A 35-year-old Harford County man convicted of killing a Baltimore homeless man with a hatchet — and then while jailed in that case strangled his deaf and mute cellmate — was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Gordon Staron, of Abingdon, said nothing when given the opportunity to address Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy. He also refused to communicate with his own defense attorney throughout the case, the attorney said, citing his client’s silence while arguing that Staron has severe mental health problems and should have been found incompetent to stand trial.

“The only plausible explanation in my mind is there is something going on in his head that we can’t explain,” attorney Jason Silverstein said.

Prosecutors, however, said Staron deserved the stiffest possible sentence. Assistant State’s Attorney Tonya LaPolla said Staron had a “history of violence, deceit and reckless behavior” and had “earned every day of this sentence.”

Speaking after the sentencing, State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said investigators are probing whether Staron is involved in other killings in the city. Bates declined to elaborate.

Meanwhile, the family of Javarick Gantt, Staron’s slain cellmate, said they are continuing to fight for answers from corrections officials. Gantt, a slight 34-year-old man who used sign language to communicate, was being held at Central Booking for a failure-to-appear violation stemming from relatively minor assault charges.

Andrew G. Slutkin, an attorney for Gantt’s family, said corrections officials had wrongly scored Staron and Gantt the same in a risk assessment.

“The family believes that’s outrageous, and we do as well,” Slutkin said, adding that he anticipates filing a civil claim against the state.

Bates said he also had questions about how long it took for corrections officers to discover that Gantt had been attacked. Rigor mortis had set in by the time he was found, a process which Bates said takes six to eight hours to occur.

Gantt’s father, Rick Barry Sr., said his family was “torn to pieces by a system that failed my son.”

Staron stood trial in September for the killing of Keith Bell, 63. Lapolla said Bell was sitting at a bus stop bench in the 1400 block of East Monument Street in the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 2022, with a package of gummy bears, when Staron attacked him with a hatchet.

Detectives pulled video footage that identified the suspect’s vehicle, which was registered to Staron’s mother. They said Staron matched the man in the video and could be seen displaying what investigators said was Staron’s distinctive “hand tic.”

Police also said they found footage of Staron discarding clothing in a trash bin behind a school and dumping latex gloves in a median on Central Avenue.

When Harford County Sheriff’s deputies went to serve a DNA warrant on Staron two days after the killing, he emerged with a shotgun and knife but was taken into custody without incident.

Staron’s parents said he lived with them and slept in the family room, and did not return until 4 or 5 a.m. the morning of the killing. Police said Staron’s shoes had blood on them.

Handy said there was “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” connecting Staron to the killing in denying Silverstein’s request for a new trial.

After his arrest in the Bell case, Staron was taken to Central Booking, where he and Gantt shared a cell for a few days before Gantt was found dead on Oct. 6.

A jury convicted Staron in the Bell case, and then he pleaded guilty to killing Gantt.

Prosecutors said that in mental health evaluations, Staron was determined to be “malingering,” or feigning psychological symptoms. Lapolla said Staron told a mental health professional that he saw a “little green man on your shoulder,” which she suggested was a bluff. He was also diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, she said.

Silverstein, the defense attorney, said based on his interactions with Staron, the man wasn’t faking anything. He said during the course of representing him, Staron never explained what happened in the cases and had trouble holding a simple conversation.

“I can tell you with everything I believe, this man is not competent to stand trial,” Silverstein told the judge.

He said Staron had suffered repeated head injuries and concussions since he was a child and that those continued after his arrest in Bell’s killing. He said Staron was badly beaten while in jail. When Silverstein visited him afterward, the attorney said, Staron repeatedly turned around and seemed to be speaking to someone who wasn’t there.

“I truly believe the second homicide happened because ... he was not in a great state of mind,” Silverstein said.

Silverstein said Staron’s mother believes he was framed. She and other relatives and friends sent 13 letters of support to Handy and attended the sentencing.

The letters were “beautiful, touching,” Handy said. “But they don’t describe the person I have seen in this courtroom.”