Hagerstown man pleads after jury acquits and deadlocks on different charges in shooting

A Hagerstown man was sentenced to two years in state prison during a plea hearing Wednesday, shortly after a Washington County jury acquitted him on second-degree attempted murder and deadlocked on some other charges related to an October shooting in the city.

Xzavion Malik Powell, 27, was tried last week as an accomplice in the Oct. 7 shooting of Hagerstown resident Cedric Williams along Jonathan Street around 6 p.m. that Saturday.

Williams' injuries included bullet wounds to at least one leg and his groin area, and he still has a bullet in him, Assistant State's Attorney Amy Taylor said. Four shell casings were recovered at the scene.

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Kahleel Jamal Graham, 27, of Martinsburg, W.Va., has been charged as a co-defendant. Williams described the shooter to Hagerstown Police, who later identified him as Graham, according to court records.

Graham was being held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center awaiting his trial, which is tentatively scheduled for May.

Graham was released from a West Virginia jail on the same day of the shooting, according to charging documents.

The shooting happened shortly after Williams crossed Murph Avenue and walked up to Powell and Graham, who were standing by a truck along Jonathan Street, according to court documents and testimony during Powell's trial.

Powell told a detective he didn't know Graham's full name, only knew him by "Leel" though he didn't know how to spell the nickname. Powell described Leel at various times during the police interview as a "ghost," a cousin and a family friend through Powell's mother, according to the interrogation video shown during the trial.

Powell's mother has been Graham's guardian, according to court documents and testimony during Powell's trial.

Defendant, victim testified during attempted murder trial

The prosecution also showed Oct. 7 city surveillance camera footage from a camera north of Murph Avenue looking south along Jonathan Street. The area where the three men met up briefly by the truck was in the far distance of the camera footage.

When Williams walked up, he said something to the "dude in the truck," to Powell and to Leel, Powell testified.

Powell said Williams walked into a nearby yard and Leel also went to the yard.

"I don't know what happened, but it was trippin'," Powell said. He testified he heard an argument and a gunshot, then two. Powell said "He shot him I guess" and that Leel shot "Skinny."

He testified he told Leel to get out of there and went to make sure Skinny — Williams — was alright. When a woman arrived, Powell said he got out of there.

"I didn't want nothing to do with it," Powell testified.

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According to court documents, Williams - who also testified during the trial — told police that the men later identified as Powell and Graham robbed and shot him, with Powell coaching Graham to shoot Williams some more. Williams had $150 stolen from him, per court documents.

Powell, on the stand, said he did not rob Williams nor did he tell Graham to shoot Williams again.

Asked by Taylor if he climbed a fence and took off his sweatshirt because he didn't want anyone to see him wearing it — after the shooting — Powell said, "Yes ma'am."

Taylor said during her closing argument that the defense would try to argue that Williams had alcohol and marijuana in his system at the time of the incident.

Assistant Public Defender Carl Somerlock referred to Williams' testimony during his closing argument. He said Williams testified that he didn't believe Powell wanted "to do this," that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Somerlock said that when Williams was asked if Powell could have instead said something like "You shot him again" instead of telling Graham to shoot him again, that Williams said that was possible.

Jury returns mixed results in Hagerstown shooting case; defendant pleads

After a two-day trial, the jury returned Wednesday to continue deliberations, finding Powell not guilty of attempted second-degree murder and theft charges while deadlocking on assault and reckless endangerment charges.

Judge Joseph S. Michael then acquitted Powell of the more serious attempted first-degree murder charge and armed robbery charges since the jury found Powell not guilty of the lesser similar offenses, according to court documents and attorneys in the case.

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With a mistrial on some of the charges, a bond hearing was scheduled Wednesday afternoon for Powell. That turned into a plea hearing, with Powell entering an Alford plea to misdemeanor reckless endangerment, avoiding a second trial.

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

Taylor recommended probation on the reckless endangerment charge. She said Powell had already been incarcerated for about six months while awaiting trial. Per the plea deal, the assault charges were dropped.

Michael reminded Powell he was not bound by the state's sentencing recommendation before accepting the Alford plea.

The judge ended up sentencing Powell to five years in state prison, suspending all but two years. Once he is released, Powell will be on probation for two years with the first year supervised.

Noting that Powell had a gun in some of his previous criminal convictions, Michael said it was "progress" that Powell didn't have a gun this time.

Michael noted that Powell was local and has family in the local area.

The judge said he takes a "dim view of people who come to our town and make it worse because there are a lot of those."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown man pleads after jury deadlocks in shooting case