Rejecting a retired janitor's claim that years of intimidation by neighborhood thugs led him to shoot a 13-year-old who vandalized his home, a jury has convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.
Nathaniel Hurt, 62, was found guilty Tuesday of killing Vernon Holmes and using a handgun in the commission of a felony.He faces a mandatory prison sentence of at least five years at his June 12 sentencing. Hurt, who had been charged with murder, rejected a last-minute offer to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a suspended sentence and probation, prosecutor Mark Cohen said.
The defense argued that Hurt suffered from "urban fear syndrome" brought on by years of menacing from neighborhood vandals. The syndrome isn't medically recognized, and Judge Ellen M. Heller limited testimony on it.
Cohen said the verdict shows "you can't take the law into your hands."
Hurt had no comment. His attorney, Stephen L. Miles, said he would appeal.
Heller told jurors that in order to find Hurt not guilty by reason of self-defense, they had to believe that he wasn't the aggressor, he thought he was in danger and didn't use more force than necessary.
Hurt said he was acting in self-defense Oct. 10 when he stepped onto his fire escape and fired four warning shots from his .357 Magnum toward a group of youths who had thrown debris at Hurt's property and car.
"I thought they were going to get me," he testified last week. "They had already threatened me." A bullet struck Holmes in the back as he ran down an alley.
"I think there was a very strong consensus that (Hurt) had been pushed really far," a juror told The (Baltimore) Sun. "Your emotions say `I don't want this guy to go to prison,' but at the same time . . . we came to agreement that it was his bullet that killed the boy."