Well-known graffiti artist Kenneth Ellis stood silently as a Baltimore County jury convicted him Friday of first-degree assault from a fight that started over a kitten.
Ellis, 27, who last year tagged countless pieces of property withthe name “Oricl” during his reign as the city?s self-proclaimed most prolific graffiti artist, was acquitted of more serious attempted murder charges stemming from an Aug. 13 2006, stabbing.
Ellis will be sentenced Aug. 24.
Ellis? victim, Leyland “Tiger” Mayne, said the stabbing “caused a lot of emotion.”
“I went through a lot of pain,” he said.
Ellis? defense attorney Margaret Mead said he was just trying to defend himself.
“At no point was he the aggressor,” Mead said. “He?s not going after them. … Do you just sit there and let four or five people beat you up?”
The stabbing arose from an argument over whether Ellis kicked Mayne?s kitten while hanging outside a friend?s house in the Lansdowne area.
Ellis testified he only nudged the kitten to keep it from walking into a box, while Mayne contends Ellis kicked the cat.
“This cute little kitten came up and was trying to walk into this box and I was trying to shoo it away with my foot,” Ellis said. “I?m a pet lover. I was looking out for somebody?s pet. If somebody?s cat is going into a box, I don’t want to see that happen.”
Mayne then confronted Ellis, and two men began to argue, Ellis testified.
Ellis said he grabbed kitchen knives and put Mayne in a bear-hug while he stabbed him in the back. Mayne was treated at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center with six stab wounds.
