Baltimore man pleads in Bloods prison murder; Hagerstown inmate found beaten and bound

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

A Baltimore man entered an Alford plea on Monday to second-degree murder in the gang-related death of a Hagerstown man found dead in January 2020 in his cell at the Maryland Correctional Training Center south of Hagerstown.

Christopher Dorsey, 36, was found beaten and bound in his cell on Jan. 23, 2020, Deputy State's Attorney Sarah Mollett-Gaumer said during a plea hearing in Washington County Circuit Court.

Dorsey had an address east of Hagerstown, according to a court filing.

Column:Of spy balloons, experts and wars, it seems Americans have a lot to consider

Jabar Alexander, 32, entered his plea Monday morning to second-degree murder. He was scheduled to have a jury trial that day when attorneys reached a plea deal. Other charges against Alexander in the case were dismissed.

An Alford plea does not admit guilt, but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence to obtain a conviction.

Alexander is one of two co-defendants in the case, with the other being Jermaine Eric Johnson, 26, who remained held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center.

Alexander's criminal history includes a 2016 armed robbery, handled through the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, for which he was sentenced to eight years, according to court records.

Mollett-Gaumer said if the case had gone to trial, she would have presented witnesses and evidence that Johnson recently joined the Bloods gang and to show his allegiance he was to rob someone in the prison with Alexander, a Bloods member, as his backup.

The two initially had a different target in mind, but that mark was a member of a rival gang, she told the court. So the two switched to robbing Dorsey. Dorsey had his own cell so there wouldn't be a cellmate to fight, plus he was known to have a number of items in his cell through the commissary.

Among the items investigators found missing from Dorsey's cell was a TV and an Xbox, Mollett-Gaumer said.

Both Alexander and Johnson were indicted by grand juries in June 2020 with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, armed robbery, robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and theft valued at $100 to less than $1,500, court records state.

Johnson is scheduled for trial in August.

Judge Dana Moylan Wright told Alexander she agreed to a binding sentence of 40 years with all but 25 years in state prison suspended. That time would be served consecutive to any outstanding time Alexander has on other cases, she said.

She told Alexander he would have to serve half of his sentence for this case before his case could be reviewed for parole.

Wright ordered Alexander to continue to be held without bond during a pre-sentence investigation, scheduling his sentencing hearing for May.

A member of Dorsey's family sat in the court gallery during the hearing. About a dozen officials involved in the case, including correctional officers, Maryland State Police and medical responders also were in the gallery.

Lead defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender and Acting Circuit Court Supervisor Robert Sheehan, had no comment after the plea hearing.

Maryland inmate found in his cell 'completely unresponsive'

Mollett-Gaumer told the court that correctional officers began a cell-to-cell search in housing unit 5 after a shop teacher overheard inmates in his class talking about a body in the housing unit.

MCTC is a minimum/medium/prerelease facility on Roxbury Road that offers various vocational programs to help inmates adjust to life after they are released, according to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services website.

Dorsey was found between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. He was face down in his cell with his ankles bound and "completely unresponsive," Mollett-Gaumer said. Correctional officers and medical personnel from the prison attempted life-saving measures on Dorsey for about 45 minutes until emergency medical technicians arrived and determined Dorsey could not be resuscitated.

A medical examiner would have testified that Dorsey's death was a homicide and that he died due to multiple injuries, primarily from asphyxiation and blunt-force trauma, Mollett-Gaumer said.

Investigation into prison murder determined it was related to Bloods gang robbery

A motive was determined through interviews with other inmates and a tipster sharing a note with investigators. Mollett-Gaumer said a forensics expert would have testified the note was in Alexander's hand-writing.

Dorsey's commissary records indicated he should have had "quite a bit of property" in his cell, Mollett-Gaumer told the court.

A TV remote was found, but not the TV or Xbox, she said. Also missing was food and clothing.

Inmates can buy commissary items like snacks and hygiene products through their accounts as well as some electronic items like small TVs and Xboxes, according to an email from Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the public safety and correctional services department. Small electronic items are bought through approved catalogs and can "help reduce idleness and contribute to a safer correctional environment," Vernarelli wrote.

An inmate told investigators he saw Alexander dragging a pillow case or laundry bag out of Dorsey's cell that was so heavy he couldn't pick it up, Mollett-Gaumer said.

Dorsey's cell was on the upper floor at the far end of the tier, opposite from where a correctional officer sits, Mollett-Gaumer said. Alexander's and Johnson's cells were on a lower floor so they had no reason to be upstairs or dragging property down that hall.

Another inmate told investigators he saw Alexander and Johnson slip into Dorsey's cell just before cell doors were automatically closed around 8:30 a.m., she said.

A third inmate told investigators that Alexander and Johnson had been talking the previous day about robbing an inmate, Mollett-Gaumer said. Johnson had recently joined the Bloods and needed to perform a robbery or some act to demonstrate his allegiance to the gang. Alexander agreed to be Johnson's backup.

When this witness later asked the two how it went, Mollett-Gaumer said the inmate said the defendants had changed their target. Dorsey fought back when the two started to rob him so they beat him and the inmate witness alleged Johnson "choked him out," the prosecutor said.

According to an inmate witness, Blood code is that if a mark starts to fight members they are to finish it and kill the person, Mollett-Gaumer said. She said the witness' understanding was the defendants didn't know they were successful until later.

A note shared with a prison official stated the writer had been involved in a robbery and they had messed up the victim, she said. A Maryland State Police forensics specialist would have testified the note was written by Alexander.

Dorsey was serving 30 years on drug-distribution charges at the time of his death, according to Herald-Mail archives.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland inmate murdered over gang-related robbery of commissary items