Second man sentenced for carjackings, murder
Suspect, a 2005 Wheaton High School graduate, apologizes in court for stabbing man to death
The man who a prosecutor called "probably one of the worst predators that this county has seen in recent memory" was sentenced to 85 years in prison last week for murder and two carjackings and kidnappings.
Calvin Fitzgerald Currica, 22, of Clarksburg told the court Nov. 18 that he was sorry for stabbing a Wheaton man to death in Aspen Hill and committing two carjackings in Germantown earlier this year.
Currica was the second of two men sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the eight-day crime spree in February. Harrison Jay Bryant, 21, received a 70-year sentence for his role in the crimes. Charges linked to a fourth crime, an attempted carjacking in Gaithersburg, were dropped against both men.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Durke G. Thompson's sentence followed the recommendation of Deputy State's Attorney John M. Maloney who called Currcia "probably one of the worst predators that this county has seen in recent memory."
Maloney asked Thompson to impose a sentence above the state guidelines of 45 to 70 years. Currica's attorney, Rene Sandler, had urged Thompson to stay within the guidelines, citing her client's remorsefulness and "mental health issues" that she said contributed to his violent behavior.
Thompson said he agreed with Sandler that Currica appeared to suffer from mental health problems, but they were no reason go easy on him. She said he was under the care of a jail psychiatrist during his incarceration and was also taking medication prescribed by the psychiatrist.
Thompson told Currica that the "degree of violence, the willingness to commit the violence remains a mystery to the court that is only satisfied by the diagnosis of anti-social personality. That means you are just mean to people when given the opportunity."
Currica confessed to stabbing Gerald Lacayo, 22, of the 2200 block of Georgian Way in Wheaton, in the basement of an apartment building laundry room after he and Bryant lured Lacayo there on the pretence of buying drugs. Lacayo's body was found on the morning of Feb. 16 with 15 stab wounds, according to court documents.
Four days before they attacked Lacayo, Currica and Bryant forced a 31-year-old Germantown man into his car outside his residence and drove him to an ATM machine. Currica stabbed the victim in the leg after he provided the wrong PIN code.
The day after Lacayo's body was found, the men carjacked another Germantown man and drove him to a bank where they withdrew money.
In court, Currica spoke briefly about his remorse for his role in the crimes.
"I'm very sorry for what I did," he said. "I didn't mean no harm to nobody. I'm really sorry for what I did."
Currica moved to Montgomery County from New York City in 1995 and graduated from Wheaton High School in 2005, Sandler said in court.
Lacayo's mother and the carjacking victims testified at the sentencing hearing. Lacayo's mother told Thompson that she has lived in constant fear since her son's murder.
"I want these guys to get punished. I want them to be in jail the rest of their lives," she said. "We don't want these types of people outside on the streets."