Too little evidence exists to prove that a prison inmate charged with murdering a corrections officer at a Western Maryland hospital in 2006 planned to kill the man, his lawyer told a jury yesterday.
However, prosecutors said a witness will testify that Brandon T. Morris crouched over the officer, said, "I'm going to kill you," and shot the man in the face with the officer's state-issued revolver.
Whether Morris intended to kill Officer Jeffery A. Wroten emerged as a key issue in the trial, which began yesterday in a Howard County courtroom. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Morris is convicted, and for that they must show that the killing was premeditated.
Amid stepped-up security measures, lawyers on both sides presented opening statements yesterday. Witness testimony is scheduled to begin Monday.
Morris, 22, who is from Baltimore, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery, among other charges. His trial was moved to Howard County at the request of his attorneys.
Arcangelo Tuminelli said Morris was taken to the hospital after he intentionally stabbed himself near his liver with a needle while he was in the lockup.
In an earlier incident, Morris stabbed himself in the leg with a sewing needle in an attempt to get out of the isolation cell, the lawyer said. Morris was serving a seven-year sentence at the Roxbury Correctional Institution for armed robbery and assault.
The increased security was prompted by Morris' attempt to flee a Howard County courtroom during jury-selection proceedings in May. Presiding Judge Joseph P. Manck, a retired Anne Arundel County judge who took over the case after a Howard Circuit Court judge recused himself, ruled last month that the attempted courtroom escape could not be admitted as evidence in the murder case.
In the courtroom, Morris wears a stun belt and foot shackles. A skirt was placed around the table where he sits to prevent the jury from seeing the belt and shackles. After jurors left the courtroom yesterday, Morris' hands were muffed and about 10 officers escorted him from the courtroom.
Death penalty
If convicted of first-degree murder, Morris could face the death penalty. A judge rejected a motion filed by Morris' attorneys requesting that capital punishment not be considered.
In Maryland, death penalty cases are the only criminal cases in which a jury, rather than a judge, decides a defendant's sentence.
