A Baltimore judge on Thursday sentenced a Royal Farms security guard to 60 years in prison for fatally shooting a man at a southwest Baltimore store in October 2022.
Circuit Judge Kendra Ausby ruled that Kanisha Spence, 45, received the maximum sentence for second-degree murder and use of a firearm in a crime of violence.
In August, a jury found Spence guilty on those two charges, but acquitted him of first-degree murder, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
During the trial, Spence's lawyer Roya Hanna said he acted in self-defense when he shot the Marchioness in the head on October 30, 2022, after an argument. Powell died six days later at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Prosecutors ruled the death an execution.
In Thursday's sentencing, Ausby repeatedly cited the “overall callousness” of the shooting, describing the moment Spence failed to de-escalate the late-night standoff. The judge asked why Spence didn't lock the door at the Royal Farmhouse after Powell went outside with her sister and instead call 911, “yelling” at her, and why she didn't call 911 for several months. He questioned whether he had been “waving” the gun he had previously acquired near Royal Farms. Other people. According to video shown at trial, Spence forced open the front door and fired at Powell.
While eating food and talking on the phone, Spence told the 911 operator that Powell was “okay.” A store employee applied pressure to Powell's wound.
“He was on the verge of death… because she intentionally shot him for no reason,” Orsby said, “and she shot him with a gun that she lied about having permission to do.”
The killing was part of a spate of mass shootings of security guards in the fall of 2022, prompting state lawmakers to call for tighter regulation of the profession in Maryland. Two weeks before the Royal Farms shooting, a Harbor East CVS security guard shot a man in the face for approaching a police officer with a hypodermic needle. On November 7, 2022, Highlandtown bar bouncer Keith Lackey shot and killed soccer coach Kevin Torres. A jury determined in December that Lackey acted in self-defense when he fired after Torres threw a brick at him. He was outside the Chris T bar.
The law, passed last year, went into effect in June and strengthened the training required for security guards and required all private security guards to be licensed and insured by the state police.
Assistant State's Attorney Matthew Gary told the judge Thursday that Spence has refused to take responsibility and that her actions show “a disregard for human life.” She successfully recommended the maximum sentence for Gary, citing her own “untruthfulness” and saying she lied on her gun application.
Hanna asked for Orsby to be sentenced to 15 years in prison, the lower end of sentencing guidelines for defendants with no criminal record. Ms Hanna said Spence, a mother-of-two who was working double shifts at the Royal Farm that night, saw Powell as a threat and said she had “minimal training” in how to use a weapon. No, she insisted. She also said a long sentence would not deter similar violence because Mr. Spence did not seek an opportunity to harm Mr. Powell.
“When she left home that day, she had no idea who the Marchioness of Powell was,” Hanna said. “My emotions were out of control and the worst thing in the world happened to me.”
Ms. Ausby said she agreed with some of that assessment. “Your client was out of control. There was no evidence to support why she was out of control.”
Marchioness Powell's uncle and mother also spoke, describing the generous and dependable 26-year-old Mrs. Powell, who played an important role in the lives of many of her relatives. Ms Powell had one daughter, her mother said through tears. Mr. Powell will no longer see that growth.
“He gave his heart to everyone,” said Corey Hill, Mr. Powell's uncle.
Hill said his nephew's murder highlights the unwarranted risks black men face from strangers who fear them.
“They always see you as a threat, and that's always scary,” he said.
Spence, who is also black, appeared in court wearing pink scrubs and a blue surgical mask but did not address the court.
Baltimore Sun reporter Alex Man contributed to this article.
