Also today, says the office of the Head Ho Slappa, (copy-edited by me):
a jury found Wayne Morris, 22 of the 300 block of S. Calhoun Street guilty of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit second-degree assault. The jury deliberated for approximately one day following testimony. Morris was found not guilty of witness intimidation and second-degree assault. His sentencing is set for October 28. The maximum penalty on all charges under Maryland law is 20 years in prison. Maryland enacted a new law in 2005 that changed the maximum penalty for witness intimidation to 20 years in prison.
Following his April 2006 arrest for a home invasion and murder, Morris was charged with witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit assault after investigators reviewed more than 36 phone calls Morris made from Baltimore City Jail. In those phone calls, Morris commanded and directed persons to take action against the witnesses in the murder case in an attempt to prevent their testimony in his trial, including a pregnant witness. Morris can be heard in many calls, played in open court, describing how he wanted to get out of jail and come home, and needed help to eliminate witness testimony to thwart his murder case.
On August 27, 2008 Morris was convicted of second-degree murder, five counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, two counts of robbery deadly weapon, two counts of attempted robbery deadly weapon, four counts of assault and 4-counts of conspiracy to rob in the home invasion. In that matter, Judge Clifton J. Gordy scheduled sentencing for October 28, 2008.
On April 20, 2006 Morris kicked down the door at 1404 Kuper Street, announced a robbery, and shot and killed an occupant of the home, Robert Atkinson, 47. One victim was pistol-whipped and two victims, including a pregnant woman, were assaulted. All were robbed of various items on their person including cash and cell phones.