Teenager accused of killing witness

The Baltimore Sun

A 15-year-old West Baltimore youth was charged yesterday with firing the shots that killed a Rosedale man who had been a key witness in a city murder case.

The youth, described by his mother as a 10th-grade student at Walbrook High School, was one of two people charged with murder yesterday in last week's fatal drive-by shooting. A 21-year-old Baltimore man was also charged.

Still, police said they had neither established nor ruled out a link between the crime and the victim's role as a witness.

"The investigation is far from over," Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey said yesterday afternoon, adding, "Detectives told me they have no idea at this moment what the motive may be."

City prosecutors, who have said that witness Carl Stanley Lackl's recorded testimony could still be used in their trial if his death is linked to witness intimidation, said yesterday that they would await a determination from county police before taking steps in that direction.

A spokeswoman for the Baltimore state's attorney's office also said that charges of conspiring to intimidate a witness could be filed in the city, if warranted.

The 15-year-old suspect, identified as Johnathan Ryan Cornish, of the 300 block of N. Monroe St., was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, court records show.

During a phone call made by a witness in front of police, a person with the nickname "Brazy" - later identified by the witness as Cornish - talked about "shooting a white guy three times with a .44-caliber handgun," court documents show.

Sitting outside the Cornish family's rowhouse yesterday, Sharon Cornish described her son as a respectful, well-behaved teenager who has shoveled snow for neighbors and helped out at flea markets. She said he has run into trouble with the law, but she called the problems "minor stuff," adding, "He's a teenager. He's going through that stage."

Cornish said she met with her son while he was in police custody Thursday night.

"He was crying; he was upset," she said. "We had a prayer. You got to bring God into the midst of it."

Later yesterday, police charged Ronald Wendell Williams, of the 1600 block of Normal Avenue in Baltimore, with first-degree murder in the July 2 shooting. Court records show that a witness reported seeing Williams driving a green Chevrolet Camaro believed to have been used in the shooting.

Williams denied involvement in the shooting, court records show. His criminal record includes drug charges that were placed on an inactive docket in 2004, drug charges that were dismissed in 2005 and a trespassing charge that was dismissed last year.

Both Cornish and Williams were being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Lackl's relatives said they were devastated by his death. They described him as a hard-working man who was devoted to his children.

Shortly before he was shot, he received a phone call from someone interested in buying the car that he had been selling in front of his home. The caller offered him $2,000 for the car, for which he had sought $1,500, and asked Lackl to meet him outside.

"I keep seeing it in my head, and I know my mother does, too," Lackl's sister, Kimberly Underwood of Dundalk, said yesterday. "He probably flicked his cigarette, flashed his bright blue eyes and smiled and walked up, and then they shot him."

Lackl worked for Olympic Fencing in Dundalk during the day and took care of his daughter and stepdaughters in the evening. Relatives said that they were certain that he was killed because he had agreed to testify in the murder case.

"There's no doubts in any of our minds," Underwood said.

Lackl had agreed to testify because he believed it was the right thing to do, family members said.

"His exact words were, 'I want to give another family closure,'" Underwood said.

Lackl had been asked to testify in the trial of Patrick Byers, 22, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the March 2006 shooting of Larry Haynes, 30, authorities said. Lackl had stopped in an East Baltimore alley when he saw a man shoot another, then hide a gun, according to court documents.

Byers' murder trial was postponed Tuesday. On Byers' postponement form, city prosecutors checked "state witness unavailable" and wrote "murdered 7/2/07." The new trial date is Sept. 13.

Prosecutors have said that, if evidence shows that Lackl was killed because of his cooperation, they would seek to use provisions of state law that permit the use of recorded testimony from silenced witnesses. Prosecutors would hold a hearing separate from the trial to determine whether Lackl was killed because he was planning to testify.

The city has had a long-standing problem getting the cooperation of witnesses and protecting them from violence, an issue that gained national prominence in 2002 when seven members of a family were killed by an arsonist in retaliation for their cooperation with police. Two years later, an underground DVD exhorted witnesses to "stop snitching."

Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy has supported efforts to increase funding for witness protection and to increase prison terms for intimidation. About a dozen killings since 2005 and several dozen since 2000 have been tied to witness intimidation, she has said, adding that there could be more incidents in which a link to witness intimidation could not be clearly established.

Lackl's family members said that he was not in a witness protection program and that he assumed he was safe because authorities had not warned him about the prospect of retaliation.

Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney, said Lackl had met with the prosecutor in the Byers case and had seen her at several hearings and never mentioned that he felt he was in danger.

"If he had expressed fears, then she would have taken steps to get him and his family in the [witness assistance] program," she said.

Lackl's relatives said that authorities should have done more to ensure his safety and that they hoped the system would be reformed to better protect witnesses.

"It's senseless, and we can't get our brother back," Underwood said. "But we want people to change things so this doesn't happen to other families."

Police investigating Lackl's shooting were led to Cornish by a witness who said someone known as "Brazy" had told him about the shooting, court records show.

The witness identified Brazy as Cornish through a photograph, the documents show. He also arranged a meeting at a convenience store at 25th Street and Harford Road with a person, not charged in the case, who handed over the gun believed to be used in the shooting, a .44-caliber Colt Anaconda. The witness turned over the gun to police.

Cornish was arrested Thursday in the 200 block of N. Monroe Street. He was carrying the mobile phone that the witness had called in the presence of detectives, the documents show, and the word "BR?ZY" was listed under the "My Information" section of the phone, court records show.

Police allege that Cornish used a cell phone to call Lackl the night of July 2 about a car that Lackl was selling, and had the man wait for him outside his home in the 8000 block of Philadelphia Road.

About 8:45 p.m., a green Chevy Camaro pulled up, and shots were fired from inside the car, hitting Lackl several times, the documents show.

A second witness told detectives he was playing a dice game July 2 in the 1600 block of Normal Avenue when a man showed up and asked one of the players for a ride to "a dealership" on Philadelphia Road.

Later, the men returned to the area in a green Chevy Camaro. One of them, identified by the witness as Williams, said they had just done "some crazy sh - -," and described the shooting, the documents show.

josh.mitchell@baltsun.com

nicole.fuller@baltsun.com julie.scharper@baltsun.com

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