Man pleads guilty in fatal beating of Brooklyn Park father in family's front yard
BALTIMORE -- A man has been convicted of killing Christopher Michael Wright, a father who was beaten in front of his Brooklyn Park home last May after refusing to produce his son to resume a school fight, according to the Office of the State's Attorney for Anne Arundel County.
Trevor Garrett Taylor, 26, of Glen Burnie, pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and fighting in public. He now faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years, staff for the county state's attorney said.
Taylor is slated to be sentenced at 1:35 p.m. on Oct. 25, according to state authorities.
Wright was 43-years-old when he died.
Wright's 14-year-old son was involved in an altercation with another 14-year-old boy, Taylor's nephew, at school on May 19.
According to a criminal complaint filed by police, Taylor, his nephew, another man and two other boys arrived at Wright's residence on West Arundel Road to find him gardening outside. Taylor insisted that his nephew and Wright's son continue their altercation, warning that he would enter their house forcibly if Wright declined, according to the complaint.
In response, police said, Wright punched Taylor in the face as one of Wright's sons and the other man joined the confrontation.
The fight between Wright and Taylor moved to the street, between two parked cars. Taylor seized both of Wright's legs, resulting in Wright's head hitting the pavement as he fell backward, the complaint states. Taylor then punched Wright in the face four more times before eventually stepping away, police said.
Wright was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center with a severe head injury; he died the following night.
An autopsy determined that the head injury Wright sustained in the fall led to his death.
Tracy Karopchinsky told WJZ she had been with Wright for five years and engaged for eight years before he died.
She said "the world lost a light" when Wright died.
"He was a friend to everybody," Karopchinsky said. "I mean, just the outpour we've been getting from friends and just, they're really, really gonna miss out on somebody with a really big heart. He loved beyond."
