February 10

Erik Barksdale, 25, was arrested and charged with the murder of 15-year-old Antania Mills.

Major Nicholas Palmeri, commander of the Southwestern, is being reassigned to a desk job.

What's up with this video? All we know is some group of guys in "Police" shirts beat the tar out of BGE employee De'Andre Jones.

Prosecutors have submitted new DNA evidence in the Canela/Espinoza case, which will delay the retrial.

Two fifty-something guys, Gregory Banks and Oliver Hudson, are headed to federal prison for selling hillbilly heroin. The half-brothers made national "news of the weird" for acting ... weird.

If you get shot and want the local news to care, it's better to be a dog than a dark-skinned teenager.

Baltimore County has a new Circuit Court judge, H. Patrick Stringer Jr. Stringer specializes in business torts and (yawn) insurance law.

Brian Lynn McCarty, 23, of Essex, Md, got seven years for stabbing Christopher Tipton, 22, in Ocean City.

Note to political speechwriters: when shopping for a metaphor, steer clear of the Holocaust.

February 9

Two men were shot in the Southeastern. The man who died robbing the Radio Shack was ID'd as William C. Hooks, 28.

Yes, there it is, the accused murderer's Myspace profile (thanks, anon). Not only does he brag about being shaved from head to toe, but you can navigate there directly by going to http://www.myspace.com/bigthickdude. Ueeeuuuch.

A Baltimore City jury yesterday convicted Martin Michael Morgan, 18, of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The jury deliberated for approximately two days following three days of testimony. Judge Shirley Watts scheduled sentencing for March 29. On March 12, 2004 Morgan shot to death Wade Walker, 32, inside a carryout in the 3700 block of West Belvedere Avenue. A co-defendant in this case, James Murphy, pled guilty January 10, 2005 to second-degree murder and is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence. Morgan is also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of a 16-year old victim who was shot on March 6, 2004 in the 3700 block of Beehler Avenue. That trial is pending.

Charles Dennis, 21, Michael T. Parker, 23, and Donte Miller, 27, have been charged with first-degree murder following the death of Lamont Smith, 21.

Dr. Nelson Hendler of the Mensana clinic in Stevenson is accused of trading pain medication for sex.

Another stickup in Charles Village and plenty of stolen tools and cash in the Messenger crime log.

A new bill would allow testimony about other victims to be admitted in child sex-abuse cases.

The City Council is considering a bill that would allow people who are arrested but not charged with a crime to have the arrest expunged from their records. In other Council news, the Sun, like, totally busted Sheila Dixon (left, pants on fire not pictured).

Baltimore's new mentoring program called "Winning Teams" will be the subject of a reality show/ documentary filmed by Morgan State students and sponsored by 92Q. You just can't make that kind of thing up. The program will begin with a Talent Showcase at Harlem Park Middle School tonight at 5.

In Rockville/Landover, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old were abducted and forced to rob banks.
(Post username: pokemon@pokemon.com, password: pokemon)

In Annapolis, the death of a newborn boy found in a trash can was ruled a homicide.

Crime-infested heck-holism in Howard County, and the Harton jury is deliberating.

The FBI arrested a member of the Hagerstown police department, Jeffrey Scott Shifler, for making crazed threats via phone and mail to various public officials.

Police are seeking a man who robbed a Provident bank branch inside an Abingdon Wal-Mart.

JZ loves it some police chase action.

How fucking depressing/disgraceful: the White House knew about the levee breaking in New Orleans almost as soon as it happened. (Login: 999999999 password: 999999999)

February 8

The defense rested in the Melissa Harton/Natasha Bacchus Magee case.

The name of the woman whose body was found in Catonsville was Josie P. Brown of Buena Vista Lane in Hampden. The main suspect in the case is Christopher Gaumer, 22, who reportedly met the victim on Myspace.com.

Robin Lee Welshons, 34, was shot to death at Ken's Motel in Aberdeen.

The first-degree murder trial of Kevin Johns Jr., accused of strangling inmate Philip Parker on a prison bus, will be held in Worcester County. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

Ink: There were four murders last week, bringing the city's total to 33. Ricky Medley, 19; Martrell Brown, 16; Kurt Bowie, 22; and Mitchell Briggs Jr., 33, all died of gunshot wounds. (The Sun reported three of the four, earning a solid "C.") Also, the death of Richard Lee Witherspoon, who died of injuries from a 1990 beating last November, was ruled a homicide, bringing 2005's murder total to 270.

Police in New Jersey are seeking Tyleek Baker, 25, for the murder of Francisco J. Olivares, 21. Baker has ties to Baltimore.

Nathaniel Bosley was arrested for the murder of Rashard Thomas. DNA helped solve a 15-year-old rape case. A man was shot in the hand in the Western. The Blotter ran that burning paper scrap item again.

In Cecil County, Justin Wright, 17, was convicted of stabbing Theodore Carter, 18, to death with a novelty Samurai sword.

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Watts, aka Hakim Veney, was arrested for an armed carjacking in Charles Village. Poor Keith Slaughter, who works for Catholic Charities, was forced into the trunk of his car but managed to escape.

Pikesville psychiatrist Roman Ostrovsky is accused of swindling Medicaid out of $300k.

Four thieves stole a security vehicle and an ATM machine from Annapolis Mall ... says this story ... that has a lot of ellipses ... for no apparent reason ...

February 7

WTF is wrong with Catonsville? Another body found off 95, this time a woman.

Forty-three-year-old Daniel Harp is accused of stabbing his 68-year-old mother, Nancy.

After pre-trial motions and just before jury selection was to begin, George Dobson, 42 (not to be confused with Fudgie), pled guilty to first-degree sex offense and first-degree assault. Dobson was sentenced to life in prison suspend all but 30 years, three years' probation, ordered him to have no contact with the victim, to undergo sex offender counseling and to register with the Maryland sex offense registry. On April 10, 2000 at approximately 2 a.m. Dobson attempted to rob the victim at 12 Mount Vernon Place, cut her throat and forcibly sodomized her. The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins hospital where a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) was performed. No suspects were identified at that time and the case was suspended. In October 2003 police received information from the Maryland State Police that Dobson's DNA matched the DNA collected in the SAFE exam.

Pedophile priest Jerome "Father Jeff" Toohey will serve 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a boy at Calvert Hall College in 1987. The victim, now a news anchor with CNN Headline News, was interviewed on JZ.

Dick Moore is one special pervert: the legislature changed the law just for him, making it illegal to travel across state lines to molest a make-believe minor. He pled guilty and will be sentenced May 12.

JZ's got video of Melissa Harton's confession.

Godfrey Bonsu, 44, and his wife, Victoria Boateng, 42 of Bowie were convicted of recruiting couriers from Ghana to bring heroin into the U.S. via their colons. Blech.

Dixon to Sun reporter: "Maybe sometime what you should do ... is to find out what the motives are from people who come to you."

A girl-on-girl knife attack in Woodlawn, an inmate kindling a fire in an air vent at Central Booking and plenty of armed and attempted robbery in the Blotter.

A suspect robbed the Reisterstown Road Radio Shack, crashed into a police car, got arrested, dropped dead.

Thirty-two-year-old Harold Greene could get life in prison from federal drug and gun charges.

An inmate was stabbed at Jessup. Meanwhile, correctional officers are planning to rally in Annapolis for security improvements following the death of Officer Jeffery A. Wroten.

The body found in Severn was identified as that of 25-year-old Johnathan Proctor.

Phillip Akbar Schabazz got a three-year prison term for stealing library books and selling them on the street.

February 6

The Court of Appeals has been asked to reinstate the death penalty for Lawrence Borchardt, accused of killing elderly couple Joseph and Bernice Ohler on Thanksgiving Day in 1998 for drug money.

The Court of Appeals has issued Vernon Evans a stay of execution. Meanwhile, more details about the murders.

Bad apples don't fall far from the tree Dept.: Rose Peterson, an officer at Central Booking, is charged with assault and witness intimidation for threatening a witness in the first-degree murder case against her son, Anthony Dickson. Dickson is accused of fatally shooting Ronny "Butch" Antoine Martin in the back seat of a Dodge parked in the Southern District on January 1. The witnesses' identities were withheld from the charging documents in an attempt to prevent tampering and intimidation, but that feeble effort was, apparently, no match for a mother's love. Dickson is scheduled to be arraigned February 23.

Oh, Sheila. Sounds like the City Council President violated a city ethics law when she used a council committee hearing to pressure a city contractor to award more work to the firm that employs her sister.

The BCGJ indicted Mathaddues Rozier, 25, for two counts of first-degree murder. Court documents allege that on December 27, 2005 Mathaddues Rozier shot and killed his father Alvester Rozier, 79, at their home on North Kenwood Avenue, and later that same day shot and killed Travis Harris, 15, in the 500 block of North Glover Street.

The trial of the Central Booking officers charged in the death of Raymond Smoot has been postponed until May 22.

A body was found on the lawn of a townhouse in Severn.

Baltimore's first dedicated domestic violence court opens today.

Here's the card trick and here's the story.

And here's more about the Harton/Magee case. Natasha started talking "gibberish," Harton opened the door and Natasha "just fell out." Yeah, like they say in Ape-town, whatever.

Internet hunting is really weird.

February 5

One man was wounded and another shot to death on Potee Street in Brooklyn.

Thirty-three-year-old Mitchell Briggs Jr was shot to death while playing video poker in Yom's Food Market in Waverly.

Vernon Evans is scheduled to die tomorrow.

Great, wow, $52 million to hire 192 new cops! Oh wait, that's Harford County.

Horrible details of abuse in the Calvert County case of Graham Buckmaster, accused of murdering Lisa Moore on New Year's Eve.

Me fail English? That non-possible Dept.: Ehrlich bemoans "the dysfunctionality" of the city school system.