Jury Convicts Man Who Strangled Two-Time Kidney Transplant Recipient

SILVER SPRING, MD — A Boyds man convicted of strangling a Silver Spring man who survived two kidney transplants faces a life prison sentence.

A Montgomery County jury on Monday convicted Dion Ramon Sobotker, 33, of Boyds on first-degree murder and robbery charges in the death of Jonathan Edward Terril Harris.

Three people were arrested in Harris’ December 2014 death at the Layhill area home he shared with his mother.

Along with Sobotker, police initially charged Latoya Renell Morgan and Harris’ former girlfriend, Samantha Carol Parker, with first-degree murder and robbery. Morgan pleaded guilty to robbery after the fact and testified against Sobotker. WTOP reports Parker has since died of brain cancer.

As Patch earlier reported, detectives were called to the 2300 block of Eagle Rock Place for a report of a burglary with a man injured. Officers found Harris, 26, dead inside the residence with obvious trauma to the top portion of his body.

The victim was found by his mother, Patricia Harris, who lived at that address, police say.

Along with the transplant surgeries, Jonathan Harris also survived open-heart surgery. At the time of his death he was pursuing a music career.

“My son was a rapper. And a writer. And an artist. He was just gifted,” Patricia Harris told WTOP.

Sobotker will be sentenced May 18.

Morgan faces a maximum of five years in prison when she is sentenced on Friday.