By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Attorneys for the state of Maryland and for two inmates accused in the 2006 slaying of a prison guard clashed yesterday over whether the defense teams could have access to disciplinary and other records involving 21 guards the defense attorneys described as "corrupt."

As the defense attorneys sought to pursue an accusation that two of the guards ordered the killing to preserve a contraband-smuggling ring, the attorneys for the state agreed to release limited records.

The Maryland attorney general's office agreed to release records about the decision to close the maximum-security prison in Jessup, but it sought to block the release of records about the correctional officers.

Attorneys for Lamarr C. Harris, one of two inmates charged with first-degree murder in the slaying, first sought the records after an unidentified witness told state police investigators that two guards " 'ordered' the hit" on David W. McGuinn because he had been interfering with a contraband operation involving officers and inmates.

"Everything we've asked for today is from information that we received from the Maryland State Police," William M. Davis, the lead public defender, said in an interview after the hearing in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors declined to say whether the witness interviewed by the state police was an inmate or a correctional officer.

The attorney general's office agreed to turn over records of assaults at the 129-year-old prison and information about why the state decided last year to shut down it down after decades of riots, fights, escapes and attacks on correctional officers. Assistant Public Defender Mary Jo Livingston said in court that the state "knew for 10 years that the conditions were deplorable" at the facility and that the failure to act "led to anarchy within the institution" and "fueled the environment of corruption."

"That is the environment in which Mr. Harris was forced to survive," Livingston said.

Livingston said the information is necessary because "the core of the state's case" rests on the credibility of guards, some of whom may have planted evidence about the case on another inmate. State police, she said, were unable to "produce physical evidence linking Mr. Harris" to the homicide.

Assistant Attorney General Laura Mullally said at the hearing that personnel files are confidential by statute and that the release of police reports "could chill" active investigations and "endanger people who gave information" to investigators. Mullally asked that if information about investigations is released, it not be "shared with inmates," including Harris.

Judge Paul Hackner set a March 18 hearing to continue arguments.

Authorities allege that Harris and Lee E. Stephens escaped from their cells and repeatedly stabbed McGuinn, 42, the first Maryland corrections officer killed in a prison since 1984. The defendants, who could each receive the death penalty if convicted, were in court yesterday. Stephens's attorney, Michael Lawlor, requested the release of the same records sought by Harris's team.

In addition to requesting evidence about whether specific guards engaged in "any illegal behavior or behavior that violated the code of conduct," the motion filed by Harris's attorneys seeks information about any others "alleged to have smuggled in contraband into the Maryland House of Correction or participated in any conspiracy to distribute contraband into the House of Correction for the past five years."