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By
Alyssia Davis [former]
- March 30, 2023
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Suspects
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Victims
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“I often think about how my cousin was beaten and killed,” said the cousin of homicide victim Dwayne Maxwell while the defendant charged in his death pleaded guilty on March 29.
“The way he was taken was traumatizing. I will never be able to cope with his death,” the cousin said before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn S. Mays.
“Dwayne didn’t deserve to be killed at his hands,” the victim’s cousin said in regards to defendant Bright Ogueri.
“I am truly sorry for what I did,” said Ogueri after being given the chance to address the court.
On Wednesday, the 43-year-old defendant and his defense counsel Avie Stone, accepted a plea of life, suspending all but 35 years with five years supervised probation for first-degree murder; a concurrent 20 years with the first five years without the possibility of parole for the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime; and a concurrent 15 years for possession of a firearm with a felony conviction in connection to Maxwell’s shooting death on May 29, 2020.
According to WMAR News, on the day of the incident, officers were called to the 4000 block of 6th Street for reports of an assault. Officers pronounced 38-year-old Maxwell dead inside his home.
The manner in which the victim was shot shows there was some anger,” said the prosecutor. She believed the “top of the sentence is warranted considering the nature of the crime”.
The prosecutor stated “the amount of bullets that went into the victim’s head almost made him unrecognizable.”
In her rebuttal, Stone said, “Ogueri always expressed remorse for what happened. He turned himself in and owned up to what he did.”
Stone also stated the defendant suspected that the victim was abusing his son. The defendant said he saw Maxwell smack his son so hard he fell which resulted in his face being swollen.