A Baltimore jury convicted Myron Gladney yesterday in an attempted murder and witness intimidation case that illustrates how the lives of some black men are consumed by violence and contempt for snitchers.
Myron Gladney and his brother, Anthony Gladney, and Stephen Arrington attended the same elementary school. The trio were good buddies. Arrington is 24. Myron turned 21 last month. Court records show Anthony is just shy of his 23rd birthday.
"We went to school together and played basketball together," Myron said in a taped statement to police. "No problems."
That changed in July 2004, when Anthony was charged in the shooting death of Brian Griffin in an apartment on Marble Hall Road. Prosecutors alleged that the killing resulted from a drug-related turf dispute. Prosecutors said Arrington was an eyewitness to the shooting. When police interviewed him, he fingered Anthony, who was acquitted of the murder charge about a year later. Not long before Anthony's trial, Myron tried to kill Arrington to keep him from testifying against Anthony.
Here's an account of the shooting and subsequent events based on testimony at Myron's attempted-murder trial:
On April 6, 2005, Arrington got off the No. 36 bus on The Alameda, not far, he said, from Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School. He saw an associate and started "kicking it," as the saying goes.
"I seen this little homeboy that I knew," Arrington said in Baltimore Circuit Court on Monday. "We was conversatin' for a second. As I was conversatin' with him, Myron Gladney came up and told me not to go to court for his brother." (Anthony's murder trial was supposed to start April 7, 2005.)
Arrington said he assured Myron he wasn't going to court and would not testify. Myron went away "for about five to seven minutes," according to Arrington, and returned with his face partially covered with a black T-shirt. Arrington said Myron pulled out a gun, chased him across The Alameda and fired several shots, one of which struck Arrington in the back.
Arrington recovered from his wound and identified Myron as the shooter. Myron went with the standard SODDI (Some Other Dude Done It) defense. He said he wasn't the guy who shot Arrington. The defendant said in a taped police statement, which was played for the jury of eight women and four men, that he might have been driving around with a friend around 2 p.m. - the approximate time Arrington was shot - on April 6, 2005. Or not.
"I was probably [having sex] or smoking [marijuana]," Myron said on the tape. "That's what I do: smoke and [have sex.]"
Myron didn't say "have sex," of course. His language was, shall we say, a bit more colorful. It's safe to assume that Myron is completely unburdened by any compelling ambitions. ( I shudder to think that he's actually made babies during his smoking and sex binges.) Myron's alibi went over with the jury like strippers at a funeral.
Myron, in his taped statement to police, made it clear he was angry at Arrington. Myron accused Arrington of lying about Anthony's involvement in murder.
"He [Arrington] got my brother in jail for something he didn't do," Myron told Detective Gregory Jenkins, the lead investigator in Arrington's shooting. While he denied shooting Arrington, Myron said he did hear about it "on the street." His reaction? Myron said he didn't care about Arrington getting shot because Arrington had snitched.
You had to figure that particular "S-word" would pop up somewhere in this story. We are in Baltimore, after all, where the DVD Stop Snitchin' was made and took the dubious crusade against "snitches" to mainstream America. "Stop snitchin'" is a mentality that probably drives up Baltimore's homicide numbers.
Jenkins, who also testified at Myron's trial, said about eight or nine witnesses on a Mass Transit Administration training bus saw the shooting. All gave statements at the Northeast District.
"Is it unusual to have a dozen people come forward who are willing to talk?" Catherine Flynn, Myron's attorney, asked Jenkins.
"Very unusual," Jenkins answered. "I'd have to say this is a first for me." Jenkins has been on the force 15 years.
What's usual is for cops to roll up on a homicide scene and find very few people willing to talk. What's usual is for young black men - the same ages as Myron and Anthony Gladney and Arrington - to be either the victims or perpetrators of crimes.
Today's perp might be tomorrow's victim, who might become a witness if he has the good fortune to survive. Some of those witnesses tell the truth; some don't.
Yesterday, 12 Baltimoreans decided Arrington was telling the truth. They found Myron Gladney guilty of attempted first-degree murder, the use of a handgun in a crime of violence and witness intimidation. The verdict must have carried a cruel irony for all involved: Myron now faces a maximum term of life in prison for trying to kill a witness in a case that ended with the acquittal of his brother, Anthony. And, on the streets, Arrington will be viewed as being lower than a snake's belly for testifying against his old buddies, the Gladney brothers.
greg.kane@baltsun.com
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