Man convicted in Baltimore murder month after guilty plea in separate double murder
A man was convicted of the murder of a Baltimore woman, court officials said, a month after he pleaded guilty in a separate 2024 double murder.
According to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, Bryan Cherry was found guilty of murder and possession of a deadly weapon related to the killing of Sierra Johnson.
Prosecutors said they will seek a life sentence without the possibility of parole during sentencing "because the safety of the public demands nothing less."
"Bryan Cherry has demonstrated, time and again, to possess an extraordinary capacity for violence and a complete disregard for human life," Baltimore State's Attorney Ivan Bates said. "This conviction, alongside his prior conviction for attempted murder in our city and his guilty plea to a double murder in Baltimore County, paints a clear and alarming picture of a defendant who poses an ongoing and severe threat to our communities."
Cherry is also a suspect in a June 26, 2024, stabbing at the East Baltimore Medical Center, according to Baltimore police.
WJZ has reached out to Cherry's attorney for comment.
Sierra Johnson's murder
Cherry was arrested for the double murder on July 14, 2024. Police collected DNA evidence from a cigarette butt that also tied Cherry to other violent crimes.
Police said Johnson was found dead in a Baltimore home in the 800 block of Abbott Court with trauma to her head.
Cherry was found and arrested nearby in the 1300 block of Homewood Avenue, police said.
Guilty plea in double murder
Court records show that Cherry pleaded guilty in March to a double murder that left a grandmother and granddaughter dead in July 2024.
Iona Sellers, 75, and her 29-year-old granddaughter, Autumn Harvey, were found dead in their Baltimore County home in Middle River, police said. Harvey had multiple stab wounds, and Sellers had blunt force trauma injuries.
Cherry was identified as a suspect through surveillance cameras in the neighborhood, police said.
In that case, prosecutors are recommending concurrent sentences of life without parole for the first-degree murder conviction.
"We're going to take this all the way and not going to stop until he's locked up for good," Autumn's cousin Devin Harney said to WJZ in 2024.
