A man locked up in a Baltimore jail has pleaded guilty to strangling his cellmate, who was deaf and was being held on relatively minor charges.
Gordon Staron, 35, has pleaded guilty after he was charged with the first-degree murder of his cellmate, Javarick Gantt in 2022. Staron was in jail on murder charges at the time, ABC News reports.
It is unclear why Gantt — who required the use of sign language to communicate and had only been charged with relatively minor crimes — was placed in a cell with a man who was charged with murder.
Gantt, 34, had been sitting in jail for months awaiting his trial due to Baltimore’s congested court system. He was charged in relation to a 2019 domestic dispute that did not result in serious injuries. A judge ordered him to be held without bond after he missed court dates and probation check-ins.
While he was awaiting his trial, Staron was placed in his cell.
In his previous murder case, Staron was accused of using an axe to kill a 63-year-old man at a city bus stop. A jury recently returned a guilty verdict in that case, and his sentencing will occur on December 19.
A year after Gantt was killed, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he would personally prosecute the case, making it the first time in “nearly a decade” that an active city state’s attorney has prosecuted a case, according to his statement.
Bates announced that he will seek life in prison without parole at Staron’s sentencing.
“When I campaigned for this office, I promised to be a champion and defender of our older adult and disabled community in Baltimore, and the outcomes of these cases will undoubtedly ensure that Mr Staron is never back on our streets to commit more malicious acts against vulnerable individuals,” Bates said in his Tuesday statement.
No motive has been given in either of the killings.
