HoCo Judge Weighs Morgan Lane Arnold's Case

A Howard County Circuit Court judge will rule Monday whether 16-year-old Morgan Lane Arnold will be tried as an adult or a juvenile in the death of her father, Dennis Lane.

Lane—a prolific Howard County blogger and commercial real estate agent—was found stabbed to death in his Ellicott City home on May 10, 2013.

Police said that Arnold conspired with her then boyfriend, Jason Bulmer, in the murder. Last month, Bulmer was sentenced to 30 years in jail. He said that Arnold told him to kill her father, a statement supported by online messages the couple exchanged between January and May.

Arnold is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of solicitation for first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy. In addition to her father, she allegedly plotted to kill Denise Geiger, her father’s fiancée.

Although Arnold was charged as an adult, her attorney Joseph Murtha has been trying to show that she should be tried as a juvenile. Arnold was 14 at the time of the murder, two months shy of her 15th birthday.

The defendant’s age, physical and mental condition, amenability to treatment at the juvenile court level, nature of and role in the offense and public safety are to be considered in determining which court hears the case, according to the Maryland State Bar Association.

Various doctors agreed Arnold was younger emotionally than her actual age, Murtha said.

This spring, she had started feeling aggressive and asked to be put back on medication, which Murtha said indicated she was “responsive” to treatment.

As far as her condition and role, he said that she was “gullible,” “immature” and ”influenced by an individual who was 19 years of age,” referring to Bulmer.

For the three days of hearings about whether she should be tried as a juvenile or an adult, Arnold gave the impression of a little girl. On Wednesday, she wore a yellow cardigan, pink dress, pink scrunchy, pink socks and sparkly shoes beneath her shackles.

During the hours of testimony on Wednesday, she stared at a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! book in front of her, turning the page one or two times. Next to her on the table was a Ty stuffed horse.

“It’s been a show from the first day we started, and it continues here today,” Assistant State’s Attorney Danielle Duclaux said. She asked who put those objects there, adding that Arnold had not touched the stuffed toy once. She also noted that in calls recorded while Arnold was incarcerated, the girl had asked about what would happen next. “Why can’t she pay attention today?” Duclaux said, suggesting that this was a “ploy” and a “farce.”

Tapes recorded while Arnold was in the Howard County Detention Center were played in court Wednesday, including a conversation with her mother in which Arnold said she wished her boyfriend had killed Geiger too. Her mother laughed and called the woman a profane name, stating that she had made Arnold’s life miserable.

Duclaux said that Arnold did not show remorse, did not have a place to go that would rehabilitate her in the juvenile system and would be a threat to public safety if she were not tried as an adult, particularly since the Department of Juvenile Services tends to close cases out and release offenders at age 18. Arnold is 16 now.

Murtha said that the “best thing that has happened” to Arnold since being taken into custody in May was going to Spring Grove Hospital Center, where she was put on psychiatric medication for depression. He added that the call in which Arnold said she wished Geiger had been murdered was from August 2013.

Murtha said there was research supporting the idea that people who go into prison underage are more likely to be sexually abused and commit suicide. He asked the judge to consider that “Morgan Arnold is a unique person.”

Countered Duclaux: “A life is gone, and it’s a case that deserves punishment.”

Howard County Circuit Court Judge William Tucker—who was previously the chief of the juvenile division—said he would review the case law, information and evaluations and would provide a ruling on Monday, Aug. 11.

Related: Daughter of Slain Ellicott City Blogger Reportedly Dreamed of His Death

Photo Credit: Howard County Police Department