Three jailhouse informants apparently had second thoughts Wednesday about helping prosecutors implicate a 22-year-old man in a homicide at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn last year.
Instead of helping prosecutors by telling them what they overhead in jail, they discredited themselves as potential witnesses during a motions hearing in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
The first informant Kion Coulter denied everything ? even that he knew the accused. The second informant, Steven Murray called himself a liar. And the third informant Ricardo Garcia said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he obtained his information.
Murray made such a dramatic showing on the stand he either called himself a liar or denied his initial statement to police more than 25 times.
“I don?t know nothin’ about his charges.”
“I don?t recall nothin?.”
“I don?t know ? that?s all I got to say.”
“I wish y?all would leave me alone.”
“Everything I told you was a lie.”
“He told me nothing.”
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Brian Rose, 22, of Baltimore, who is accused of first-degree murder and attempted armed carjacking in the January 2006 killing of Warren Fleming, 31, outside Security Square Mall.
In a passionate plea to attorneys from both sides, one of the informants told the court that he feared for his life because of his testimony and he didn?t want to come to court.
“Your world and my world are different,” Garcia told Public Defender Jennifer Aist. “I?m in prison. You get to go home and have police protect you. Police in my world don?t give a [expletive] about anything. Any given day, this can come back to bite you.”
Despite Wednesday’s testimony, Assistant State?s Attorney Jason League said he understood the situation the men are in while incarcerated at state prison facilities.
“The whole code of ?Stop Snitchin?? is especially prevalent within the prison system,” he said.
Each of the men initially told police Rose made incriminating statements to them while at the Baltimore County jail. Rose?s attorneys objected to the statements being introduced into evidence because, they argued, the criminals were essentially “police agents” when they were helping the police. Judge Susan Souder ruled Wednesday that two of the informants? initial statements to police could be admitted into evidence. There is a hearing scheduled for next Thursday on the third man?s statement.
