WASHINGTON 鈥� The man accused of shooting five people, killing three, in a Harford County, Maryland, business last week will first be tried in Delaware, where he is charged with shooting one person, Harford County prosecutors said Monday.
Radee Prince was arrested last Wednesday in Newark, Delaware, Thursday evening, about 10 hours after the shooting in Maryland. He is accused of shooting an acquaintance at a Delaware car dealership several hours before his arrest.
Maryland officials at a news conference Monday said Prince would be tried in Delaware first because he faces harsher penalties there. He could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree attempted murder in Delaware, whereas he could be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in Maryland.
In Delaware, 鈥渁 life sentence is a life sentence,鈥� said State鈥檚 Attorney Joe Cassilly. While Maryland prosecutors could ask for Prince to be denied the chance at parole, Cassilly said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 still a request鈥� that might or might not be granted, and added that 鈥渕y concern is that the General Assembly 鈥� has done everything they can to attack long prison sentences, and I鈥檓 not sure that life without parole will still be there as this defendant serves his sentence.鈥�
He said he was frustrated 鈥渁s a prosecutor to feel that the justice system does not have a proportional penalty鈥� for bigger crime.
At the same news conference, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said, 鈥淚 think our citizens are going to be disappointed to hear that this individual won鈥檛 be tried here first, where the most egregious actions took place.鈥� But he added, 鈥淭he penalty has the potential to 鈥� not meet the severity of the crime.鈥�
Death penalty bill
Maryland Sen. Bob Cassilly said he would introduce what he called 鈥渁 targeted death penalty bill,鈥� saying that 鈥渃ompassionate leniency toward perpetrators 鈥� doesn鈥檛 satisfy our moral obligation for justice for the victims or for society.鈥�
He said that Maryland has no further penalty for someone who kills multiple people than for someone who kills one, and called the situation 鈥渁 license to kill鈥� after the first one.
鈥淜ill your way out of it. Kill your witnesses so you can escape from justice,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen around the country,鈥� Sen. Cassilly added, referring to the shootings earlier this month in Las Vegas. 鈥溾�� Maryland needs to have an alternative punishment that really deals justice in this kind of case, where somebody kills in cold blood and keeps on killing.鈥�
He also mentioned the murder of two Harford County deputies in Abingdon in February of last year — 鈥渁 year and a half ago and a mile and a half away.鈥� After the first deputy was killed, Sen. Cassilly said, 鈥渋t was open season.鈥�
“Maryland took a step in the wrong direction doing away with the death penalty,鈥澛燝ahler added.
He also mentioned that people who want to help the victims and survivors of Thursday鈥檚 shootings can give at .
David Ryden, the senior assistant state鈥檚 attorney, said he and the others had met with workers and managers at Advanced Granite Solutions, where the Maryland shootings took place, who, he said, were going back to work this week. He called it a 鈥減lace of unspeakable evil and death that will impact this community for a long time.鈥� Joe Cassilly, the state鈥檚 attorney, said he was moved by the sight of workers and managers hugging and consoling each other.
Joe Cassilly, the state鈥檚 attorney, said that his sense from Delaware prosecutors was that Prince鈥檚 trial there would begin in about six months, and that he would be tried in Maryland no matter the resolution.
Asked whether there was any more information about a motive for the shootings, Joe Cassilly said that after 40 years as a prosecutor 鈥淚鈥檝e kind of given up on why people do horrible, horrible things. Even if you knew the answer, does that make sense?鈥� Workers were asking them why.
Gahler concurred, adding, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it amounts to more than a perceived feeling that he was not well-liked. I don鈥檛 think it goes far beyond that. 鈥� It wouldn鈥檛 be justified in any situation,鈥� but under these circumstances, 鈥渋t just goes beyond comprehension.鈥�
Sen. Cassilly鈥檚 bill specifies that executions would be carried out with a mix of heroin and fentanyl, saying that he chose that combination because 鈥渨e see people on the verge of death鈥� from overdoses from such drugs, 鈥溾�� and they turn back around and want to do it again. It鈥檚 hard to imagine that that can be such a painful death. 鈥� It鈥檚 a gross way to do your experimentation, but it鈥檚 been done, and it must be an OK way to go, I suppose.鈥�
