The family of a woman strangled to death by her best friend may have to endure a retrial after the Court of Special Appeals overturned the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
“The victim?s family is broken hearted about the reversal of the conviction, and they feel terrible about the prospect of all the trauma that goes with any retrial of this case,” said Howard County State?s Attorney Timothy McCrone. “You hate to have to do these twice, because it?s so emotionally challenging.”
Melissa Harton, 27, of Columbia, was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for strangling Natasha Bacchus Magee, 31, of Stewartstown, Pa., so brutally that she broke a bone in her neck.
A Howard Circuit Court three-judge panel upheld the sentence in August.
But the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled recently that detectives waited until after Harton made incriminating statements to notify her of her Miranda rights, which advise her of the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
“She had really been in custody for about four hours before they advised her of her rights,” said Harton?s attorney Michael Kaminkow.
Kaminkow said the case is expected to return to Howard County Circuit Court where prosecutors will either reach a plea agreement or retry Harton for involuntary manslaughter.
McCrone said the prosecutors? next step has not been determined.
Attorney General Douglas Gansler could choose to appeal the ruling, but Kaminkow said he does not expect an appeal.
Harton will be transferred from the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup to the Howard County Detention Center.
“She?s delighted with the decision, but still feels very badly about the death of her friend,” Kaminkow said.
