No jail for man who shot at deputy [The Capital, Annapolis, Md.]

Aug. 26--A drug dealer called an Arnold man last April, got into an argument with him about his daughter and threatened to kill his family, according to prosecutors.

A few minutes later, a county sheriff's deputy driving an unmarked SUV coincidentally drove up to the house, parked outside and prepared to serve a warrant on the daughter, a 21-year-old heroin addict.

Few could have predicted what happened next.

Fearing the man outside was the same man who had just threatened him, Rodney Divine, 61, of 987 Shore Acres Road, walked outside with a loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, crossed his front yard and opened fire on the deputy.

"That was the longest walk of my life," the Vietnam War veteran said yesterday in county Circuit Court in Annapolis after pleading guilty to one count of attempted second-degree murder. "I walked 237 feet with a loaded handgun in my hand believing I was going to be fired upon."

No one was injured in the April 11 attack on Sgt. Carl Schanberger, which all sides agreed yesterday was the result of a "bizarre confluence of events."

In fact, Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner said the incident was so unusual he did not think Divine -- a first-time offender with numerous medical problems, including multiple sclerosis and arthritis -- should go to jail.

Even though the charge carried a possible sentence of 30 years in prison, Hackner handed down a five-year suspended sentence and placed Divine on five years' unsupervised probation.

"He was acting out of a perceived threat to himself and his family that was not totally unreasonable under the circumstances," he said in court.

Assistant State's Attorney Brian Marsh declined yesterday to comment about the sentence, which was substantially shorter than the three-year minimum he sought.

While he acknowledged in court that Divine thought he was acting in self-defense, Marsh said that was no excuse for him to take the law into his own hands. He argued that Divine should never have tried to confront whoever was in the SUV.

"You stay inside, you call police, you wait for them to get there. And then, if (the police) don't get there in time, you respond," Marsh said.

Peter O'Neill, Divine's attorney, said outside the courtroom yesterday that the sentence was "fair and well thought out."

He stressed the bizarre nature of the crime and said there was little chance Divine -- who is legally disabled, according to the Social Security Administration -- would be placed in the same situation again.

'Bizarre confluence'

According to prosecutors, the shooting was rooted in an argument the day before between Divine's wife and daughter. In the course of the argument, the daughter, who was addicted to heroin, stole her mother's car.

Marsh said police found the vehicle about 5 a.m. April 11 in Glen Burnie, but the daughter was not with it. Instead, police found a man the family did not know behind the wheel.

The back seat, Marsh said, was filled with other things that were not there the day before, including old needles, cell phones, a pair of their daughter's underwear and a knife that appeared to have blood on it.

Despite the unusual nature of the items, the officer let the Divines take it all home, Marsh said.

A drug dealer called one of the cell phones found in the car about 7:30 a.m. Divine answered and the two to begin to argue. During the argument, Divine and the unidentified drug dealer traded threats, Marsh said.

Fearing for the safety of his family, Divine immediately armed himself with a handgun and told his wife to call police. Unbeknownst to Divine, however, his wife did not call 911. Instead, she called one of the officers who was investigating the car theft and left a message on his cell phone.

Suspicious car

Shortly after Divine and the drug dealer hung up, Divine noticed an SUV with dark tinted windows parked outside his house.

"It looked like a drug dealer's car," said O'Neill, explaining that it was at that point his client decided to go on the offensive rather than wait for armed men to raid his house.

Marsh said Schanberger noticed Divine walk outside his house, but didn't notice the gun in his hand until he was about 20 feet away. At that point, Schanberger threw his car into gear and started to drive away.

Marsh said Divine fired one shot as Schanberger tried to flee.

Other deputies arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting and ordered Divine to drop his weapon. It was only then that Divine learned he had shot at a deputy -- not a drug dealer.

"The defendant was very apologetic," Marsh said, recalling how Divine broke down into tears when he was questioned by county police.

At one point, Divine apologized directly to Schanberger, he said.

"I almost killed you. I'm sorry," Divine said, according to Marsh.

Hackner said yesterday the question of whether Divine should have stayed inside and waited for police is open to debate. But, the judge said, he understood why Divine did what he did.

"He thought it more prudent to take the battle away from his home rather than wait for someone to storm his home," he said.

sdaugherty@capitalgazette.com

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