By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 8, 2008

The witness who said that two inmates accused of killing a state prison guard were acting on orders from other guards was an inmate himself, and he had heard the information secondhand, according to court documents filed by the Maryland attorney general's office.

The unidentified witness told state police investigators that two guards " 'ordered' the hit" because correctional officer David W. McGuinn had "interfered with" a smuggling ring at the House of Correction in Jessup, according to an earlier filing by attorneys for one of the inmates. The defense attorneys sought disciplinary and other records involving 21 guards whom they called corrupt.

The response from the attorney general's office, which provided the first public information about the identity of the witness, was filed Monday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court but has been in a judge's chambers and unavailable for review until yesterday.

In the filing, the attorney general's office said most of the information relayed by the witness was obtained from another inmate, and it said the witness had "little firsthand knowledge of the veracity of the information he conveyed."

The attorney general's office argued that the allegations of corruption were not relevant to the 2006 slaying. The filing said that one guard was identified in the police investigation of the slaying "as someone who 'used to be 'Dirty,' " and another guard's "alleged 'corruption' " was her involvement with a male inmate for whom she obtained contraband.

The filing does not specify whether those are the two guards said by the witness to be responsible for McGuinn's death.

In arguing against the release of records related to the two guards, the motion said there were no allegations in the report that they had been "corruptly involved with inmates at the time of Officer McGuinn's death, or that either of them knew about the murder in advance, or ordered, financed, or benefited from the murder in any way."

Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, declined to comment yesterday on the allegations made in the motion.

"Our internal investigations are still open," Binetti said. "I don't know of any specific disciplinary actions that were taken out as a result of the McGuinn incident."

The response by the attorney general's office said the inmate initially told investigators "that he would refuse to testify about any of the matters related if called to testify in a court proceeding." He also "sought to obtain intercession from the investigators on two unrelated matters," it said, and the inmate from whom he received much of the information did not provide any information "directly" to the investigator.

William M. Davis, the lead public defender for inmate Lamarr C. Harris, declined to comment yesterday on the state's motion. Along with Harris, inmate Lee E. Stephens is accused of first-degree murder in the slaying. The prison has since been closed.