Robin Ritch held up her nephew’s official portrait as a Howard County sheriff’s deputy and pointed out his infectious smile.

Ritch said her nephew, Ryan Demby, was funny, intelligent and ongoing. He loved riding motorcycles, she said, and aspired to professionally play golf.

But on Sept. 29, 2023, Jewel Crowder fatally shot Demby on South Charles Street near East Cross Street in Federal Hill. Demby was 23.

“We should be preparing [for] his 25th birthday party,” Ritch said on Thursday over Zoom in Baltimore Circuit Court. “We should not be speaking about him and death.”

Remarking that he was not a security guard but inserted himself into a dispute involving other people, Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant later sentenced Crowder, 41, of Baltimore, to 20 years in prison on charges of voluntary manslaughter, use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence and reckless endangerment. He must serve the first five years without the possibility of parole.

“This is definitely a tragic situation,” Bryant said. “Nothing that occurred should have resulted in death.”

Bryant said she deeply examined the evidence, adding that she did not believe Crowder’s assertion that he feared for his life.

Crowder did not retreat, she said, and shot Demby seven times.

Demby’s parents, Sam and Adrian, remembered their son as a remarkable and compassionate young man who had his entire life ahead of him. He was a friend to all — never an enemy.

He graduated from Calvert Hall in 2017 and was in his final semester at the University of Maryland, College Park.

When his son decided to join the Howard County Sheriff’s Office, Sam Demby said that as a member of law enforcement for almost 40 years, he was excited. He recalled how he had the honor of pinning his son’s badge on him at graduation.

“Your honor,” Sam Demby said, “this senseless act of violence has shattered our lives.”

At trial, Crowder testified that he had acted in defense of Justin Lee, a bouncer at Wayward Bar & Kitchen. A jury found Crowder not guilty of first- and second-degree murder but determined that his belief was unreasonable — and that he had used more force than necessary.

Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Stock pushed for the maximum sentence: 35 years in prison.

If Crowder had not inserted himself into the dispute, she said, no one would have died.

Crowder, she said, did not walk away or call 911. Instead, he went home and increased his self-defense liability insurance, Stock said.

“Mr. Crowder has shown no remorse for what he did,” Stock said.

Crowder’s attorney, Roland S. Harris IV, said everyone bears responsibility for what happened and asked the judge to impose a balanced sentence.

Harris said his client was not motivated by hatred. Crowder, he said, was scared.

Speaking from the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, Crowder said he was truly, deeply sorry. He said he hopes that for Demby’s loved ones, the sentence will provide them with closure.

Though Crowder remarked that they might not believe him, he said he’s not a malicious person.