A Columbia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to aiding his friend accused of murder by buying him a bottle of bleach and driving him to an Ellicott City apartment while police investigated the homicide.
Kenneth Wayne Sledd, 20, pleaded guilty before Howard Circuit Judge Diane Leasure to accessory after the fact to murder.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but Leasure agreed in a plea deal to cap the sentence at one year in prison.
Sledd, who was released on $10,000 bail, is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 7.
Prosecutor Kim Oldham said Sledd helped Charles Richardson, 23, of Columbia, avoid arrest after Trae Davon Allen, 19, was found shot to death on May 21, 2007, in Richardson?s apartment on Brook Way in Columbia.
Sledd told police Richardson came to him May 21 ? the same day police found Allen?s body ? and told him he had “merked,” or murdered, someone.
Sledd, Richardson and Richardson?s brother, William, 22, were arrested the next day in a traffic stop on Route 29, according to charging documents.
Police found a bleach-soaked shirt in the trunk of the car Sledd was driving as well as a grocery store receipt for the bleach, Oldham said. Sledd told police he drove Richardson to an unknown Ellicott City apartment after the murder, bought him a bottle of bleach to wash his clothes and then drove Richardson to meet with police at Running Brook Elementary School.
Surveillance tapes show Sledd purchasing the bottle of bleach at the Safeway at Harper?s Choice in Columbia, and a witness confirmed Sledd brought the bleach to Richardson, Oldham said. Defense attorney Jason Shapiro said Sledd is not planning to testify against Richardson, and Sledd?s plea is not expected to affect Richardson?s trial on first-degree murder charges.
Richardson has pleaded not criminally responsible for the slaying and is scheduled for trial in September.
He also is charged with the April 2007 death of Alevtina Zhilina, 40, who was fatally shot while working a night shift at a 7-Eleven convenience store on Columbia Road.
