Life Plus Three Years for Murder & Drugs

At a hearing today, Judge John C. Themelis sentenced Kenneth Mahai of Parkville, MD to life in prison plus three years consecutive for first-degree murder and a weapons count. A Baltimore City jury convicted Mahai August 10, 2007.

On October 21, 2005 the victim, Jermaine Morrison, was released from jail after having served 18 months for Possession with Intent to Distribute Illegal Narcotics in the 1700 block of Nome Street. While Morrison was in jail, the defendant, Kenneth Mahai, began selling drugs in that area. On October 25, 2005, at approximately noon, the two men got into an argument about who had the “right” to sell their illegal narcotics in the 1700 block of Nome Street (now Manor Avenue). As Morrison started to walk down Nome Street, Mahai followed him, confronted him a second time, and stabbed him two times in the chest and once in the arm. Morrison stumbled from the scene and collapsed around the corner on the 1700 block of Malvern. He eventually succumbed to his injuries at Bayview Medical Center.

The State indicted this case twice, once in April 2006 and a second time this year. In December 2006, the State dismissed all charges against Mahai after a witness central to the State’s prosecution was confronted and threatened by an associate of the defendant. Law enforcement was unable to locate that witness and it was learned that the witness fled Maryland to New Jersey. With the assistance of Cumberland County, New Jersey’s Prosecutor’s Office, the State continued to search for the witness, and, after the witness was located, the State indicted Mahai a second time for this murder.

Assistant State’s Attorney E. Wesley Adams prosecuted the case.