The murder trial of Michael Johnson, 15, of West Franklin Street, is scheduled to begin at 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon, 509 Courthouse East. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Johnson for first-degree murder and handgun counts May 18. Court documents allege that on December 1, 2004 Johnson shot and killed Flenall Carter III, 19, in the 4100 block of 10th Street.
At a recent meeting the residents of Park Heights were all like, "we're so fartik with the shvartzers and farshlugginer slow police response times and the farshtunken unreported incidents" and the police were, all like, "what are you gonna do, sue somebody?"
The Court of Appeals struck down MD's prisoner-treatment laws. The problem was not legal content but the procedure of filing appropriate paperwork.
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FYI to the anonymous poster yesterday:
We had such an outpouring of homeowner sentiment for basic crime control. Martin O'Malley took up the charge and became Mayor promising to impose 'zero tolerance' upon the criminals here. That's a direct quote.
He later turned around and claimed that we all 'misunderstood' what zero tolerance is.
The first step in politically organizing is.. to sack O'Malley for the lying politician he is. Not Governor. Not even Mayor.
The platform is Safety First. All other considerations take a back seat until Baltimore is no longer in the top ten most dangerous major cities. No junket to Rome for Agnes Welch. No raise for City Councilmembers. No municipal hotels. No below-market city land deals. No grants to nonprofits. Mandatory across-the-board cuts in total payroll for DPW and DHCD.
Within the police department:
311/911 operators must be dedicated dispatchers, not disgruntled officers being punished by having to answer calls for service.
Responding officers must be charged with filing accurate incident reports. If the victim disagrees with the report, the officer should automatically be required to appear before an independently appointed quasimunicipal board, which will determine whether the report was incorrectly filed. If so, (maybe at least x number of times) the officer will be dismissed. Wherever the officer's write-up is materially at odds with the victim's recollection of facts, the officer must refer it to the Board, with written notice to the victim. Failure to comply will result in dismissal.
The State's Attorney should refuse consent to supervised probation where the terms of probation do not provide for a nightime curfew barring supervised probationers from being in the public easement after dark except en route to a verifiable job, a meeting with a parole officer, or a verifiable medical emergency (including drug treatment).
The State Legislature should eliminate the distinction in penalties between misdemeanor Breaking & Entering and felony Home Invasion. If you're caught in another's property unlawfully, you go to jail. If you think you 'might' be Breaking & Entering, you probably are. Stay out or go to jail.
The State Legislature should adopt a provision doubling the penalty otherwise applicable to a felony if the offender is under the influence of drugs or is found by a court of law to have been engaged in a drug offense at the time of the felony, including simple possession. The same should apply wherever a felony is accompanied by a high-speed automotive chase.
Any drug conviction or factually proven possession or distribution on or within 100 feet of a subsidized housing unit by any person who has been granted access by the tenant should disqualify the tenant from the program henceforth.
Any offenses committed on the premises of a public school which would otherwise constitute a felony if committed by an adult should necessarily require immediate removal of the juvenile from the school.
Maximum sentences for both misdemeanors and felonies should be ratchetted up in proportion to the number of offenses adjudicated to have been committed. You want judges motivated to treat career offenders more harshly than very occasional offenders. This invokes the law of seven and seventy.
The State's Attorney and Judiciary should be forbidden to take into account resource constraints at Dept. of Corrections when seeking a just penalty.
City Council should adopt a resolution each year fixing the number of officers necessary to Adequately Provide for the Public Safety. The appropriation for the police department should be created a Fund, whose contents do not revert to the General Fund of Baltimore City. Thus, the Mayor's Office would no longer have any incentive to undersupply policing so as to fund pet projects, such as economic development.
Contributions to the local police district's coffers should constitute a tax credit against a taxpayer's tax bill to the City. This ensures that City government cannot divert taxes which taxpayers intend should provide public safety.
Baltimore City council should be obligated by resolution to refuse any requests for industrial revenue bonds (other than water treatment/pollution control) while public safety benchmarks are unattained.
Baltimore City Health Dept. should provide a single, lifetime treatment slot for drug abuse. Once used, the relapsed offender should be denied terms of probation unless he can provide for his own treatment.
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