PROSECUTOR SEEKS DEATH PENALTY IN GAS STATION MURDER ...
Thursday June 24th 2010 9:58 AM
Thursday, June 24, 2010 - Anne Kramer
The Baltimore County State's Attorney will be seeking the death penalty against two people charged with the March murder of a Hess gas station owner.
State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger tells WBAL Radio his office will try for the death penalty against Karla Porter and Walter Bishop.
Four other people are charged in the crime.
Prosecutors say Porter hired a hit man to kill her husband William Porter on March 1st as he was opening the gas station on Joppa Road.
Porter and alleged hired hit man Bishop are charged with first degree murder.
Shellenberger says Porter and Bishop are the only two who are eligible to receive the death penalty under Maryland statute.
Even with the additional restrictions put on prosecutors to try and seek the death penalty we believe we can prove and overcome those restrictions and these two cases are appropriate for seeking a sentence of death, says Shellenberger.
He says the other individuals were helpers in the contract killing.
"While we believe everyone of them in the conspiracy certainly should be punished, only the two by law are eligible for the death penalty," says Shellenberger.
www.wbal.com/
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