Thursday, April 19, 2007

April 19

New precedent: the Supreme Court upholds the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Quote of the day: "I wish I was a girl so I could get an abortion!" --John Waters, 101 Things I Hate

A man's body was found in a marshy area of Westport in the Southern yesterday. His death has been ruled suspicious. Over in the Southwestern, the bodies of a man and woman that were found on March 29 in a Normount Ave. rowhouse have been identified as Philip Hines and Dontrelle Nesmith. Their deaths have also been deemed "suspicious."

Life + 20 for Party Shooter
Tuesday Judge M. Brooke Murdock sentenced Ricardo Watson, 35, of the 1000 block of East Hoffman Street to life in prison for murder and a consecutive 20-year prison term for a handgun count. A Baltimore City Jury convicted Watson February 13, 2007 of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. On March 25, 2006 Watson and the victim, Darren Green, 21, were attending a party at a house in the 1200 block of Maple Leaf Court in the Oldtown neighborhood. Watson shot Green eight times at point-blank range in the torso.

Kevin Klink was indicted yesterday on murder charges for the death of Robert Brazell. Klink also faces riot charges related to the fight at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City.
richard david morris
Perv du jour: 24-year-old Richard David Morris, a registered sex offender, almost succeeded in his plans to take three 8-year-old boys on a vacation to Florida.

21 comments:

Maurice Bradbury said...

So what to do about these three 'suspicious' deaths-- because you know we'll never hear about them again, they're probably homicides, there's no one to call to check -- the ME's office is (if history is a predictor of the future) about twice as likely than to label it "undetermined" than any other designation ... We need a "probably a murder but we'll most likely never know" designation.

John Galt said...

The Convention Bureau people have done a study showing that crime is the biggest obstacle to the tourism industry downtown, yet the police department correctly notes that the Inner Harbor is the recipient of about the best policing in town.

Before the tourists get an iota of greater safety, we in the neighborhoods must be safe. That clearly means resolving the mapower shortage. Until then, if anything the Inner Harbor should receive its fair (and therefore, much greater) share of this city's generous supply of criminality.

On a related note, Dontrelle Nesmith was a hairdresser, who had been missing. Her friends had been inquiring here as to her whereabouts. Now we know. She'd been trying to sever the situation with the boyfriend, but was afraid of him.

Neighborhood shooter Brandon Grimes is being prosecuted with the objective of life without parole for the murder of police officer Troy Chesley, even as another local bad boy in Pen Lucy, Keith Vaughn, was being indicted in the murder of 16 year-old Antonio Brown.

Today's blotter, when it comes up, will include inter alia the invasion of the Bolton Hill home of Judge Ward. I couldn't punctuate my point any better than that.

More cops now.

burgersub said...

well, it's encouraging that the police have gone on record as calling these deaths "suspicious" rather than plain old "undetermined." if they were actually murdered i'd say there's a fairly good chance they'll be declared homicides. remember, at the beginning of the year eddie golf, nelsene burnette, and thomas mackenney were all "suspicious" deaths too.

Maurice Bradbury said...

Wow are those boys ("PdJ") lucky that one of them had a grandparent with a brain! Did none of the six parents think twice about sending an 8-year-old to Florida with a single man?!

InsiderOut said...

Did you all miss the report that Commissioner Hamm got a raise and a contract extension until June 2008. Here's the link http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=56581

ppatin said...

"Neighborhood shooter Brandon Grimes is being prosecuted with the objective of life without parole for the murder of police officer Troy Chesley"

I find it disgusting that the SA's office isn't seeking the death penalty in this case.

burgersub said...

i find it disgusting that you find it disgusting that somebody is NOT going to be killed.

ppatin said...

Brandon Grimes waived his right to be thought of as a human being when he committed a cold-blooded murder. He should be discarded like the piece of garbage that he is.

burgersub said...

you're gross.

Emptyman said...

I missed the memo where someone calling himself "ppatin" got to decide who was a human being and who wasn't. My question, though, is whether Klink will hire Sgt. Schultz as his attorney. Thus raising the possiblity of the infamous "I know nothink! I saw nothink!" defense.

John Galt said...

Unfortunately, given the unchallenged control of violence over the streets of this city, the expression:

"I know nothink! I saw nothink!"

must at this time be reserved for the category of witnesses to crime, to whom the City administration has indicated it has absolutely no duty, either legal or moral.

And to the senior police management who keep asking us to get involved and BELIEVE, remember, you get only as good as good as you give.

John Galt said...

On the ongoing capital punishment debate, can we not agree here that incarceration, even if for a very long time, appears not to have the desired deterrent effect on our violent hoods?

It's one of the many reasons Ed Norris indicated was deterring cadet candidates from considering joining the BCPD: it's just too deadly here, even for cops.

burgersub said...

in this specific example, the choices are life without parole and death. they would both have the same deterrent effect because they both remove the offender from the general population forever. one could argue that, if left alive, dude could still commit more crimes in prison i guess, but they just shut down jessup and will hopefully make enough changes to DOC to make that less of a danger. i mean these prisoners are people whose actions are completely controlled by the state, it shouldn't be such a big deal to be able to supervise them without people getting killed. it's not like cops and crooks in the city.

ppatin said...

Capital punishment in the US won't deter criminals because the average crook is far more likely to be killed by his fellow scumbags than he is to be executed. What does work is a system like Singapore's. No such thing as first or second degree murder there, it's all one crime and it all carries a mandatory death sentence. The result is one of the safest countries in the world. Every day that I live in Baltimore gives me greater admiration for Singapore.

burgersub said...

yeah, singapore's status as one of the safest countries in the world comes entirely from their use of the death penalty. it has nothing to do with it also being one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

John Galt said...

Burg, have you ever been inside a jail here?

It's an eye-opening experience. The state has so little control, it's mindboggling. Actually, one of the reasons judges are sometimes reluctant to sentence without any possibility of parole is because the C.O.'s will have nothing with which to negotiiate their own safety.

In economic terms, the prisoner's continuation payoff is invariant w.r.t. his current actions. It means you have absolutely no reason to contain your misconduct.

It makes a good, entirely nonethical argument for capital punishment in lieu of life without parole.

burgersub said...

so try to fix the problems with the prison system. the solution isn't kill the prisoners.

ppatin said...

"yeah, singapore's status as one of the safest countries in the world comes entirely from their use of the death penalty. it has nothing to do with it also being one of the wealthiest countries in the world."

Obviously you can't just execute your problems away, but a justice system that delivers swift and brutal punishment to those who violate the law certainly contributes to Singapore's low crime rate.

Gor said...

I don't have a problem if the people of the state of Maryland wants to execute murderous criminals or lock them up forever. My stipulation is, we need to make sure we execute the right ones and if we are going to lock them up forever, then they get no benefits (2 semi-square meals a day, no limitless access to any library, and no state funded organ transplants that take away from the law-abiding citizens, why extend their life if all they will ever do is rot in prison?)

Any other question, what do we do to the life prisoners when they murder again while on the inside?

Maurice Bradbury said...

Chuck do you like how I made it look like you picked that John Waters quote? Har!

jaimetab said...

My goodness, the debate about the death penalty here is 99% academic. The much bigger problem is that almost all crime is tolerated, de facto ENCOURAGED, by the ridiculously inept perfect storm of incompetence--useless policing "strategy" plus no political leadership plus unbelievably permissive judges, parole, bail bonds, etc. etc.....