A Baltimore man was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping Monday afternoon, nearly a year after a 47-year-old grandfather was found dead in the woods near an Annapolis middle school.
Following more than 10 hours of deliberations, which extended beyond the weekend, an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury determined Marquis Mayo was involved in David Winchester Jr.’s abduction in Baltimore and murder in the county.
During the four days evidence was presented last week, Winchester’s family filled one side of the third-floor courtroom. While the jury was deliberating, they waited on the hallway benches, some lying down with jackets over their heads.
Winchester, 47, was a brother to 15, a father to 10 and a grandfather to six, according to his obituary.
On Monday, David Winchester Sr., his father, said the trial was a “miserable” and painful experience.
“I’m happy about the verdict,” he added. “It’s a relief that justice came, so far.”
Authorities say Winchester was thrown into the back of a blue hatchback in the early hours of March 28 and driven to Annapolis. Before arriving at Wiley H. Bates Middle School, however, his kidnappers took him to his mother’s house — the address, a witness said, was beaten out of him — where they hoped to loot a private safe.
Winchester’s mother, Beverly Brice, told the jury that the only things in it were her mother’s collection of coins and $2 bills, items valuable mainly to her.
Despite claiming on the stand that he stayed home the night of the murder, Mayo, 35, was accused of being one of the four people in the blue hatchback. Two of the others, Pamela Gross and his sister Monae Fincher, said he had a gun in his hand at each stage of the crime.
In addition to first-degree felony murder and kidnapping, Mayo was found guilty of a firearm offense.
Monae Fincher and Jamar Fincher, who divorced in 2021, were arrested along with Mayo days after Winchester’s death. Both are scheduled for trial later this year, though Monae Fincher indicated in court that she intends to plead guilty.
Gross, Jamar Fincher’s girlfriend, claimed on the stand she was riding in the hatchback after a date with Jamar. She was not charged and was placed into a witness protection program, according to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Brandon Taylor, Mayo’s defense attorney, was not immediately available to comment following Monday’s verdict.
Sentencing before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Cathleen Vitale is set for April 22.
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