Lawyers for a young Maryland man given a 100-year prison sentence for a school shooting say it is too long for someone with no previous criminal record.

Matthew McCullough, 21, was convicted of four counts of first-degree assault for firing into a crowd of students leaving a charity basketball game at Randallstown High School in May 2004. Four people were injured, including one who was paralyzed from the waist down.

At a hearing Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, McCullough's attorneys argued for a new sentencing hearing, The Baltimore Sun reported. They said the century-long sentence far exceeds state guidelines and is much tougher than those imposed for similar crimes.

According to the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Guidelines, only seven other people have received sentences that long for crimes other than rape or murder, and all of them had long criminal records.

Ann Brobst, who prosecuted McCullough in 2004, argued that proportionality is not an issue in Maryland.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 13 December 2007   

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