Annapolis man sentenced to life in prison for killing mother of Naval Academy student

Angelo Harrod, the Annapolis man found guilty of killing the mother of a U.S. Naval Academy football player, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the maximum punishment sought in the high-profile case.

Following a two-week trial in December, Harrod, 31, was convicted of first- and second-degree murder for his part in a June 2021 shooting on Pleasant Street. A stray bullet from that shooting struck and killed Houston resident Michelle Cummings, who was in town with her husband to celebrate their son’s arrival at the academy. She was 57.

Harrod, of Annapolis, was also found guilty of attempted murder, conspiracy and several firearm offenses. On Friday, he was handed three consecutive life sentences by Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Pamela K. Alban, one for Cummings and two for the couple sitting in a parked car who appeared to be his intended victims. Three corresponding firearm offenses each yielded a 20-year sentence, and Harrod was given an additional 50 years on the conspiracy charge.

After hearing from members of both Harrod’s and Cummings’ families, Alban said she was issuing a sentence above guidelines due to the “senseless, random, and callous” nature of the crime, as well as Harrod’s criminal history. The jury’s decision in December marked the Annapolis man’s fourth gun conviction.

“You don’t care about the rules,” Alban told the defendant, saying she has “no doubt” he was responsible for the 2021 attack.

Prosecutors Jason Steinhardt and Carolynn Grammas successfully argued that Harrod killed Cummings when he and an unnamed person fired at an occupied SUV on June 29, 2021. Over 10 days of testimony, the state used a combination of surveillance footage, DNA evidence and cellphone records to identify Harrod as one of the two men seen shooting at the vehicle, a Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Throughout the trial, neither prosecutors nor police named the second person said to be involved in the shooting.

Defense attorney Howard Cardin maintained that his client did not fire the bullet that killed Cummings and when given a chance to speak, Harrod said shooting randomly at people “wasn’t me.”

“I wouldn’t shoot at anybody I didn’t know,” Harrod told the court.

Present Friday were members of Cummings’ family — her husband Leonard “Truck” Cummings Jr., her daughter Jordan Cummings and son Trey Cummings — as well as Breonna Barnes, who was in the Trailblazer with her boyfriend R.J. Atwell after an ice cream date.

“I don’t know them,” Harrod said. “They don’t know me.”

Before the sentencing hearing, the court dismissed a motion for a new trial. Defense attorney Cardin argued that evidence in the case was “manufactured,” prejudicial and unfairly secured before claiming that one of the state’s witnesses publicly bragged about receiving reward money for her testimony.

Alban rejected the theory, saying the witness’s role in identifying Harrod was small, given similar testimony in the trial, and that the state’s attorney’s office had no control over who received the financial reward — an approximately $57,000 purse offered by the FBI, Metro Crime Stoppers, and an alumni association at the Naval Academy.

Following Friday’s hearing, Cardin told Baltimore Sun Media he was “certain” Harrod would appeal his case and confident his client would exercise “all of his rights,” including a three-judge panel that would review Alban’s sentencing and has the power to reduce his punishment.

Steinhardt said Harrod’s sentencing should act both as a punishment for the repeat offender and a deterrent to lawbreakers. The prosecutor passionately denounced Harrod’s actions before and after the shooting, including a call the defendant made in prison threatening witnesses.

“That conduct is reprehensible, and the court should send a message as such,” the prosecutor said.

Alban agreed, describing what she saw as Harrod “stalking and hunting” the Trailblazer before the shooting. When he and the second person opened fire, several rounds hit the vehicle, and one passed through a wooded area to the patio of a nearby hotel, where Cummings and her husband were sitting.

Cummings, who was in town from Houston celebrating the Naval Academy’s Induction Day for her son Trey Cummings, was shot in the chest and died shortly after midnight.

“What was supposed to be a celebratory time turned into tragedy for Mrs. Cummings’ family that summer evening,” State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in a statement. “Mrs. Cummings was a proud mother and loving wife who was taken away by senseless gunfire. May this prosecution and sentence show there will be no tolerance for these crimes in our county.”

Harrod was arrested on an outstanding warrant less than 24 hours after the shooting, which rocked Annapolis during one of the city’s most popular summer events.

During Friday’s sentencing, even as officers handcuffed him and blocked his view, Harrod looked back at his family. As the life sentences were announced, his mother, Angela Ragin, cried out, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do!” and was nearly dismissed from the courtroom.

When she did leave, she continued apologizing, but she was no longer crying.

“I’m sorry,” Ragin said, her tone shifting as she descended the Circuit Court stairs. “I still get to see my son.”