Alford Plea

A former and current Baltimore police officer received suspended jail sentences yesterday in a case in which a Morgan State University office manager and two young women were assaulted outside a Federal Hill pizza shop in 2005, according to city prosecutors. The victim, Akhenaton R. Bonaparte IV, has said the two officers, who are white, harassed him and called him a racist as he and his two young female friends talked about African-American history in Maria D's shop on Light Street. Jack H. Odom, who resigned from the force after the incident, was sentenced to a 10-day suspended jail sentence and a year of probation.

20-year term imposed in light rail rape case A serial sex offender was sentenced yesterday to the maximum 20 years in prison for repeatedly raping a 22-year-old woman he had met at an Anne Arundel County light rail station. Eugene Waller, who was linked to the victim through DNA, entered an Alford plea to second-degree rape Friday, denying guilt but conceding that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Waller, 50, could have gotten up to life in prison on a charge of first-degree rape, but the prosecutors' case was damaged by convenience store security footage showing Waller and the victim holding hands before the assault.

A married father of five who ran over his mistress with a utility truck in her backyard, leaving her critically injured, was convicted yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Timothy Lee Mattoon, 46, of the 600 block of Laurel Drive in Pasadena entered an Alford plea before Circuit Judge Michael E. Loney to first-degree assault, which carries the possibility of up to 25 years in prison. He will be sentenced in June. Under an Alford plea, a defendant denies guilt but concedes that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.

A 22-year-old Annapolis man was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for the 2006 killing of a Bowie man, who prosecutors said was targeted because of his Hispanic background. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge William C. Mulford II accepted an Alford plea from Tony Tahzay Brown and sentenced him to 30 years in prison, with 20 years suspended, for the fatal shooting of Jose David Martinez, 36. His prison term will be followed by five years of supervised probation. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt but concedes that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.

A teenage girl was sentenced yesterday to life in prison with all but 25 years suspended for chasing down and fatally stabbing another girl whose cell phone she tried to steal after they left a light rail train last year in Baltimore. Lataye S. King, now 17, entered an Alford plea on charges of first-degree murder and second-degree assault in the attack on Nicole "Nikki" Edmonds, who was returning home from work at a fast-food restaurant when she was killed. In an Alford plea, the accused doesn't formally admit guilt but concedes that the state has enough evidence for a conviction.

Annapolis teen gets 25 years in shooting deaths of 2 men An Annapolis teenager was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for killing two men over apparent slights to other people. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michele D. Jaklitsch said she was appalled that Rondell Anthony Medley, 19, of the 1800 block of Bowman Court was brazen enough to fatally shoot his second victim less than one month after the first. Medley did not speak in court, but he pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder in the death of Tarrod Wallace, 24, of the 500 block of Annapolitan Lane and entered an Alford plea to manslaughter in the killing of Eddie Jenkins, 45. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgement that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict a defendant.

A former teacher who was hired by Baltimore City schools after leaving the Baltimore County system amid questions about his relationship with a 13-year-old student was sentenced yesterday to a year and a half in jail for committing a sex offense against the girl. Before the judge announced his punishment, Timothy Nicholas Gounaris, 50, of the first block of Cardor Court in the Perry Hall area, apologized to the girl, who is now 15, as she looked on from a front-row bench in court with her parents.

Overlea man admits to fatal beating at bar An Overlea man accused of fatally beating a man outside a bar in June 2006 entered a guilty plea yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Daniel Scott Rushton, 33, entered an Alford plea to one count of voluntary homicide in the killing of Robert Proescher, 53. Proescher, of the 4700 block of Duncrest Road, was beaten to death outside Charlie Brown's bar in Overlea. An Alford plea allows the defendant to deny guilt while acknowledging that sufficient evidence for a conviction exists.