La Plata, MD – The strange sentencing hearing of Anthony John Cherry, 60 of District Heights, but most recently of the Maryland Department of Corrections in Jessup, played out before Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West Monday, March 7.
The judge was following directives as worked out between the state and the defense.
The Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office wasn’t happy.The victim’s family wasn’t happy either.
Perhaps the only individual in the courtroom who truly was happy was Cherry, given his release after 41 years of incarceration following a 1976 conviction on first-degree murder charges overturned by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
The appeals court ruled that during Cherry’s trial there was a problem with jury instructions.
West noted that “the case was worked out already.”
Cherry entered a plea in Charles County Circuit Court Feb. 12.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Jared I. Albert told the court that retrying the case probably wasn’t an option.
“It would be hard to put on a trial based on events that occurred 40 years ago,” Albert said.
“Mr. Albert and I have met other members of the family,” said Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Campbell after introducing the victim’s daughter. “They are lovely people. It’s a lovely family,” she added. “They are concerned that this case was reopened.”
The victim’s daughter, Jean Tate, expressed disbelief that one of her father’s murderers could be let out of jail.
“It’s a travesty of justice,” she said. “Daddy’s life was taken. If his sentence was suspended, daddy’s death would be like a joke,” Tate added.
“Do you understand the legal situation?” West asked. “A judge overturned this verdict and here we are.”
“We have the agreement, but we’re not happy,” Campbell noted. “After 40 years, the case comes back, but a lot of witnesses have passed away.”
Albert said that Cherry and two co-defendants robbed Key’s Store in Bryans Road in 1974 and killed the victim for less than $100.
“Mr. Cherry is 61 years old now,” Albert noted. “That’s an opportunity he took away from Mr. Keys, to live to old age.”
Charles County Public Defender Michael Beach said he felt it was up to him to speak “an uncomfortable truth.
“In 1976, this man did not receive a fair trial,” he said. “Mr. Cherry is a different person physically and mentally. When this man was sentenced, he was 19 years old. He was illiterate. He educated himself. He could neither read nor write. He got his GED and 20 hours of college credit. He lost his son while he was incarcerated. His son was shot in Washington, DC. This man entered prison as a kid. That kid is long gone and this old man is all that’s left.”
In resentencing, under what West called a “bind plea,” he sentenced Cherry to 55 years for the 1974 conviction, but suspended all of that and ran two 15-years sentences concurrent to that sentence. He placed Cherry on five years of supervised probation. The judge said the defendant would have to report to the Waldorf office of Parole and Probation within 72 hours of his release. He said that he would agree to transfer probation to Prince George’s County, where Cherry will reside upon his release.
“I don’t know what you’re going to do with your life,” he told Cherry. “Make the most of it.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com