Former University of Maryland, Baltimore County student John Gaumer cried when jurors returned after five hours of deliberation Thursday and pronounced him guilty of the first-degree murder and rape of a young woman he had met on MySpace.com.
“I love you, son. I love you, John,” his father called out while Gaumer?s attorney tried to console him with a hug. Then he was led away in handcuffs to face sentencing Monday, when prosecutors will seek the death penalty and defense attorneys will try to save his life.
Gaumer, 23, had no previous criminal record. A tragic mix of alcohol and rage caused him to beat his date to death Dec. 29, 2005, his defense attorneys had argued earlier.
“They consumed a great deal of alcohol,” Gayle Robinson told jurors during her closing arguments.
Josie Brown, 27, the mother of a young girl, was found naked, except for her socks, in the woods just off Interstate 95 in Arbutus.
A medical examiner testified that Brown suffered more than 70 bruises ? and had most of her face removed, including her jaw, nose and teeth. Her fingertips were also cut off.
“That was complete rage ? there was no reflection, no way to stop to think about what he was doing,” Robinson said.
Though he admitted to killing Brown, Gaumer never set out to murder her when they went out for drinks at several trendy Baltimore nightspots, Robinson argued.
But Baltimore County Assistant State?s Attorney Ann Brobst said Gaumer had plenty of time to think about his actions as he struck his date with a stick dozens of times.
“Any suggestion that he was so drunk he was robbed of his faculties and could not form the specific intent to kill is ludicrous,” Brobst said.
She said Brown?s refusal to sleep with Gaumer caused him to become enraged and kill her, calling the former Kutztown University football player a “hound dog” who couldn?t take rejection.
“Yes, they met on MySpace,” Brobst said in her closing arguments. “Josie was planning on having a first date. She was not planning on having a sexual encounter on this first date. The self-described ?hound dog? wanted to have sex. When that didn?t happen, he became enraged.”
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