Expressing their desire to end emotionally straining court proceedings, the families of Maryland murder victims Betina “Kristi” Gentry and Cynthia V. Allen recently urged Anne Arundel County’s top prosecutor to end his 3rd attempt to get a death sentence for the man accused of killing the two women 10 years ago. “They’ve been through so much. I can’t look them in the eye and say, ‘Nah, you have to relive it again.’ I can’t do that,” said State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee after agreeing to seek a sentence of life without parole instead of a capital conviction for Darris Ware, the man convicted of the crime. Ware’s 1995 death penalty conviction for the crime was vacated in 1997, when Maryland’s highest court found that prosecutors failed to reveal information about a key prosecution witness who was in jail and hoping to reduce his prison term. Ware received the death penalty again in 1999, but that sentence was voided in 2002 because of inadequate representation by Ware’s defense attorneys. Gentry’s eldest brother, Keith, a retired Maryland state trooper, noted that the route to execution is a torturous one for families. His experiences over the past decade led him to approach other victims’ family members from the case to recommend that they advocate for a sentence that would put Ware behind bars for life and end the cycle of trials, appeals, and overturned sentences. (Associated Press, August 8, 2004) See Victims. See also, Life Without Parole.

TAGS