June 4

Crimefightery:
Though federal gun-crime prosecutions are up, that doesn't mean crime goes down, poopoo'd Bourgeois intellectuals r.e. Project Get-a-Room. Meanwhile, city cops are starting a new weightloss and endurance program. And the Brooklyn DA's office has a 90-percent conviction rate in its special gun court.

Livery:
Friends of cab driver Omar Ba, shot to death by 15-year old Damon Holmes, are trying to traise money to have him buried in his native Mali.

In Harford County, 18-year-old Wayne Bond got life plus 60 years for the gang-initiation killing of cab driver Derald Guess.

Fugitives:
Keep your eyes peeled for fugitives Ricardo Jones and Joesph Leaks, who escaped a DC jail and caught a Metro shuttle bus. Oh, wait, they caught Leakes. Well, Ricardo (left) is still on the lam. And now arsonist Robert Whetzel of Bel Air has escaped from the Eastern Shore pre-release unit after serving seven out of 10 of his years.

Domestic Horror:
Roger Hargrave, still not taking responsibility for the vicious burning of his own wife, got life in prison.

Around Town:
What really epitomizes Charles Village: shaking hands with Doug Duncan, then two minutes later having a high-ranking member of the Bloods walk by, following the Edmonson Village Steppers.

Are O'Malley's mayor pals trying to tell him something? There's a major conference of mayors and health officials coming to town Wednesday and Thursday. Topic: Building Public Drug Treatment Systems.

This just in:
black men are a diverse group.

June 2

A Baltimore City jury convicted (how rarely are those three words together?) William Langley, 48, of the 2440 block of Pickerming Drive, Parkville, Maryland of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence today. The jury deliberated for approximately seven hours yesterday and today after hearing two days of testimony this week. Judge Roger W. Brown set sentencing for September 6, 2006. Says the office of the big J,

On October 3, 2005 in the 600 block of Cherry Hill Road, Langley and Nae Chun Pak, 46, got into an altercation about a food order that Langley had placed in the victim's carry out store. Pak returned Langley's money and he left the store, only to return a short time later and fatally shoot Pak in the head.

Evil Keith M. Garrett got 20 years for murdering 7-year-old Timothy Washington in 1992.

TG it's Fryday: Baltimorean Andre Staton was sentenced to death for killing Beverly Yohn, 26, in front of her children in PA. Staton has a 20-year, tremendously long, "how the hell did he ever see the light of day"-style criminal recond in Baltimore City and was on parole for a stabbing when the murder took place.

After paperwork went missing, a jury aquitted Terry Darrell Jones for the murder of 15-year-old Anatania Delicia Mills.

A 15-year-old boy was charged with yesterday's shooting of cab driver Oumar Bah, 28.

A woman was arrested for vehicular manslaughter, a 90-year-old woman was assaulted, and Derrick Taylor, 26, was identified as Satuday's murder victim (#112) in the Blotter.

Roger Hargrave, the man who set his estranged wife Yvette Cade on fire, will be sentenced today.

In Anne Arundel County, Joseph Charles Cortina Jr., 49, was found dead from a blow to the chest.

U.S. Marshals ("Operation Nemesis") arrested an incredible 182 PG county fugitives this month.

Police are seeking a scary-looking man who's robbed 16 convenience stores.

Gangwatch: Bloods are #1, with (at least) 14 posses in the city and 140 members in sleepy Harford County alone. Crips are #2 with five crews (or wait, is it the Black Guerrilla Family?); the Gang that Saves Trout is distant third. (Could a gang summit please happen without somebody referring to "West Side Story"?) Other gangs in town: the Tiny Rascal Gangsters (aww!), Street Thug Criminals, Drop Bitches Quick, los Vatos Locos, the Pagans (their other car is a broom!).

Random Celebrity Web Finds: Britney Spears' wedding invitation (and shideous candle!) for sale on eBay-- thank jesus the divorce is happening, and Jew Watch News, which comapres Dustin Hoffman to Stalin.

June 1

At arraignment today, Jamal "Sweet 16" Charles and Dwayne Drake, charged with murder, pled not guilty. The court set a trial date of October 2 before Judge Shirley Watts.

A cab driver was robbed and fatally shot in the Northeast.

The Sun reports a homicide on the 1400 block of Federal Street Tuesday, which makes 114 homicides for the year by my count, 111 according to the police. One of the unidentified men shot over the weekend was named as Odell Lamont Wagner, 36.

Coleman Washington beat a woman with a car seat, a truck driver was assaulted with a knife, a woman was abducted and raped, ovens were stolen, plus petty theft and "ranssacking" in the Northern.

Odd choice of words dept:
Police Major to 11-year-olds: guns and jail aren't "sexy."
"...and gangs are not romantic at all," added the prosecutor.

Mrs. J has refiled assault charges against two officers, Jack H. Odom Jr. and Michael D. Brassell, who were accused of assaulting Akhenaton R. Bonaparte IV outside of Maria D's but had their case dismissed.

Tragic: The Dawson family lawsuit vs. the city = dismissed.

Hey y'all, watch this: A 14-year-old boy was shot to death in Elkton while playing with a rifle in a mobile home. His two dumbass friends were arrested.

Why did Michael Simmons kill Patrick Walter in Bel Air? Charging docs say Walter cut Simmons off in traffic.

Maryland's worst judge (left) says that dismissing Yvette Cade's protective order was an 'administrative error.'

Ron Meroney of Tennessee told a judge he'll turn himself in to MD authorities for raping a 14-year-old 32 years ago.

Thomas Gibbons of Forest Hill pled guilty to bank fraud after stealing more than $1.6 million from investment clients.

The story is just that good: Baltimore's most eccentric lawn litter ran the sixth piece in a row about private-school drug flushing.

Blind item: what governor was spotted cozying up to a war criminal for money?

County police get new radios, Roland Park to get a Starbuck's.

May 31

In Hargerstown, a 17-year-old got two years' probation for shooting a mother of three.

WBAL reports the 10-day-old story of gas-jacker Joseph Boulware.

Though the Inspector General pooh-poohs Project Exile (source of the billboard on the jail), local officials say the Feds have been taking over gun prosecutions successfully, upping them by 82 percent in the past quarter.

From the SA's office:

[BC State's Attorney Mrs. J] will join law enforcement partners, community leaders and guests at The Maryland Gang Summit, Sheraton Hotel Columbia, 10207 Wincopin Circle, Columbia, Maryland at 9:30 AM Thursday. Jessamy's participation in The Maryland Gang Summit continues public education and awareness efforts underway by Baltimore prosecutors and community coordinators. Citizens, neighborhood leaders and school officials have expressed interest in knowing more about gang activity in their communities. In response to this high level of community interest, the State's Attorney's Office sponsored a Gang Awareness Summit at the University of Maryland in April. The SAO is also promoting gang awareness and positive decision making skills at city schools through the G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program, a cooperative effort begun by the SAO and City School Police.

Donte Hudson, 28, was shot to death in East Baltimore and a potential witness is clinging to life. Hudson was homicide #112. There have been six murders in the past five days.

The CP reports on the city's homicides between May 15 and 26. Aaron Wilson, 23, was identified as one of the two men shot in Maple Glen Apartments.

One of the "Sweet 16" killers, Jamal Charles, 16, has an arraigment scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge Glynn. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Charles and Drake May 4, 2006 for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and handgun counts.

The rape trial of Jemini Jones, Steven Hatley, and Brian Shaffer, originally scheduled to begin today, was postponed until August 21 before Judge Wanda K. Heard.

..and Sophia Coppola is pregnant, and it isn't Spike's!

May 30

Supreme Court to Govt. Employees: Stop Snitching!

Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics: while 42 percent of sexual assaults are reported to police in the general population, 13 of 14 black women who are sexually assaulted don't file a report.

Councilman Kenneth Harris Sr. wants to know why police are arresting people for minor or questionable crimes.

John Allen Muhammad was convicted of first-degree murder in Montgomery County for killing James Martin, Premkumar Walekar, James "Sonny" Buchanan, Sarah Ramos, Lori Lewis Rivera and Conrad Johnson.

Trial began for William Langley, 49, in 225 Courthouse East. He is accused of shooting Nae Chun Pak, 46, to death. Pak, Baltimorean from Korea, was the only Asian male to be murdered in the city last year (that we know of). Linda Trinh, daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, was the only Asian female.

A woman at 300 W. 31st may have been # 112.

Gag Forced on Police Rape Case Facers

Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson of Baltimore was beaten to death in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

A suspect lost consciousness, then died after struggle with police at the Canton Liquor House in Fell's Point.

A man was abducted from Reisterstown Road, beaten and stabbed.

In Silver Spring, six gunmen tried to jack three ATVs, caused 12-car pile-up.

MoGoCoians are puzzled by the five teenage boys who robbed the Bethesda Smoothie King.

Kimberly Dozier, a CBS correspondent wounded in an Iraq car bombing, attended BMS, St. Tim's.

May 29

Four homicides this weekend; RIP Darnell A. Spearman, 32; Donye Blackston, 22; two mystery men, bringing The Number to about 111.

What the stat?! Baltimore police are in 10 1/2 car accidents in an average week?

Marion Meade on NPR with the Dorothy Parker/ Lillian Hellman/ MLKJr/ NAACP story. Dish! Hellman was bitter, jealous liar, hated newspapermen. Parker's ashes sat in a drawer in a Wall Street office for 15 years until Ben Hooks raised $10,000 to make her a memorial garden. Quote: "Everyone made jokes that [Baltimore] was a fate worse than death, but after you've been hanging around on the shelf, dead for that long, what difference does it make? And some nice people took her in." Here's Tyne "Lacey" Daly reading the n-word repeatedly in "Arrangement in Black and White".

May 28

Rey Rivera's wife gave police his suicide note Wednesday.

Another reason to hate Team Ehrlich/Constellation: Maryland power plants have been flagrantly violating pollution laws, unpenalized.

Following a robbery, a Bowie man was Annapolis' 4th homicide.

A 19-year-old and a 17-year-old were stabbed in a knife fight in Edgewood.

Darnell Foreman, 21, was shot in Frederick and flown to shock trauma.

Julie Bycowicz's story about change to the FBI's gunshot analysis policies made the L.A. Times.

Now that's a story: Dorothy Parker's ashes belong to the NAACP, and have been sitting in their Northwest Baltimore headquarters for years ! Parker reportedly willed her estate to MLK Jr. and the NAACP after she heard snarky Sun reporter H.L. Mencken tell racist jokes.