Graffiti menace MAP back in the paint can

BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

One of the city's worst graffiti vandals, who spent years in state prison for killing a homeless man, is back behind bars - this time for allegedly smashing a subway train window with a hammer.
Patrick McCormick, 34, didn't bother claiming he was innocent after he was arrested Saturday for the hammer attack on an A train in Rockaway, Queens, officials said yesterday.

He pleaded guilty at his first court appearance and is now doing a four-month jail sentence at Rikers Island.

When arrested by Officer Owen Manico at the Beach 98th St. station, McCormick had the tools of his trade: nine cans of spray paint, three markers and six etching stones for scratching glass, police said.

McCormick, whose graffiti tag is "MAP," has been arrested 15 times - 10 times for graffiti-related crimes, NYPD Transit Bureau Chief James Hall said.

"This guy is just a chronic graffiti problem," Hall said, describing McCormick as one of the most prolific graffiti vandals ever known to police.

He also has done much worse than marking up trains.

At age 16, McCormick was charged with second-degree murder and arson for the 1989 death of a homeless man whose charred body was found in a Transit Authority lot under elevated tracks in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He was sentenced to as many as six years in state prison on a manslaughter conviction, state and city records show.

In addition to numerous short stays in local jails on graffiti charges, McCormick also did state prison time for parole violations and a robbery conviction, records show.