A Howard man testified Tuesday that he unknowingly harbored an alleged murderer and helped discard a gun police believe was used to fatally shoot a Columbia teenager in the face.
Charles Richardson, 24, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder of Trae “Ace” Allen, 19, of Columbia, whom police found dead May 21, 2007, inside Richardson’s Brook Way town house in Columbia.
The 28-year-old witness, whose name prosecutors asked be withheld for his safety, testified before a Howard jury Tuesday that he met Richardson at a Fort Meade hotel on the same day police found Allen’s body.
“[Richardson] had something wrapped in a towel,” the witness testified.
“He said he had something to get rid of.”
The witness said he drove Richardson to Ellicott City, stopping along the way to toss the towel-wrapped object into a drainage pond on Long Gate Parkway and Route 100.
Howard police later fished the alleged murder weapon out of the pond.
The witness also testified that he brought Richardson to his apartment and allowed him to stay while Richardson waited for a friend to bring a bottle of bleach.
That friend, Kenneth Wayne Sledd, 19, of Columbia, later pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder.
Howard police Detective Mark Verderaime testified Tuesday that he found a bleach-soaked shirt in the trunk of Sledd’s car, which was stopped May 22, 2007, in Catonsville.
Prosecutors have presented extensive evidence linking Richardson to the crime, including multiple eyewitnesses.
Allen’s mother, Melinda Daniels, 37, said Tuesday that her son was pursuing a music career in Atlanta and had returned to visit his friends in Columbia.
She said he was “too trusting of negative people.”
Richardson has pleaded not criminally responsible, and his attorney Mark Van Bavel has noted Richardson’s drug and alcohol use.
The trial is expected to continue through Friday before Howard Circuit Judge Diane Leasure.
Richardson also is scheduled for trial next month in the slaying of Alevtina Zhilina, 40, who was shot during an attempted armed robbery in April 2007 at a 7-Eleven convenience store.
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