An Anne Arundel Circuit judge yesterday showed no mercy as he sentenced a 21-year-old Shady Side man to the maximum term -- life in prison without the possibility of parole -- for the rape and murder of a homeless woman.
"He deserves no sympathy from the court because he certainly did not show any sympathy for the victim," Judge Bruce C. Williams said of Alvin Winslow Gross. "Alvin destroyed a life and in doing so, he did terrible things to her."
Gross was convicted in December of first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and a handgun violation for the slaying of Margaret Courson, 26. Yesterday, he said nothing as he was led out of the courtroom.
According to testimony and evidence, Gross and an acquaintance picked up Ms. Courson in Gross' truck about 3:30 a.m. Dec. 19, 1993. Gross raped her, then shot her twice in the chest and twice in the neck, said Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Ferris.
Ms. Courson's body was dumped in the 300 block of Leitch Road in Tracys Landing. A passer-by found the corpse at 6:30 a.m. the next day. The body was barefoot and naked from the waist up.
Gross, who was once the captain of the Southern High School basketball team, maintained his innocence yesterday.
Judge Williams denied a defense request for a new trial. The defense had argued that Gross, who is black, was not judged by a jury of his peers. One black man was on the jury.