A Laurel supermarket clerk accused, along with her sister, of killing a man who prosecutors say owed her money for drugs entered a plea to second-degree murder Tuesday that will get her between eight and 10 years in prison.
Patrice Rashah Dove, 22, cried as she entered an Alford plea before Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge William Mulford II, meaning she did not admit to killing Jamal Medina, 22, of Laurel on Dec. 21, 2009, at the Maryland City Plaza Shopping Center, but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence against her for a conviction.
Dove's sister, Latisha Montia Adams, 23, fatally stabbed Medina, Anne Arundel County Assistant State's Attorney Brian Marsh told Mulford.
Outside the courtroom, Marsh said that, because Adams' trial is scheduled for next month, he would not further explain the stabbing. But charging documents filed a year ago when the sisters were arrested said the women told police Adams stabbed Medina in a fight over Medina's drug debt.
Dove is not on the witness list for her sister's trial.
Dove, who told Mulford that she was a graduate of Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, will be sentenced Friday afternoon, when drug charges pending against her are expected to be dropped.
The plea agreement allows prosecutors to seek 10 years in prison, followed by probation, and for the defense to ask for eight years in prison. The maximum prison sentence allowed for a conviction of second-degree murder is 30 years.
According to Marsh, Medina owed Dove money for PCP. On Dec. 20, 2009, Dove arranged to meet Medina at the shopping center, but her sister did not want her to go alone. A dispute — neither Marsh nor defense lawyer Harry Trainor would said exactly what it was about — took place. Shoppers Food Warehouse security cameras captured the three, but the stabbing occurred off-camera. However, footage from one camera showed Medina running east from the supermarket toward his home on Red Clay Road, with blood marking the trail, Marsh said.
Medina was found collapsed on Red Clay Road, with drugs on him, including a vial that appeared to be the same as empty vials found in a police search of the sisters' home, Marsh said. Police also found a folding knife and Medina's cell phone there, he said.
Medina suffered a fatal stab wound to the heart and at least one defensive wound to a hand, and it appeared that he had been stabbed after he turned to run away, Marsh said.
"There is nothing I have seen in police reports or evidence in this case that would indicate that [Dove] had any weapon," Trainor said of his client.
According to Marsh, Dove initially lied and "told police she hadn't seen the victim recently," and that she had spent that night with her boyfriend. But after investigators said Adams had told police they were with Medina, Dove changed her story and admitted being at the shopping center with her sister and Medina, where there was a dispute.
She also said "during that altercation he may have been stabbed," according to Marsh.
Medina, whose court record included convictions for attempted auto theft, drug possession and assault, had been charged with drug possession about a week before he was killed.