A Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced a 41-year-old man Monday to consecutive life terms in prison for the fatal stabbing of a fellow city detention center inmate, a case that prosecutors said shed light on flaws in the city jail system.
Matthew T. Evans of the 5300 block of Hamilton Ave. was convicted of first-degree murder May 6 in the March 2006 attack of Anthony Conaway. Conaway, who was being held at the Baltimore City Detention Center without bail on a burglary charge, told several correctional officers as he took his last breaths that Evans was the man who stabbed him, according to prosecutors.
Corrections officers told the jury that several policies, including handling of prisoners, were changed in the wake of the stabbing. Conaway's family filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services early last year, which is scheduled for a 2011 trial in Baltimore Circuit Court.
Defense attorney Warren Brown asked Judge John N. Prevas for a 30-year prison term, with 15 years suspended. But Prevas said during his ruling that suspending any part of the sentence would not be in the interest of society, adding that "it's difficult to foresee [Evans] being rehabilitated. He should get used to institutional life."
Authorities are unsure what provoked the attack, but an inmate — who at one time had been charged in connection with the killing — was picked up on a bench warrant after failing to appear in court and testified that he saw Evans and Conaway in a physical confrontation.
Prosecutors had little forensic evidence because correctional employees cleaned up the crime scene before the technicians could process the area. Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Phelps praised the jury, saying inmate murder cases are particularly difficult to prosecute.
Evans, 41, is currently in federal custody serving time for a gun conviction. A third defendant, 31-year-old Tivon Wright, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and received 12 years with all but five years suspended.
Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.