Essex Man Can Face Death Penalty, Jury Rules

(Update 4:40 p.m.)—Walter Bishop told Baltimore County detectives he fired the bullets that killed William R. "Ray" Porter.

That voluntary confession makes him eligible to face the death penalty, a Harford County jury found Thursday, in the first test of Maryland's two-year old revised death penalty statute.

Bishop, 29, was in the March 1, 2010 shooting death of Porter at the Hess gas station on East Joppa Road which he owned.

The case was moved to Harford County Circuit Court at the request of defense attorneys.

Bishop was the shooter in a murder-for-hire plot that authorities say was orchestrated with Porter's wife, Karla. She is scheduled for trial in 2012, while involved with the plot have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial.

After another round of deliberations, to begin Friday, the jury will decide on Bishop's final sentence. Prosecutors plan to submit a victim impact statement. Defense attorneys plan to call five or six family members and forensic and psychiatric experts, public defender Stephanie McArdle told judge Mickey Norman.

Under Maryland's new death penalty law, enacted in 2009, prosecutors need to provide conclusive proof of first-degree murder, such as DNA evidence, surveillance footage of the crime or a videotaped, voluntary confession.

Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney John Cox said during Thursday morning's sentencing hearing that police got the latter on March 6, 2010, after police arrested Bishop and interrogated him at police headquarters in Towson.

With a video camera in the room, Bishop waived his Miranda rights then detailed the crime, Karla Porter's involvement and his own actions, including shooting Porter.

Public defender Harun Shabazz said that Bishop was the victim of a "game" played by detectives, that he did not know he was on camera, and that he did not know his confession gave prosecutors what they needed to pursue the death penalty.

"I doubt he would have bared his soul if he knew he was eligible for the death penalty," Shabazz said.

The Baltimore Sun has police footage of the confession.

Cox, however, said it was not the detectives' responsibility to inform Bishop that he could face the death penalty, nor was it their goal to induce him to confess.

"He was not forced in any way to confess to this crime, but he did," Cox said.