Life sentence for Baltimore County's ‘mad man’ murderer

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Baltimore County (Map, News) - Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger says he doesn’t use the threat of the death penalty as a “negotiating tool” with murder suspects.

But don’t tell that to Vaughn Garris.

The 38-year-old murder suspect pleaded guilty Wednesday to the premeditated slaying of his neighbor Chontae Waters, 31, by sneaking through a shared crawl space in their Woodlawn townhouse community.

In doing so, Garris agreed to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole – but he avoided the death penalty, which prosecutors were threatening.

“Defense attorneys will always fight against the maximum,” Shellenberger said after Judge Robert Cahill imposed the agreed-upon sentence.

“I’m satisfied,” said Olandas Gamble, Waters’ biological father. “Life without the possibility of parole is the same as death. He’ll die in jail.”

Shellenberger said, to his knowledge, no suspect sentenced to life without the possibility of parole has ever been released from prison.

He said he agreed to the lower punishment after consulting with Waters’ family Tuesday – and advising them of the lengthy appeals process that usually accompanies death penalty cases.

“The pain they would go through over the next 10 or 15 years was too much for them to bear,” Shellenberger said.

Waters was stabbed to death on March 19, 2007.

Garris lived next door to Waters on Heatherton Court in Woodlawn, and climbed into the townhouse¹s shared crawl space hoping to burglarize her home to feed his drug habit, police said.

But Waters was home and interrupted the burglary, prompting Garris to stab her to death, police said.

Detectives were led to Garris by a trail of blood.

“There was a tremendous amount of blood on her bed,” said Deputy State’s Attorney Robin Coffin.

After confessing the stabbing to police, Garris tried to cut a deal with detectives, according to a video of the interrogation. He also fell asleep after his admission, the video shows.

On Wednesday, he offered Waters’ family an apology.

“If there was anything I could possibly do to undo everything that happened, I would,” he said. “If I was in my right mind, I would have never participated in such a horrible crime. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you and your family.”

Though he apologized, Garris only agreed to an Alford guilty plea – in which he maintains his innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.

Gamble called the apology “not good enough.”

“He was a mad man,” Gamble said. “He was a desperate man. I take that back. He wasn’t a man at all.”

Waters’ stepfather, James Waters, who raised her, told Cahill of the massive pain the family has suffered.

“My child’s life was taken from me,” he said, trying to fight back the tears. “There are no words to express how deep the pain will always be.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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