Leonardtown, MD — A Lexington Park man has been sentenced to more than six years in jail for violating his probation in an incident in which gunshots were fired during a neighborhood argument in 2010. Joseph Harrod, 29, was sentenced May 11 in St. Mary’s County Circuit Court by Judge Michael Stamm.
According to charging documents in the original incident, Harrod (shown) became engaged in a verbal argument with several boys, at which time pulled out a handgun and shot it into the air and then shot it a second time at a house, narrowly missing two people inside.
Harrod was charged at the time with first-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. He pled guilty on October 22, 2010 to the two reckless endangerment counts.
Since that time Harrod has been arrested in 2013 and charged with two counts of second-degree assault in an incident in which he allegedly attempted to strangle a victim.
Sentencing for the violation of probation charge was delayed after Harrod himself became a victim. On June 9, 2014 Harrod was stabbed during an altercation with Jamarr Mackall, 22 at a residence in Lusby. Harrod was flown out to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition but subsequently recovered.
At the May 11 sentencing hearing, Harrod’s attorney, public defender Sean Moran said his client still has numerous doctors’ appointments for his injury and asked that Harrod be sentenced to local time so he could see those local doctors. Moran said the incident served as a wake-up call for his client.
But Judge Stamm told Harrod, “It is time for you to pay for what you agree to,” referring to the unsuspended portion of his original sentence, which is six years and 64 days.
Judge Stamm did give Harrod a delayed reporting time to the detention center in order to allow him to attend a funeral of a relative.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
