Judge: Murderer's 25-Year Sentence Is 'A Break'

UPDATE (5:25 p.m.)— pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in and received a sentence that the presiding judge described as “getting a break.”

Muhammad, 21, of Parkville, shot Derrick Maxey Jr. in the back of the head in the parking lot after an unsanctioned party at the American Legion in the 100 block of North Bond Street in Bel Air. 

During the hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Joel Muneses said investigators learned the shooting stemmed from previous contact with the victim’s family. In 2007 Muhammad was involved in an attack that paralyzed Gregory Simmons, Maxey’s stepfather.

Muhammad was convicted of second-degree assault and served six years and six months on that charge. He was on probation for the assault at the time of the Maxey murder.

As part of the plea agreement Wednesday on the murder charge, Muhammad received 20 years for second-degree murder, five years without parole for using a handgun in a violent crime, 10 years in a case in which he was on probation for drug possession with intent to distribute and the remaining time on his 10-year sentence for assaulting Simmons.

The 13 years and six months will be served simultaneously with the new charges, meaning Muhammad will serve 25 years.

“He’s getting a break today, I’ll be the first one to say it,” Judge Emory Plitt said.

The judge explained there are a number of reasons why cases such as these come to the plea arrangements they do, and said it is part of the process. 

Plitt said he considered Muhammad something of a “punk” until he looked up the term and learned it referred to “small time hoodlums.”

“This is no small crime,” Plitt said.

Plitt went on to discuss Muhammad’s previous record, concluding, “the defendant is now involved in a post-graduate program of crime.”

Simmons gave a victim impact statement before the sentencing, as did six other members of the victim’s family.

Simmons said he misses his stepson. He said that while Muhammad served his time for what he did to him personally, he questioned Muhammad’s ability to change considering he got out of jail only to commit murder.

“I have to ask, ‘Can he be rehabilitated,?’” Simmons said.

Simmons said he is sure Muhammad hurt his own family with his actions, but at least his family still gets to see him.

“May God have mercy on your soul,” Simmons told Muhammad.

Maxey was the oldest of 10 children. The packed courtroom was comprised largely of his family members.

Maxey’s 11-year-old brother told Plitt about how much he misses his brother and then broke down in tears. Maxey’s aunt spoke of her emotional turmoil since her nephew’s death.

“I explore some way to deal with the way my nephew’s death came to a violent end,” said Mary Haynes, Maxey’s aunt.

Maxey leaves behind two daughters, ages 1 and 3. He never had the chance to meet his youngest daughter.

Jessica Hagey, Maxey’s fiancé and long-time girlfriend, told the judge her youngest daughter only knows her father by a picture and when she is asked where her father is, the girl points to the sky.

Hagey said her older daughter has nightmares and wakes up screaming for her father. She said the girl thinks her father is mad at her and that is why he is gone.

“Our daughter who is now 3-years-old lost not only her father, but her best friend,” Hagey said.

Muhammad chose not to address the judge before sentencing.

In December 2010 while in custody at the Harford County Detention Center Muhammad made a semi-admission to the shooting over the phone, Muneses said. All inmate calls are recorded.

Muhammad told the person on the phone that, “he had to shoot the guy,” Muneses said. 

“I feel for their loss, but it’s our loss too. That’s my only son,” Janine Nash, Muhammad’s mother, told Patch after the hearing. “All our families, it hurts. No one will ever know what really happened.”

The hearing was delayed from the morning docket to accommodate Muhammad’s lawyer, Mark Van Bavel, who was detained by a jury trial in Baltimore City.

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UPDATE (3:58 p.m.) —The Parkville man who shot and killed an Aberdeen man outside the American Legion in downtown Bel Air pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder and using a handgun in a violent crime in Harford County Circuit Court.

In exchange for the guilty plea of Rakim Raid Muhammad, the state dismissed the nine additional charges of the 11-count indictment. 

He was sentenced to serve an agreed term of 25 years in jail.