City man gets 15 years for shooting

An 18-year-old Annapolis man was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison for his part in a near-fatal shooting last November that police say was revenge for a double homicide earlier that morning outside an Odenton bar.

A defense attorney for Dametres Maurekoe Short, 18, of Newtowne Drive said it took only six minutes for her client to wake up Nov. 16, get a gun and shoot Maurice L. Brown on Betsy Court in Annapolis.

Kathleen Sheehy, the defense attorney, said Short and Rishard Richard Naylor, 18, of Arnold believed Brown and his friends were to blame for the deaths of 25-year-old Terrance James Covington and 20-year-old Demarcus Terrell Beans earlier that morning outside the Traffic Bar and Lounge.

They believed the shooting stemmed from an earlier fight between Brown and Covington regarding how Brown treated his girlfriend.

The motive Sheehy gave yesterday for the Odenton shooting - which left two dead and two others seriously injured - differs widely from the one prosecutors gave over the past two weeks in county Circuit Court while trying one of the alleged shooters.

A jury convicted Russell Harden, who calls Brown his "godbrother," on Tuesday of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and numerous related charges.

Prosecutors said at trial that Harden, 26, and James Samuel Watkins, 21, both of Brooklyn Park, and Damon Daryl Dodd, 32, of Brooklyn opened fire on a car full of Annapolis men about 1:30 a.m. because they had been "messing" with Kecia Liverpool - Harden's girlfriend and Watkins' sister.

Assistant State's Attorney Michael Dunty said Watkins told Harden some men were outside the packed nightclub wearing masks and holding guns.

In response, Harden, Watkins and Dodd went outside, sneaked up on a car full of people and opened fire, prosecutors said.

About 12 hours after that shooting, someone called Short to tell him Covington was dead and that Harden was responsible. Sheehy said Short grabbed a gun and went outside with Naylor looking for Brown because he knew Brown had fought with Covington a few weeks earlier at a candlelight vigil.

At about the same time, someone called Brown at his girlfriend's place on Betsy Court to tell him he was in danger. Assistant State's Attorney Kathy Evans said Brown was packing up a car to get out of town when Short and Naylor approached.

Sheehy said Short didn't intend to use the gun until he saw Brown's girlfriend laugh at them. She said he "lost it" and opened fire.

"It was a tsunami, white-out moment," Sheehy said in court.

Brown - who did not attend yesterday's hearing - was hit three times in the chest and once in the leg, prosecutors said.

Evans called Brown's injuries "horrendous," noting that he spent 10 days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and several more weeks in other hospitals undergoing surgeries.

"He is lucky to be alive," she said.

Short pleaded guilty yesterday to attempted second-degree murder as part of a plea agreement with the state. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped more serious charges and agreed to the final sentence.

Ciruict Court Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced Short to 30 years in prison, suspending all but 15 years.

Naylor entered an Alford plea last month to first-degree assault as part of a separate plea agreement with the state. In exchange for the plea, he will face no more than five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 2.