Outside the circuit courthouse, Leonard Cummings Jr., the husband of Michelle Cummings, embraces Assistant State's Attorney Carolynn Grammas, who prosecuted Angelo Harrod, the 31-year-old Annapolis resident found guilty of murder for participating in the shooting that killed his wife last year. (Dan Belson, Capital Gazette/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Oral arguments challenging Angelo Harrod’s murder conviction in the high-profile killing in June 2021 of a woman whose son was being inducted into the U.S. Naval Academy are slated to begin Friday morning.
Following a two-week trial in December 2022, Harrod, 32, was convicted of first- and second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for his part in a deadly shooting the year before of Michelle Cummings, 57, of Houston, who was in town celebrating her son’s induction.
Harrod was arrested at the Graduate Hotel less than 24 hours after the shooting June 29, 2021; he has been held by authorities ever since. In addition to the two murder charges, Harrod, an Annapolis resident, also was found guilty of attempted murder, conspiracy and several firearm offenses.
Weighing the factors of the case, which were argued to a jury by assistant state’s attorneys Carolynn Grammas and Jason Steinhardt, Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Pamela K. Alban issued three life sentences for the shooting — one for the killing of Cummings and two for a couple who appeared to be Harrod’s intended targets.
At the time, Alban said she was issuing a sentence above the typical guidelines due to the “senseless, random and callous” nature of the crime and Harrod’s criminal history, which included three prior gun convictions.
“You don’t care about the rules,” Alban told Harrod during his sentencing hearing, saying she has “no doubt” he was responsible for the 2021 attack.
Since his conviction, Harrod and his family have maintained his innocence, pledging at the end of the trial that they would be “coming back.” Addressing Alban at his last Circuit Court appearance, Harrod said he “wouldn’t shoot at anybody [he] didn’t know.”
His appeal, which will be led by public defenders Brian Zavin and Rachel Kamins, was filed in March 2023, days after his sentencing. Assistant attorneys general Daniel Jawor and Peter Naugle will represent the state, according to court records.
Cummings’ death rocked Annapolis during the Naval Academy’s Induction Day, one of the city’s most popular summer events.
Cummings and her husband Leonard traveled from eastern Texas to drop off their son Trey at the academy. Trey, one of Michelle Cummings’ two children, was a football prospect at the time. Now a senior, he has gone on to have a successful career on the Navy football team’s offensive line. Three years ago, as his Induction Day came around, his mother was “all in” and looking forward to seeing what her son would do on the field.
Just after midnight on June 29, 2021, Harrod and a second gunman were stalking a Chevrolet Trailblazer occupied by Breonna Barnes and R.J. Atwell, according to prosecutors. The two had been on a date that night and were parked at the end of Pleasant Street. When Harrod and the other gunman opened fire around 12:20 a.m., several bullets struck the SUV while at least one sailed past the car and into a wooded area. It struck Cummings in the chest as she and Leonard were celebrating with other Naval Academy families on The Graduate’s elevated patio. Cummings was pronounced dead at the scene
Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson said at the time it was almost inexplicable how a bullet could travel from Pleasant Street to the hotel patio.
Over 10 days of testimony, Grammas and Steinhardt used surveillance footage, DNA evidence and cellphone records to identify Harrod as one of the two gunmen. A 38-minute compilation of security footage showed Harrod in a “distinct” sweatsuit following the Trailblazer through the Clay Street area, drawing his weapon multiple times throughout the night. Harrod eventually fled the area in a taxi operated by the same cab company contacted minutes earlier in a call from Harrod’s cellphone.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors and police did not identify the second shooter.
During sentencing, defense attorney Howard Cardin argued evidence in the case was “manufactured,” prejudicial and unfairly secured, saying he was “certain” Harrod would appeal his case and exercise “all of his rights.”
Oral arguments in the appeal will begin at 9 a.m. Friday at the Appellate Court of Maryland in Annapolis.
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