2842/09 - Maryland Courts

Demetrius D. Lovelace, appellant, was arrested on April 1, 2008, in connection
with the death of Alan Zurita. On November 12, 2008, appellant was indicted on
fourteen counts, including first degree murder. Beginning on November 2, 2009, a jury
trial was held in the Circuit Court for Harford County. At the close of the State=s
case-in-chief on November 9, 2009, the court granted defense counsel=s Motion for
Judgment of Acquittal as to first degree premeditated murder, which limited that charge
to first degree felony murder. On November 12, 2009, the jury found appellant guilty of
the following charges: (1) first degree felony murder; (2) robbery with a dangerous
weapon; (3) robbery; (4) attempted robbery; (5) conspiracy to commit robbery; (6)
possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony; (7) possession of a firearm by a
person convicted of a crime of violence; and (8) possession of a firearm by a person
convicted of a disqualifying crime.
On January 25, 2010, the trial court merged for sentencing purposes the
convictions for robbery and attempted robbery into robbery with a dangerous weapon,
and merged the convictions for possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime
of violence and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a disqualifying crime
into possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony. The trial court sentenced
appellant to life imprisonment without parole for the first degree felony murder
conviction, twenty years for robbery with a dangerous weapon, fifteen years for
conspiracy to commit robbery, and five years for possession of a firearm by a person
convicted of a felony. The sentences for robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy