Howard man sentenced to 30 years in stabbing

A 23-year-old Savage man was sentenced in Howard County Circuit Court yesterday to 30 years in prison in the fatal stabbing of an acquaintance at an Elkridge motel in November.

Adrian Maldonado was convicted by a jury in May of second-degree murder in the death of Marvin Walter Harding, 39, of Jessup. The men had been quarreling over a woman outside the Copper Stallion Motel, according to testimony at the trial. Maldonado maintained that he acted in self-defense.

In asking Judge Richard S. Bernhardt to impose the maximum penalty of 30 years at yesterday's sentencing, the state's attorney's office outlined Maldonado's lengthy criminal record and introduced letters from Harding's family. Several of Maldonado's relatives testified at the hearing that his abuse of alcohol and drugs had adversely affected his behavior, according to the state's attorney's office.