Second brother enters Alford plea to sex offense in Bel Air assault

The older of two brothers charged in the alleged rape of a woman in a Bel Air parking garage last fall accepted a plea agreement Monday that will allow him to avoid additional jail time — after his brother was acquitted on similar charges by a Harford County jury.

David Corn Jr., 26, of Bel Air, entered an Alford plea before Circuit Judge M. Elizabeth Bowen to second-degree sex offense. An Alford plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence in the case to convict.

State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly said Corn also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.

Corn and his younger brother, Ryan Corn, 22, were charged with raping a 29-year-old woman in the parking garage on Oct. 11.

After a seven-day trial, during which he said he had consensual sex with the accuser following a night of drinking, Ryan Corn was found not guilty of first- and seconddegree rape and sex offenses by a jury Aug. 20.

Both brothers had been held without bail after their arrest the day of the incident. Following his brother’s acquittal, David Corn Jr. was released on home detention.

Under terms of the plea, David Corn will be sentenced Sept. 29 to 10 years in jail, with credit for the 352 days he was held, and the remaining time suspended, Cassilly said.

He will receive probation before judgment for the second-degree sex offense, and will be on supervised probation for five years, Cassilly said.

Cassilly said the brother’s acquittal — and the media coverage surrounding that case — were factors in the state accepting the plea.

“Certainly we were concerned about being able to try this case in Harford County,” Cassilly said.

Another factor, he said, was the welfare of the accuser, who testified at Ryan Corn’s trial.

“She’s already been through the horrendous original experience. The stress and everything she went through with the first trial, then doing it again?” Cassilly said.

He said the woman, who was consulted about the agreement, thought it was “important for people to hear there was an agreement and we had evidence to prove she was sexually assaulted.”

Thomas Maronick, David Corn’s chief counsel, said in a statement that Corn’s attorneys are “very happy for our client in that he has accepted a plea in which he will walk free on Sept. 30th not convicted of any sex offense, not convicted of any felony, nor to ever see his name on a sex offender registry, and not to serve another minute of active incarceration should he uphold the terms of his probation.”

“While his brother was acquitted of charges on the same facts, David was still facing the possibility of life in prison, and instead he received an almost unheard-of plea for this type of case, which ends a nearly yearlong ordeal,” Maronick’s statement said. “We respect our client’s decision and believe he earned a great result.”