Man found guilty of second-degree murder in 2021 killing of 91-year-old in Baltimore County

BALTIMORE -- Gary Parrish has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2021 killing of 91-year-old Norman Albert Sr. in Baltimore County. 

No verdict was reached on Monday after more than four hours of deliberating. The jury returned to the courtroom Tuesday morning when they delivered the verdict.

Parrish will be sentenced on February 12, 2024. He has 10 days to file for a new trial.

Parrish was first arrested in Dec. 2021 on a first-degree murder charge. He was indicted a month later, getting a first-degree assault charge added on.

He was not convicted of first-degree murder. The jury didn't feel the evidence was there to convict on that, so they instead opted for second-degree murder.

The victim's son, Norman Albert Jr., has been waiting 27 months for justice for his father.   

He's still puzzled why his father was killed.

"My dad was the friend of the world. He would do anything for anybody. Everybody loved him, he had no anger against anybody in the world," Albert Jr. told WJZ.

Albert Jr. said his father isn't coming back which makes closure for him impossible.

"People ask me, why have I not sold my dad's house? [It's] because I'm still waiting for him to come home," he said through tears. "So, I'll never have any closure."

Before getting the case, the jury heard from state prosecutors' last witness: a forensic biologist with the Baltimore County Police Department who worked on the case.

Much like the previous forensic biologist who took the stand Thursday, this one also testified about the tests and processes she did on Parrish's shoes.

In Aug. 2021, Albert Sr. was found beaten in his home. Charging documents say Parrish's shoes were a match for footprints found at the home, and that the 91-year-old's blood was on the shoes.

In his cross examination of the witness, Parrish's public defender, Coriolanus Ferrusi, noted there weren't definitive findings that blood was on Parrish's shoes. Both forensic biologists that testified said there are only presumptive tests for blood.

Ferrusi had the same line of questioning for the previous forensic biologist, as well as the forensic analyst who tested footprints in the case.

In his closing argument, Ferrusi questioned the credibility of the evidence.

"Shoes, DNA, guilty…[prosecutors are] hoping you make the simple choice," he said.

Assistant state's attorney Dan Trimble argued the evidence speaks for itself, going over the testimony of each of the experts they called.

He also said the autopsy, as well as the severity and frequency of Albert Sr.'s injuries, show this is first-degree murder.

"Albert Sr. didn't stand a chance," Trimble said. "With each blow, Parrish could've stopped."

Before the jury got the case, Ferrusi tried to motion for acquittal, which the judge denied.