Main image: Christopher Wright, Inset right: Trevor Taylor. (GoFundMe; Anne Arundel County Police Department)
A Maryland man has been convicted for killing a father of three who was beaten to death in his front yard while protecting his child from a middle school fight that made its way back to the family’s home in May 2023, prosecutors announced this week.
Trevor Garrett Taylor, 26, was originally charged with one count of manslaughter, three counts of assault in the second degree, and one count each of affray — a little-charged common law offense that means any kind of public fight that inspires terror in onlookers — and disorderly conduct over the death of Christopher Michael Wright, 43, who died from a traumatic brain injury.
On Thursday, the defendant pleaded guilty to one count each of involuntary manslaughter and affray, according to the Office of the State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County. A manslaughter conviction carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in the Old Line State.
Affray, on the other hand, does not have any sentencing guidelines due to its nature as a crime that only exists in common law.
Prosecutors, however, signaled their intent to request a five-year sentence for Taylor, according to a report by the Capital Gazette.
The defendant is slated to be sentenced on Oct. 25. The hearing will be overseen by Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Stacy McCormack.
The underlying violence occurred the day before the victim died — beginning at Brooklyn Park Middle School — when Wright’s 14-year-old son got into a fight with another teenager, Taylor’s nephew, according to charging documents obtained by the Gazette.
The younger Wright, apparently not interested in the fight, which is said to have been over $30, headed home and went inside. But law enforcement says it wasn’t just another teenager who followed the Wright boy back to his residence on Arundel Road West in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, his father, unaware of what was happening at first, was out front gardening at the time, police say.
Christopher Wright allegedly went into his house, quizzed his son about what was happening, and returned to the front yard. That’s when Taylor allegedly confronted the elder Wright and threatened him — demanding the boys be allowed to finish their fight.
The stay-at-home dad said that wasn’t happening.
That denial allegedly enraged Taylor and his crew — and the other boy’s uncle allegedly threatened to enter the Wright residence.
“[I]t became clear to the Wright family 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,” police wrote in a charging document.
As the threats continued, police say, Wright punched Taylor in the face. A brawl ensued, and the defendant allegedly used a pin-down maneuver — causing the victim to fall to the ground and his head to hit the pavement. Police say Taylor punched Wright four times in the face after that before finally fleeing the scene.
Wright’s death was eventually ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma.
The victim’s sister-in-law, Kristin Karopchinsky, is the co-organizer of a GoFundMe for funeral costs and the obvious expenses the man’s grieving fiancee will incur raising their children without him.
“Chris went outside to defend his son and was beaten in the head, and his head was slammed on the concrete repeatedly, causing significant brain damage,” the fundraiser says. “These men took the life of an amazing father and life partner. He left this Earth and those who loved him way too soon.”
The suspects in the case were originally described as three to four white males in their 20s and 30s. Law enforcement whittled down their investigation and solely charged Taylor in late July 2023.
A trial in the case was slated to begin next week.
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