Defendant Given Life Without Parole for Murder of Elderly Man and Deaf Cellmate

Baltimore, Md. (December 19, 2024) - Today, the Baltimore City State's Attorney’s Office announced that defendant Gordon Staron was sentenced to Life without the possibility of parole, plus three years and an additional Life sentence to run concurrently, for the murders of Keith Bell and Javarick Gantt. Staron was convicted by a Baltimore City Jury of First-Degree Murder, First-Degree Assault, Second-Degree Assault, Openly Wearing and Carrying a Dangerous Weapon, and Second-Degree Murder for killing Keith Bell, age 66, at a bus stop with an axe on the 1400 block of E. Monument Street. While incarcerated for that offense, the defendant then fatally strangled his deaf cellmate, Javarick Gantt, in Baltimore City's Central Booking and Intake Facility. In that case, Staron pled guilty to First-Degree Murder.

“While justice has now been delivered to two families who have lost their loved ones because of this defendant's violent and unconscionable actions, no sentence can bring back their family members and restore what was tragically taken from them,” said State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates. “I thank ASA LaPolla for her skillful prosecution of the defendant's first case and her support with the plea we secured in his second case. Today's outcome ensures that Gordon Staron will never be free to roam our streets and attack vulnerable lives."

In January, State's Attorney Bates entered his appearance in one of Mr. Staron's cases, the first Baltimore City case to be prosecuted by a sitting State's Attorney in nearly a decade.