A Howard teenager pleaded guilty Thursday to attempting to kill a 17-year-old Baltimore County boy in a gruesome knife attack at the Mall in Columbia.
Bernado Leconte, 18, of Columbia, faces up to 15 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, but Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman agreed to cap the sentence at 15 years of active incarceration as part of the plea agreement.
Prosecutors also dropped the other charges including attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery.
According to prosecutors, victim Julian Lichtenstein agreed to sell marijuana to Leconte and co-defendant Cordero Taylor, 17, of Forestville, around 4 p.m. Jan. 8 outside the mall, but a fight ensued when Leconte didn’t pay for the drugs, and Lichtenstein threatened to return with friends.
Leconte, who was wearing a red bandanna often associated with the Bloods gang, pulled out a red pocket knife and stabbed Taylor several times, prosecutors said.
He continued stabbing Lichtenstein, who fell down as he tried to run, prosecutors said. Leconte then took Lichtenstein’s wallet and cell phone before fleeing.
Lichtenstein’s parents held hands as the incident was recounted in court. His mother wiped away tears as she spoke with prosecutors after the hearing and declined to comment.
Prosecutor Susan Weinstein and defense attorney George Psoras also declined to comment until after the Nov. 14 sentencing.
Leconte, who wore a bright red shirt in court, was soft-spoken as he told the judge that he wanted to give up his right to a trial.
Police found Leconte hiding inside an apartment stairwell on Stevens Forest Road in Columbia.
He had dropped the bloody knife while running from police.
Leconte admitted to police that he “hit” Lichtenstein “a couple times” with the knife, because he had sold him “bad weed” and threatened to “get him,” according to court records.
Lichtenstein spent a month at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.
He was near death when he stumbled inside the mall looking for help and collapsed inside J.C. Penney. A quarter of his kidney was cut off, and the contents of his abdominal cavity were protruding when paramedics arrived, according to testimony from Taylor’s trial in July.
Taylor, who was tried as an adult, was convicted of first-degree assault for his role in the stabbing and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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