A Harford County man admitted Tuesday to strangling his deaf cellmate to death at a Baltimore jail two years ago while awaiting trial on charges stemming from a fatal stabbing.

Gordon Staron, 35, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Oct. 9, 2022, killing of Javarick Gantt, whose death angered advocates for incarcerated people with disabilities.

Gantt was being held without bail at Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center pending trial on charges stemming from a domestic incident in which no one was seriously injured. He died a month before his 35th birthday and experts questioned why he was being housed with Staron, who was being held on murder charges.

The guilty plea came after a jury on Thursday convicted Staron of first-degree murder and carrying a dangerous weapon in the Sept. 6, 2022, killing of 63-year-old Keith Bell, following a four-day trial in Baltimore Circuit Court.

Staron faces the possibility of life in prison at sentencing for both cases, which is scheduled for Dec. 19.

Prosecutors will seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in Staron’s killing of Bell, but agreed to pursue a concurrent, rather than consecutive, life sentence in Gantt’s death as part of the plea agreement.

“For us, it was about making sure we provide justice and closure to the family, and we’re moving in that process,” Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates told reporters after court.

The first-term Democrat personally participated in the prosecution of Staron in Gantt’s death, making good on a campaign promise to try at least one murder case a year.

“To me, the message is clear, that in the state’s attorney’s office in Baltimore City we’re looking to hold you accountable and that I, the state’s attorney, am willing to go to trial and go to court to hold an individual accountable, as I work side-by-side with the attorneys in my office,” Bates said.

Staron’s attorney, Jason Silverstein, did not respond to a request for comment after court.

In court Tuesday, Staron answered questions from Silverstein and Circuit Judge Althea M. Handy, who eventually said she was satisfied that the defendant was pleading guilty of his free will.

According to charging documents, guards found Gantt unresponsive in his cell around 6:30 a.m. Oct. 9, 2022.

“He didn’t respond when breakfast was handed out,” Bates said in court.

A Baltimore City Fire Department medic pronounced him dead 20 minutes later.

Following an autopsy the next day, forensic pathologists with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled Gantt’s death a homicide by strangulation.

Investigators reviewed security footage from the state-run jail, determining that guards locked Gantt and Staron in their cell around 7:20 p.m. Oct. 8, charging documents say. Nobody else entered the cell from that time until officers found Gantt unresponsive the next morning.

Other people detained on the cell block told investigators they heard Gantt, who communicated with sign language, “making noises and banging on his cell door” overnight. Staron is a foot taller than Gantt and weighs about twice as much, according to court records.

“The victim was deaf and mute and therefore unable to speak or call for help,” Bates said in court.

About a month before correctional officers discovered an unresponsive Gantt, Baltimore Police got a call about an unresponsive man at a bus stop in the 1400 block of Monument Street. Officers arrived to find Bell, who appeared to have been stabbed multiple times.

According to charging documents, medics took Bell to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died. The medical examiner’s office ruled Bell’s death a homicide by stabbing.

Homicide detectives reviewed CCTV footage from the area around the bus stop, and took note of a Toyota Tacoma “with a distinct rear cover and reflective sticker” fleeing the scene, charging documents say. License plate readers recorded the pickup truck’s tag, revealing it to be registered to one of Staron’s relatives, who he lived with in Abingdon.

Before the suspect, a white male, returned to his truck, he wiped a “flat shiny object” on his clothing and threw his shirt in a dumpster, according to charging documents.

Staron, detectives wrote, matched “the physical description of the suspect as seen on the CCTV footage.”

Deputies with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office arrested Staron on Sept. 8, after seeing him leave his residence armed with a shotgun and a pocket knife, according to charging documents.

Family members allegedly told detectives he usually carried a straight-blade knife with a brown and yellow handle, and investigators recovered such a weapon, along with shoes stained with what appeared to be blood, when they searched a vehicle parked at Staron’s property.

Bates told reporters that his office had identified motives for both killings, but he wouldn’t reveal them until sentencing.

Handy ordered the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ Division of Pretrial Detention and Services to conduct a comprehensive report about Staron before sentencing, including evaluating his psychological history. When answering questions from Silverstein, Staron said he suffered depression and anxiety and had been taking medication before the crimes. Staron previously pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of insanity but withdrew that plea.

Silverstein said in court that he anticipated a lengthy sentencing hearing during which he would discuss his client’s mental health.

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