The Columbia woman who strangled her friend to death in 2005 was trembling as she asked a three-judge panel to lighten her prison term Thursday.
“I can?t explain to anyone why I made the choices I made that night,” said Melissa Burch Harton, 27, who was sentenced in April 2006 to 10 years for manslaughter after killing her friend Natasha Bacchus, of Stewartstown, Pa., in a drunken fight.
“I find it necessary to say I was attacked … [Bacchus?] rage was caused by the hurtful words I said to her.”
Howard Circuit Court Judges Dennis Sweeney, Diane Leasure and Richard Bernhardt are considering the request from Harton?s lawyer Michael Kaminkow that she serve four years followed by two years probation because the killing was “unintentional.”
“Both of these young ladies were operating in an alcoholic fog,” Kaminkow said.
But about 14 people dressed in purple, Bacchus? favorite color, came to oppose a reduced prison sentence.
“We?re here to consider leniency. Time and time again that night, Ms. Harton had the chance to show my wife leniency,” Bacchus? husband, John Magee, said.
“I don?t believe she?s sorry for what she did. I think she?s sorry she got caught.”
Bacchus? youngest sister, Shelley Bacchus, said Harton has made no attempt to apologize to her family.
Senior Assistant State?s Attorney Mary Murphy opposed any reduction, arguing Harton made deliberate choices to cover up her crime by moving Bacchus? body and lying to police.
Maryland law allows defendants to have their sentence reviewed by a three-judge panel that can increase, decrease or choose not to change the defendant?s sentence. In Harton?s case, she has been sentenced to the maximum penalty for manslaughter, so her penalty cannot be increased.
