A 29-year-old man entered an Alford plea on Dec. 9, denying his guilt but accepting a 30 year sentence for the fatal shooting of DeAngelo West outside a Northeast Baltimore corner store the day after Christmas last year. West was shot exactly eight weeks after his 27th birthday, and succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound three days later on Dec. 29.
“He just found out he was about to have a baby,” West’s sister told defendant Maurice Prioleau Jr. at the hearing. “You took so much from us.”
Despite disapproval from West’s family, who found the sentence too lenient, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence R. Daniels accepted the binding plea of life, suspending all but 30 years.
The prosecution explained that they believed the agreement was the best outcome for West’s grieving family, as bringing the case to trial could result in a lesser sentence for Prioleau. Though investigators recovered “overwhelming evidence” that Prioleau’s bullet killed West on the 2400 block of E. Preston Street, prosecutors described potential difficulties pinning down a motive for the shooting or determining the circumstances that led up to the confrontation at trial.
Several other members of West’s family attended the hearing, including West’s adoptive mother, who criticized Prioleau after he directed a long stare toward West’s family as they sat in the benches behind him. She addressed Prioleau impassionately during her impact statement, exclaiming that her son would have been 28 in November and lambasting the defendant for “smiling and winking” throughout proceedings.
““So yeah, I hope you get the max,” she declared. “Wink at that.”
West’s sister accused Prioleau of lacking remorse for his actions and described the overwhelming loss felt by West’s siblings, girlfriend, friends, and family. West was “best of friends” with one of his brothers, she said.
“Maybe he do understand what he did, and he just don’t care,” she told the court. “I really have no words.”
Prioleau chose not to address the court or West’s family prior to his sentencing.
