After 39 years, murder convict leaves prison for nursing home

When all of the procedural information was finished — when a bed-ridden James R. Gilmore was released from prison Wednesday after serving nearly 39 years for killing his wife — his lawyer turned to him.

“I’m happy for you,” Flynn M. Owens said.

“Not as happy as me,” Gilmore replied.

Gilmore, 77, became the oldest Baltimore criminal defendant of 32 released from prison so far, due to a Court of Appeals ruling last year.

But Gilmore, who arrived at court on a hospital gurney surrounded by sheriff’s deputies and EMTs, will not be going home. He was taken from court to a nursing home where he can receive weekly dialysis and other medical care as needed.

“He’s always been a fighter,” said Maxine Gilmore, his niece, following the hearing.

Gilmore, a longshoreman, was imprisoned for the July 1974 death of Esther Mae Gilmore. Witnesses said they saw the couple driving separate cars in Park Heights when James Gilmore fired a gun at his wife’s car. Esther Mae Gilmore crashed her car and attempted to flee, but her husband shot again. An autopsy found three gunshot wounds on her back.

Witnesses identified James Gilmore as the shooter from a police lineup. He was convicted in December 1974 and sentenced one month later to life in prison, plus a consecutive, five-year term for using the gun.

The murder conviction was affirmed by the Court of Special Appeals in 1976 and post-conviction appeals were denied in 1977 and 1991.

Maxine Gilmore, who was 14 at the time of the trial, said she had been visiting her uncle every week for about four years.

“He’s very remorseful,” she said.

For three years, she has been fighting to get him home — ever since prison officials called and said they were starting end-of-life proceedings. Gilmore is a diabetic who also has renal failure, and Maxine Gilmore said she had her uncle’s right leg amputated to save his life.

Then, in May 2012, the Court of Appeals decided Unger v. Maryland, which enabled defendants convicted before 1980 to seek a new trial if jurors were told by a trial judge that their instructions were “merely advisory,” a common instruction at the time.

Maxine Gilmore contacted Owens, of Rubin & Owens in Baltimore, last fall to see if her uncle’s case fell under the court’s ruling. Owens tracked down a transcript of Gilmore’s trial from the attorney general’s office.

“Whatever I say to you regarding the facts or whatever instructions I give you with respect to the law are advisory only,” Judge David Ross told the jury in Gilmore’s case.

Said Owens: “The jury’s instruction calls into question the legitimacy of the guilty verdict in the first place.”

In court Wednesday, Judge Barry G. Williams suspended Gilmore’s sentence to time served. Gilmore was also placed on two years’ unsupervised probation and cannot be released from the nursing home unless authorized by his physician and alerting the court.

Gilmore labored to sign the paperwork Owens held for him and struggled to raise his right hand when instructed to do so by the courtroom clerk. He answered questions haltingly and in a deep, raspy voice.

“It’s safe to say he’s not a danger at this point,” Owens said following the hearing.

Maxine Gilmore cried and thanked God as her uncle was wheeled out of the courtroom. She was not allowed to approach him in the hallway.

“I’ll meet you at the nursing home, unc,” she said.

“That’d be good,” he said.