April 21st, 2016 by WCBC Radio
The Office of the State’s Attorney for Allegany County, the Honorable Michael O. Twigg, State’s Attorney, announced today that Vennell Harris, an inmate at the North Branch Correctional Institution, was convicted in Allegany County Circuit Court of Second Degree Murder. The Honorable Jeffrey S. Getty, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge, sentenced Harris to the maximum sentence of 30 years in the Department of Corrections, to be served consecutively to the sentence he was serving at the time of the murder.
On July 29, 2015, staff at the Western Correctional Institution located Darrell Murray, an inmate at the facility, deceased in his cell. An autopsy revealed that Murray had died from multiple injuries to his head and torso. Murray’s cellmate, Harris, was developed as a suspect in the murder and subsequently admitted that the two men had fought in the cell, leading to the death of Murray. Harris was serving a 15 year sentence for attempted second degree murder at the time of the incident.
The case was investigated by the Maryland State Police and C3I Unit. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Erich Bean of the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office. Mr. Harris was represented by David Schram of the Public Defender’s Office.
.jpg)
