December 7

The man fatally shot in Endor Gardens was identified as Thaddeus Riley. Also in the ink: Charles Massey, shot in 1987, who died of his injuries; Eric Smith, 39; Torrey Garland, 36; Troy Marine, 30; Antonie Grandy, 18. All of the murders this week were black men killed by gunfire.

CSA: to white people, black people really do all look alike.

An Eastern shore lawyer, J. Christopher Llinas, who served as an assistant state's attorney and an assistant public defender, was indicted in federal court in a cocaine and heroin distribution conspiracy case. He may face life in prison and a $4 million fine.

Oprah is offering a $100,000 reward for helping to caputre Edward Claire Reisch, left, an 11-year-veteran of the Baltimore police force wanted for raping and sodomizing a young female relative.

A teacher who served three years for molesting a 12-year-old student in MoCo is in court fighting for custody of her own children.

Curran: we've got ourselves 2900 totally unsupervised sex offenders in Maryland.

Continuing the Baltimore holiday tradition of robbing the less fortunate, someone stole $4,000 worth of tools from volunteers building apartments to house children traveling to Hopkins with their families for bone marrow treatment.

In Annapolis, two women fought off a would-be purse snatcher (warning: don't try this at home).

State police to Carroll County: get your own force!

Gregory Kane: City Council has plenty to say about Iraq, but not so much about the war at home. (Thanks Galt)

December 6

Four murders over the weekend brough the city's toll to 254. Rashard Thomas, 19, Troy Marine, 30, Raphael Grady, 18, and an unnamed 43-year-old man are the latest victims.

Edna McAbier came out of hiding yesterday to testify in federal court about the firebombing of her home.

Twenty-two-year-old Aaron M. Brown got 15 years for killing his 20-year-old cousin Kevin Moulden last year after an argument about a ten-dollar debt.

The manslaughter conviction of Anthony Skidmore was upheld by the CSA. Baldwin's car struck and killed the driver of an oncoming car, Kelley Guckert, 20, of Jarrettsville, and Skidmore admitted to police he'd been nodding off at the wheel.

Anthony A. Garbutt, 22, got ten years for the June 17 robbery of five teenagers behind the York Road Plaza shopping center.

The trial of Matthew Craighead, 22, is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. tomorrow before Judge Shirley Watts. Court documents allege that on June 21, 2004 Craighead attempted to threaten a witness in a homicide investigation. The victim reported that Craighead assaulted and threatened her with a shotgun.

Motorcycles, a laptop, purses, cameras= stuff stolen in the Northern of late.

Ehrlich: deciding to play God and put a man down like a dog wasn't easy.

The death of a newborn found in a Dumpster in AA County has been deemed "suspicious."

The MoCo mom who filed a false kidnapping report on Nov. 27 has been charged with making a false statement to police.

In a case that could impact the Hoey defense, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case from Arizona involving the insanity plea.

December 5

We the people executed Wesley Baker. He was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m.

A couple shot and burned in West Baltimore November 18 are believed to be Michael E. Wright and Thomasine Evans.

Juanita Long, 46, was charged with stabbing Dumont Jones to death in White Marsh.

The murder trial of David Ellerby, 32, is scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge John Glynn. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Ellerby August 24, 2004 for first-degree murder and handgun violations. Court documents allege that on September 10, 2002, Ellerby shot and killed Reginald Tyler, 27, in the 300 block of E. Lafayette Avenue.

Jury selection is supposed to start today in the case of the firebombing of Miss Edna's house.

Down in St. Michael's, six kids were charged with holding an underage drinking party that ended with a 15-year-old being sent to the hospital.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein will reorganize the Maryland office to clarify the chain of command and group prosecutors by focus.

Who's who on death row? A rundown of Maryland's Dead Men Sitting.

The Sun ran a correction re. their John Booth-El story from last week.

"As If" Dept: TV news reporter wants Ben Cardin's job. If he gets elected I am like so totally moving.

December 4

Wesley E. Baker's death warrant goes into effect at midnight.

There was a quadruple shooting in Cherry Hill last night. The most seriously injured victim was a 14-year-old girl.

DNA testing has been ordered in a 20-year-old rape and murder case. Robert Griffin, now 71, was convicted for the 1985 murder of Annie Cruse.

There will be a public hearing January 4 re. alledged Baltimore police "Gestapo" tactics. (How is it that the city's stats and the FBI stats disagree so significantly? Also odd: finding out about the meeting from a DC paper.)

Baltimore's stop n' frisk method did help catch a(n alledged) murderer wanted in Hendersonville, NC.

An article on the difficulty felons face in finding jobs.

December 3

Eighteen-year-old Karl Sowers is now the sixth person arrested for the Owings Mills murders of Dante and Howard Thacker.

A 14-year-old girl was shot in the leg on her way home from Mervo.

Danielle Riley is out on $50,000 bail.

Information about Jane Tyson, the murder victim of next week's death penalty recipient Wesley Eugene Baker.

December 2

A body found in an alley near Charles and 25th streets has been identified as that of 67-year-old pastor Dr. Lorenzo Handy.

The murder trial of Michael Johnson, 15, of the 1600 block of West Franklin Street, is scheduled to begin 9:30 Monday morning December 5 before Judge Lynn K. Stewart. 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. Johnson is currently being held without bail.

An arraignment is scheduled for 9:30 Monday morning December 5 for Amanda Johnson, 23, of Abingdon, Maryland and Clyde Meadows, 26 of the 2000 block Huntington Avenue, before Judge Lynn Stewart. Court documents allege that on or about October 14 Amanda Johnson and Clyde Meadows knocked on the front door of a witness in a pending attempted murder investigation. It is also alleged the two threatened the parent of the witness in an effort to persuade the testimony in the investigation.

Riley: "I didn't do what they said."

A shooting and a lot of robberies, burglaries and thefts in the blotter. (I think I've finally figured out the difference: robbery is when someone steps right up to your face and takes your shit, burglary is when they break in somewhere and take your shit, and theft is when they steal just one thing.)

Two witnesses, a mystery individual and some guy called "Skip," (not to be confused with campaign manager "Chip") will be supoenaed to testify about Ehrlich's so-called "Shadow Government" December 13.

Freaky pervs dept: A parking valet at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring copied the housekey of a nurse who worked there and broke in to her house with condoms and a video camera.

Bwahahaha! Poseurs Creed and 311 got into a fight at the Explorers Lounge of the Harbor Court Hotel. Apparently groupie action was so nonexistent for the wussy has-beens that the Creed singer was reduced to hitting on the 311 bassist's wife.

The tag "Oracl" is suspected of being the handiwork of one Kenneth D. Ellis, 25.

December 1

Two murders and one arrest in Baltimore on Tuesday: Eric Smith was found shot in a car in West Baltimore at 9:00 Tuesday night, and Torrey Darling was fatally shot 30 minutes later Tuesday in the Northwest. Farrakhhan Jenkins was arrested for the Sunday murder of Antwon Torain in West Baltimore.

Jennifer Lee, the 21-year-old daughter of a Baltimore County firefighter, was killed in White Marsh on Monday night when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit her car head-on. According to the article, the drunk driver was taken to Shock Trauma, charged, and "released on citations."

Suspicious: the body of David Ross, 55, found November 19 at the bottom of an elevator shaft in the Dundalk/Canton area.

In keeping in the Baltimore holiday tradition of robbing the less fortunate, two collection bins containing Christmas toys were set afire in Towson.

Former Villa Julie student Danielle Eboni Riley of PG County, 22, turned herself in yesterday and was charged with first-degree murder in the October death of her newborn daughter. The Medical Examiner ruled that the child' s death was a homicide, caused by asphyxia, blunt force, head injury and environmental exposure.

Still no leads on the murder of Jeryl Singleterry, the kidnapping victim who was found dead after his family paid over $10,000 in ranson. Singleterry was unemployed, had no criminal record, and was not apparently involved in drug use or other illegal acts.

A 16-year-old Annapolis honor student who wanted to "catch a body" got a 40 year sentence for murdering another teen and attempting to murder two women. Anthony Deyonko Switzer fired a shotgun randomly at a motorist. Not knowing he had just killed 18-year-old Doray D. Jones, he later shot at another car and narrowly missed the two women.

A 42-year-old East Baltimore dealer named Darrell Alston received a life sentence on Wednesday. His comrade-in-arms, Anthony Chandler, received 24 years. In an unrelated sentencing, Kenneth Butler was handed a 10-year sentence for attempting to deliver a half-kilo of heroin to a city dealer. (How is it that the drug trade seems to be the only entity in America on the metic system? -BVderC)