Outrage after judge orders defendant in deadly Beltway crash out of jail to home detention

BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore County judge allowed a driver who pleaded guilty in last year's deadly Beltway crash out of jail and ordered he serve the remainder of his sentence on home detention.

Melachi Brown served a fraction of his 18-month sentence at the Baltimore County Detention Center and his lawyer told the court he had anxiety and depression and feared he would be attacked behind bars.

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren was the only television reporter in the courtroom during the hearing Friday afternoon. He asked Jim DiMaggio, the brother of victim Sybil DiMaggio, what message the decision sends.

"You get a slap on the wrist if you do something bad, and it's not even a slap. They take half of it back. There's just no consequences," DiMaggio said.

Brown, 21, pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter earlier this year in the deaths.

The sentence amounted to three months for each victim.

"I'm astonished. I cannot believe that my sister's life was worth a sentence originally of 3 months, and now she's letting him sit on his couch at home to serve his sentence. It's unbelievable," DiMaggio said. "He caused an accident that caused my sister to be hit by another car and thrown over 100 feet and now he gets to sit at home."

At the brief hearing, Brown again told the judge he was sorry.

"I would just please ask you to spare me. I'm not a danger to society," he said.

Brown's lawyer, Jennifer Kafes, argued he faced harassment, threats of violence and intimidation behind bars.

Kafes told the court, "He's in serious threat from imminent bodily harm."

She described her client as well-mannered and soft spoken.

"I don't care what he's going through. I really want things to be worse for him. My sister is not alive anymore because of careless, reckless speeding and driving. There are no words to describe what I feel right now," Jim DiMaggio said.

Brown was sentenced in late March—a year after the crash—where prosecutors say he was speeding at 111 miles an hour when his car made contact with another vehicle driven by Lisa Lea.

Video shows Lea's car going through a gap in the protective barrier and then flipping on top of the construction workers . Lea's delayed trial is set for November.

Judge Ballou-Watts told Brown, "For a person such as you who has stepped up, who has not been identified as the primary cause… I believe it is appropriate to take [this] action."

"They were both speeding. They were fighting for positions on the highway—on the highway that we all drive. It could've been one of us. It could've been anybody. It was my sister and five other people," DiMaggio said.

He showed WJZ a picture of his sister he held in front of the judge.

"She loved life. She just loved life. She loved being outside. She loved being part of the construction company. She was scared to death of being on that site for obvious reasons," DiMaggio said. "She was just a good person."

Brown said in court he is still hurt by his actions that day and will never speed again.

The judge noted she did not reduce his sentence just shifted where he will spend it.

After home detention, Brown still has supervised probation and community service. He is not allowed to drive.

Brown's attorney declined an interview.

The Baltimore County State's Attorney's office opposed the shift to home detention.