La Plata, MD – Kenny Earl Morris, 56, formerly of Waldorf, convicted in Charles County Circuit Court in February 2015 of attempted second-degree murder and use of deadly weapon with intent to injure, said at his sentencing that he didn’t feel he got a fair trial.
“I don’t feel like my story was told,” he told Judge H. James West. “They [state’s attorney] have their version and I have my version.”
In fact, at his sentencing hearing in 2015, defense attorneys Matt Mckenzie and Byron Warnken argued for a new trial, claiming that the jury was not made aware of perfect and imperfect self-defense on the part of the defendant.
They based their argument on assertions made during the trial that the victim, Tyrone Jeter, forced his way into the town home of Morris and Patricia Johnson and at one point choked Morris’ partner.
West denied the motion at the time, but continued filings for an appeal played out, and Monday, Jan. 30, Morris’ second trial began with dramatic testimony from victim Tyrone Jeter. Jeter told the court he was stabbed by Morris after an argument over a parking space in front of the townhouse complex where they lived at Bryan Court in Waldorf Jan. 31, 2014. During the altercation, Jeter was stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife and the three-and-a-half inch blade broke off in his neck.
Jeter was the state’s witness, but some of the most dramatic testimony took place while he was being cross examined by defense attorney Jason Ott. Ott presented a wooden file cabinet he claimed Jeter and Morris crashed into while fighting. Ott tried to get Jeter to admit that some of his “bee stings” or cuts might have been nails from the cabinet that protruded from it after it smashed apart during their fighting. Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopelman jumped on that assertion with an objection that West upheld.
He asked Jeter how many stab wounds he had and he responded, “I can show you.” In what was a little unorthodox, West allowed the victim to take off his shirt and show the jury at least five wounds. When the attorney was having trouble locating the marks, one juror pointed a wound out to the attorney.
When Ott pressed Jeter as to why he didn’t call 911 or the police, he responded, “Honestly, I didn’t know how bad I was hurt.”
West sentenced Morris in July of 2015 to 30 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections with all but nine years suspended. On the deadly weapon charge, he sentenced the defendant to one year and gave him credit for 178 days for time served.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com