More September 12

At a hearing today, Christopher Nathan Porter, 18, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge Martin P. Welch sentenced porter to 10 years in prison, the first five years without parole for the handgun count and 10 years in prison, concurrent, for the manslaughter count. Court documents allege that on May 15, 2005 police officers with emergency medial personnel responded to 100 Diener Place for a shooting. Damon Aldridge, 23, was found lying unresponsive on the pavement suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and torso and was pronounced dead at the scene. Porter, who was 16 at the time, was identified through eyewitness accounts.

At a hearing today Judge Allen L. Schwait sentenced Donald Smothers, 29, of Norland Road to 30 years in prison. Smothers pled guilty to second-degree murder on July 10. Judge Schwait previously sentenced a co-defendant, Anthony Wallace, 26, to six years following Wallace's guilty plea to manslaughter. On July 16, 2002 Smothers and Wallace murdered Phillip Kent, 22, during a home invasion at 2218 Round Road. A Baltimore City jury convicted Smothers and Wallace of first-degree murder in January 2003 and the Court of Special Appeals vacated the guilty verdicts in September 2004 for the improper admission of both defendants' criminal convictions.

The Ameer Taylor case was postponed for the second time today at the request of the defense (Warren Brown) until November 30.

An arraignment for Dennis James Wallace, 54, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow before Judge Gale E. Rasin, 509 Courthouse East, 111 N. Calvert Street. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Wallace August 21, of this year for first-degree murder. Court documents allege that on July 31, 1983, Mr. William Gibson's decomposed body was discovered in a trash can which was placed in a wooden clothes locker outside a rear basement apartment located at 3418 Leverton Avenue. The landlord had complained of a strong foul odor coming from the apartment. Police identified Wallace as a potential suspect 10 days after the incident, but by that time Wallace had vanished and his whereabouts were unknown until he was located on July 28 of 2005. Wallace remains held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center. Assistant State's Attorney Sam Yee will prosecute the case.