo was an homage to rapper C-Murder, whose brother is the better-known Master P.
The prosecutor said he was "relieved" the case was over and called the sentence appropriate.
"He showed no remorse," Ragione said of Pardoe. "His actions afterwards just speak volumes about him."
