The Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Harper, Maryland County, has sentenced Lewis Saywon to four years.
The sentenced came after Saywon pleaded guilty to three lesser offenses in a dramatic withdrawal of the capital charge of armed robbery.
In his ruling on Wednesday, September 16, Assigned Circuit Judge, George S. Wiles, Jr. granted the prosecution’s motion to drop the armed robbery charge.
The state told the court it was constrained by both the legal, and factual grounds; chiefly its inability to produce the lethal weapon said to have been used in the commission of the crime of armed robbery.
Based on that submission, Judge Wiles dismissed the armed robbery charge with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled against the defendant.
Saywon subsequently entered a guilty plea to the remaining charges of theft of property, terroristic threat, and burglary, and was convicted on those counts.
Judge Wiles announced the sentenced of Saywon to four years at the Harper Central Prison. The court credited him for one year, and six months already spent in pre-trial detention.
He will now serve an additional two years, and five months to complete his sentence.
While the court was able to proceed on the lesser charges, the case has triggered public scrutiny over the prosecution’s handling of felony cases.
The failure to produce a central piece of evidence; the alleged weapon in a serious armed robbery prosecution has raised concerns about evidence preservation, and investigative capacity within the justice system in the county.
