25-Year Sentence for Death in Park; Groups' Dispute Led to Shooting

A man who fired gunshots into a crowd at the WakefieldNeighborhood Center park, killing a young Waldorf man, was sentencedto 25 years in prison last week at a hearing in Charles CountyCircuit Court. Afterward, there was an emotional confrontationoutside the courthouse.

Damon A. Dixon, 21, dressed in orange, jail-issued fatigues,showed no reaction Wednesday morning as Circuit Judge Steven G.Chappelle rendered his sentence. The state's maximum penalty forsecond-degree murder is 30 years. Dixon will be eligible for parolein 121/2 years.

Dixon, who lived alternately in Waldorf and Fort Washington,pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December, admitting that hefatally shot Kevin Cangiano, 22, in St. Charles on June 9. Thatnight, two groups of young people -- one from Pinefield, the otherfrom Wakefield -- planned to settle a long-standing dispute with abrawl in the Wakefield Neighborhood Center park.

Dixon told police he fired shots only to disperse about 20Pinefield residents in a crowd that included Cangiano. But forensicevidence showed Dixon aimed into the crowd, and Cangiano was struckin the back by one bullet as he was running away, Assistant State'sAttorney Matthew R. Stiglitz said.

"It's amazing to me that more people weren't killed," Stiglitzsaid.

The tiny courtroom was packed with supporters of Cangiano, many ofthem friends who were with him the night he was shot. Tony Cangiano,the shooting victim's father, said his son had friends from acrossthe world who met him through Internet chat rooms to discuss hisfavorite hard-rock band, Metallica. One friend, a Briton named JohnChestney, created a Web site devoted to Cangiano.

"I don't want to say justice was done today, because our son willnever come back," said Tony Cangiano, a manager at Mr. Tire inWaldorf. "The only thing that makes it better is all the support fromthe people who knew him."

Cangiano stood in court with his wife, Ann, and showed JudgeChappelle a memorial poster board for Kevin that Metallica fansdisplayed at a convention in California. Below Kevin Cangiano'spicture were the words "Nothing Else Matters," the title of aMetallica song and a phrase that has become a rallying point forCangiano's mourning friends.

Dixon's friends asked Chappelle to show mercy, saying the youngman had grown up without a father and was plagued by drugs andalcohol throughout his life. Defense attorney Don E. Ansell saidDixon believed on the night of the shooting that he was coming to theaid of friends who were outnumbered in a fight over alleged vandalismdone to vehicles owned by Pinefield residents.

"No one of them should have been there that night," Ansell said."If they hadn't been there, it couldn't have happened."

Dixon apologized to the Cangiano family for the first time,turning to them and saying in a soft voice: "I would like to say tothe family, I'm sorry for everything you went through."

But Dixon's sullen demeanor and his short apology angeredCangiano's friends. Some were upset by what they saw as a lightprison sentence.

"My friend is lying down in the ground. [Dixon] should be deadjust like our friend is dead," said Jeremy Clark, 21, who went toThomas Stone High School with Cangiano.

Outside the courthouse, a fistfight almost broke out between Clarkand Dixon's relatives, who made some remarks to Cangiano's group ontheir way out.

"I'll kill you right now. Just give me five minutes with them,"Clark yelled at the family members, who yelled back from the parkinglot.

Maryland's voluntary sentencing guidelines recommended a sentenceof 15 to 25 years for someone with Dixon's moderate criminal record.Chappelle said the shooting deserved a term in the high range, but healso told Dixon: "To me, you're not a monster. . . . You're a productof the culture we live in, a culture full of violence, of lack ofrespect for each other. We are going to keep seeing these thingshappen as long as we accept this kind of society."