Print Associated Press
A jury on Thursday found the gunman who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper criminally responsible for his actions, rejecting defense attorneys’ mental illness arguments.
The verdict means Jarrod Ramos will be sentenced to prison, not a maximum-security mental health facility, for one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in the U.S. Prosecutors are seeking five life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The jury needed less than two hours to find that Ramos, 41, could understand the criminality of his actions and conform his conduct to the requirements of the law when he attacked the Capital Gazette newsroom in 2018.
This is a really bittersweet day : Jury finds Capital Gazette gunman criminally responsible in Annapolis newsroom shooting sun-sentinel.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sun-sentinel.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Five employees of the
Capital Gazette newspaper are honored across the street from the newsroom where they were killed in Annapolis, Md. Jose Luis Magana / AP
The gunman who admitted to a shooting attack on the newsroom of Maryland s
Capital Gazette three years ago has been found criminally responsible for the massacre of five people.
Jarrod Ramos had maintained he was not responsible because of mental illness, but on Thursday the jury rejected that defense, saying the 41-year-old did understand the criminality of his actions when he attacked the newsroom in June 2018.
The verdict means Ramos, who has already pleaded guilty to 23 counts against him, will be sentenced to prison, not a maximum-security health facility.
David Mcfadden
Montana Geimer, daughter of Wendi Winters, a community beat reporter who died in the Capital Gazette newsroom shooting, reacts during a press conference following a verdict in the trial of Jarrod W. Ramos, Thursday, July 15, 2021, in Annapolis, Md. The jury found the gunman who killed five people at the newspaper criminally responsible, rejecting defense attorneys mental illness arguments. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) July 16, 2021 - 12:12 PM
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) â Three years after a mass shooting left five dead at a Maryland newspaper, relief that the gunman has been found criminally responsible is tempered by lingering sorrow among residents of the stateâs picturesque capital who vividly recall the attack that shattered their community.
ANNAPOLIS, Md.
Three years after a mass shooting left five dead at a Maryland newspaper, relief that the gunman has been found criminally responsible is tempered by lingering sorrow among residents of the state’s picturesque capital who vividly recall the attack that shattered their community.
The 2018 rampage at the Capital Gazette was unique in its horror one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in American history. Yet in numerous other ways, it was painfully similar to other mass shootings in communities across the U.S. And many Annapolis residents have discovered that the searing effects leave a wound that endures.