Alford Plea

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- A West Virginia man already convicted of one bank robbery entered an Alford plea Monday in Washington County Circuit Court on a second case, while charges in a third bank robbery were dismissed. Bobby Gene Shelly, 34, of Martinsburg, was convicted in April of the June 26, 2009, robbery of the M&T Bank at 177724 Garland Groh Boulevard and is serving a 10-year sentence, court records said. On Monday he entered the Alford plea to one count of robbery in the May 12, 2009, robbery of the M&T Bank branch at 14 S. Potomac St., in Williamsport.

A Cambridge, Md., man entered an Alford plea to a robbery charge Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court, refusing to admit to the May 7 crime. Judge Fred Wright sentenced Michael Wheatley, 24, to two years in prison. A charge of assault was dropped in exchange for the plea. Under an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges the state could produce evidence to gain a conviction, but does not admit guilt. Deputy Washington County State's Attorney Charles Strong said Jerry Desjardins, the victim of the robbery, told Hagerstown City Police he was walking with his wife in the 100 block of West Church Street at 3:14 a.m. on May 7 when a man approached.

Two men were sentenced in Washington County courts this month for turning in false fire alarms in unrelated cases. Jeremy Brandon Hurt, 23, who was stationed at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., pleaded guilty Feb. 13 before District Judge Noel Spence to turning in a false fire alarm. He was sentenced Thursday to one year in the Washington County Detention Center and ordered to pay $500 in fines. According to charging documents, Hurt told police he had been drinking on Nov. 9, 2002, before he pulled a street fire alarm at the corner of Summit Avenue and Garlinger Avenue.

Once again, convicted batterer Albert Leon Monroe's effort to get a new hearing on stabbing charges has fallen on deaf ears. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals last week refused to hear Monroe's appeal of his Nov. 21 Alford plea. Monroe first stood before Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell Feb. 3 and asked for a new trial, accusing his attorney, Michael Morrissette, of botching his case. But McDowell, familiar with the circumstances of the brutal June 16 stabbing, sentenced Monroe to nine years in prison, saying an agreed-upon five-year cap was unacceptable.

Former Miss Maryland receives suspended sentence By MARLO BARNHART Staff Writer Former Miss Maryland Robin Valeria Harmon was handed a five-year suspended prison sentence Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court. As part of a plea agreement, Harmon, 40, on Oct. 28 entered an Alford plea to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs. Under an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges the state has evidence to gain a conviction, but does not admit guilt.

A Hagerstown man was sentenced Monday in Washington County Circuit Court to serve 10 years in state prison after he entered an Alford plea to second-degree sex offense in the Oct. 19, 2004, sodomy of an 11-year-old girl, according to court documents. In entering an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but concedes that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to gain a conviction. Herman Avery Gundy, 31, whose last known address is listed in charging documents as 441 N. Potomac St., Apt. 7, was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison, with all but 10 years suspended by Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell, documents state.

The man whose telephone call from the Maryland Correctional Training Center led to bolt cutters being smuggled into the state prison last year was sentenced to one year in prison Monday by Washington County Circuit Judge Frederick C. Wright III. Shawn Michael Metty will begin serving that year after he completes a five-year sentence for assault and battery he is serving at the Western Correctional Institution. In January, Metty, 22, of Cumberland, Md., who was an inmate at MCTC in April 1998 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to effect escape.

gregs@herald-mail.com Prosecutors could not find a key witness in a case against Wesley Morgan Armstrong, who was charged with attempted second-degree murder after a man was set on fire and beaten in November 2002. Without the testimony, prosecutors were forced to settle for a plea to a second-degree assault charge, Assistant Washington County State's Attorney Theresa Adams said Tuesday. Armstrong, 38, who has no fixed address, entered an Alford plea to the assault charge Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court.

HAGERSTOWN -- A man who last week refused to testify during an attempted-murder trial appeared Tuesday morning in Washington County Circuit Court on charges of soliciting first-degree murder and intimidating a witness. Louis Geraldo Gonzalez, 27, of 82 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown, who is being held without bond at Washington County Detention Center, is accused of trying to entice someone to kill Bruce Jones, who was shot during a robbery in Smithsburg on Jan. 27. Gonzalez originally faced 15 charges relating to the shooting, but entered an Alford plea to one count of armed robbery in September.

A Hagerstown man was sentenced to 90 days in jail Monday for touching a 5-year-old girl. Richard Clark Stull Jr., 22, entered an Alford plea to third-degree sex offense. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state has enough evidence to convict. Prosecutors allowed Stull to enter the Alford plea to a fourth-degree, rather than a third-degree sex offense. Child abuse and second-degree assault charges were dismissed. Assistant Washington County State's Attorney Bill Hayden said Stull allowed the 5-year-old girl's father to stay with him after he had separated from his wife.