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Convicted strangler set free
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Related Topics: Columbia, Md
Columbia, Md (Map, News) - The Columbia woman convicted of strangling to death her friend in a drunken fight is free. Melissa Burch Harton, 27, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Friday in Howard Circuit Court in a plea agreement, granting her time served for two years and 177 days.
Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman suspended the remainder of her 10-year sentence imposed in April 2006.
“This has been a very lengthy proceeding,” said Harton’s attorney Michael Kaminkow.
“I think, quite frankly, all parties are relieved to some extent that this is over.”
Shelly Bacchus dried her tears through the plea agreement. She was the sister of Natasha Bacchus Magee, 31, of Stewartstown, Pa., whom Harton strangled.
Harton could have opted for a retrial because the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in September that detectives waited until after Harton made incriminating statements to notify her of her Miranda rights, which advise her of the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
“The Court of Special Appeals felt that this court should have deleted more, at least 11 minutes more, of the confession statement,” Gelfman said, referring to evidence used in the original Howard Circuit trial.
Howard State’s Attorney Timothy McCrone said the plea agreement was “the best resolution we could attain.”
“We would have had to try the next time without a confession ... the confession was inadmissible and without a confession the quality of our case was diminished,” he said.
Prosecutors said the plea agreement secured a conviction, which they may not have gotten in a retrial without a confession.
Kaminkow said Harton did not want to retry the case.
“Ms. Harton was adamant that she did not want to put herself, her family or the Bacchus family through that again,” he said.
Kaminkow said she had served a quarter of her sentence would have been eligible for parole because involuntary manslaughter is not considered a violent crime.
“Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional crime ... because of your criminal negligence and your reckless disregard for human life, she died,” he said to Harton.
The maximum state sentence for involuntary manslaughter is 10 years.
Comments from Examiner Readers
1:12 AM MST on Mon., Nov. 5, 2007 re: "Convicted strangler set free"
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1:06 AM MST on Sat., Nov. 3, 2007
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1:34 PM MST on Fri., Nov. 2, 2007
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The Undertaker said:
This is a sad and disturbing case. I don´t know what happened or why. I wish the young woman well and hope for the best for all.
93 agree | 95 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
It's not like the Miranda Rights thing is something new. It's been around for a long time and every American knows their Miranda Rights. It's on TV and in all the movies; and of course I'm assuming it's being taught in school. Well, maybe that's too much to expect of our school systems. The point is that's it's about time the courts lighten up. There are many more criminals out there than are policemen. Too many criminals are getting off on technicalities.
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Examiner Reader said:
"Howard State's Attorney Timothy McCrone said the plea agreement was the best resolution we could attain.” As if he would say, "Boy, we really screwed this up." Right. As for the killer's mouthpiece, Michael Commoncow, from him comes this gem: "This has been a very lengthy proceeding." Poor baby. How about the murder victim? Do you think she minds the lengthy proceeding?
109 agree | 85 disagree
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