A Maryland man has been convicted in the beating death of a young father of three who refused to produce his son to resume a fight with a classmate.
Trevor Garrett Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of manslaughter and affray, a misdemeanor charge involving a public fight.
The Glen Burie man was charged and arrested back in May in connection to the death of Christopher Wright, 43, whose teenage son was involved in a fight with Taylor’s nephew at school.
On May 19, Taylor, his nephew, another man and two other boys arrived at Wright’s home to find him gardening outside, according to a criminal complaint.
Wright initially thought they were friends of his son Trenton and went inside to tell him. Only then did he learn that his son had been involved in a fight fight earlier that day.
Maryland man Trevor Garrett Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of manslaughter and affray
He was charged in the death of Christopher Wright, 43, whose teenage son was involved in a fight with Taylor’s nephew at school
Wright returned to the front yard, where Taylor demanded for Trenton to continue fighting his nephew.
At one point, Taylor threatened to force his way inside Wright’s home if the fight was not allowed to continue, according to charging documents.
It became clear to the family, police wrote, ‘that Trevor Taylor and his associates were not going to leave and were likely going to force their way into the house and force an assault against them.’
Security footage obtained exclusively by Dailymail.com shows the moment the brawl Wright conceded to the brawl and punched Taylor in the face.
Taylor and the other man moved forward and Taylor grabbed Wright by the legs, slamming him onto the ground.
Wright’s head smacked the pavement before Taylor punched him in the face four times.
The 43-year-old was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died one night later. An autopsy determined a head injury sustained in the fall led to Wright’s death, which was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma.
Taylor was arrested and held without bail in July. The 23-year-old was picked up by members of the Anne Arundel County Crisis Response Team, with defense attorney Edward Middlebrooks citing ‘suicide concerns.’
Wright, pictured with fiancée Tracy Karopchinsky, threw the first punch before Taylor knocked him to the ground and hit him repeatedly
The father of three was taken to the hospital, where he later died from blunt force trauma
Taylor and several others showed up at Wright’s house, demanding his son Trenton continue a school fight, to which Wright refused
Surveillance footage shows the moment Wright – pictured with his fiancée and sons Trenton, Tevin and Tryston – was thrown to the ground, causing the head injury that later killed him
Speaking to Dailymail.com, Wright’s fiancée Tracy Karopchinsky said the stay-at-home dad told the group their son would not be fighting, to which they replied: ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight us.’
One of her sons ‘looked over and seen his Dad was laying on the ground and not moving and the guy was still fighting him and hitting him as Chris lay there.’
According to Karopchinsky, Taylor handed the boy his father’s necklaces, apologized and told him to call 911.
‘My youngest son came out screaming and they got into their car and left,’ she said.
Karopchinsky explained that Trenton had been in multiple fights at school before the group tried to approach him at home.
The altercation leading up to Wright’s death was sparked when a classmate came up to Trenton at school and said he stole $30 from his girlfriend. Trenton hit him as he tried to get the money back, Karopchinsky said.
The next day, he was being harassed by a group of teens, some of whom later turned up on their doorstep.
‘My son went to school, Chris had to reinstate him as he had been suspended for something different,’ Karopchinsky said.
‘He was involved in multiple fights throughout the day, somebody came into his classroom to fight, and a teacher had to pull the kid off him.
‘He made it through, came home, went upstairs to tell his older brother what was happening throughout the day. They heard voices outside from their bedroom upstairs and the boys were outside, these were my son’s friends prior to the incident.
‘Their dad went inside and said your friends are here, he told them these aren’t my friends. Chris came outside, he told them he is not coming out to fight you. They said if he doesn’t come out, we are coming inside the house and we are going to fight them in there.’
Karopchinsky said Wright was forced to fight, adding: ‘He had no reason to fight these people and he didn’t want to.’
He ultimately died from a stroke caused by a brainstem bleed, she explained.
Karopchinsky said the stay-at-home dad was forced to agree to the brawl, as the group told him: ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight us’
‘He had no reason to fight these people and he didn’t want to,’ she told Dailymail.com last year
At a preliminary hearing last year, Assistant States’ Attorney Josh Adrian said Karopchinsky felt unsafe in her neighborhood following her fiancé’s death.
But Middlebrooks said his client had a ‘completely different’ perspective on the events leading to Wright’s death.
Middlebrooks said Taylor’s nephew had been jumped over the money by a group of students earlier that day, one of them being Wright’s son – who he described as the nephew’s best friend.
When the nephew came home, Taylor brought the group over to Wright’s house to try and resolve the conflict, Middlebrooks contended.
‘There’s a whole other side to this story,’ the lawyer told reporters following the hearing.
A vigil was held on July 11 to honor Wright, a passionate sports fan and father of Tryston, Trenton and Tevin.
Taylor was initially charged with one count of manslaughter, three counts of second-degree assault, one count of disorderly conduct and one count of affray.
The maximum sentence for manslaughter, for which he was ultimately convicted, is 10 years. The other count, affray, does not have any sentencing guidelines as the crime exists only in common law.
A sentencing hearing has been set for October 25.