Knife killing draws 30 years in prison

Friday, March 12, 2010

A former Washington, D.C., police officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday for stabbing a stranger to death in a Waldorf restaurant parking lot, an act a judge described as "senseless."

An attorney for Joseph John Plass told the court that his client blacked out during the time that Shelton Stephens was killed near Hooters on Nov. 12, 2008.

Neither he nor the prosecutor was able to pinpoint a motive for the stabbing.

"The fact that we didn't know what happened scared us," said Charles County Deputy State's Attorney Jerome R. Spencer during the court hearing, describing the community's reaction to Stephens' death. Spencer described the killing as "vicious" and "heinous" and asked Circuit Court Judge Steven G. Chappelle to impose the maximum penalty of 30 years.

However, the lack of explanation for the stabbing shouldn't be used against Plass, argued defense attorney Jeffrey Harding. Plass' attorney asked the judge not to sentence his client for "what you think might have happened."

Harding said that Plass, 58, of Waldorf is a sociable man, who served in the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department for many years, is a father of three and has two grandchildren.

"I'm struggling with the leaps and bounds the state makes to turn this man into a monster when maybe he's not," Harding said.

Because Plass has no memory of what happened outside the restaurant, he entered an Alford plea Nov. 16 to second-degree murder, meaning that he didn't admit guilt but acknowledged that the evidence might lead to his conviction in a trial, according to Harding.

The state's evidence included surveillance footage that showed someone dressed like Plass following Stephens out of the restaurant and into the parking lot, Spencer said at earlier hearings in the case. Witnesses reported seeing a pair of men walking from Hooters and said that one man struck the other, the prosecutor said.

Bleeding profusely from the neck after being stabbed, Stephens ran into the nearby Super 8 motel and collapsed in the lobby, where he died.

According to Harding, one witness reported seeing three people in the parking lot together when the stabbing happened.

Stephens, 52, of Dunnellon, Fla., had been towing a boat from Maryland to New York and stopped at Hooters for a meal. No one reported that Plass and Stephens had any unusual interactions inside the restaurant, Spencer said.

Before sentencing Plass, Chappelle extended condolences to Stephens' family.

"No healthy, functioning human being would do what Mr. Plass did, in my opinion. The crime was horrific, and quite frankly, Mr. Plass is a dangerous person," said Chappelle, who recommended that Plass get treatment at the Patuxent Institution, a correctional mental health center in Jessup.

Before the sentencing Thursday, Chappelle denied Plass' motion to withdraw his plea. Harding argued that his client did not have adequate time to think about the Alford plea. However, a transcript of the Nov. 16 hearing showed that Chappelle was careful to explain the plea process to Plass, the judge said.

"I think [Plass] knew the pros and cons, and I think he made a choice," Chappelle said.

Several of Stephens' family members said they were pleased with the outcome of the Thursday court hearing.

Stephens was a good man and was "needlessly" killed, said his brother, John Stephens.

"We hoped the right thing would be done, and it was," the victim's sister-in-law, Joyce Stephens, said of the sentence.

brodgers@somdnews.com