Tuesday, October 2, 2007

October 2

In a court order dated August 24, 2007 and received October 1, 2007 by prosecutors in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, Judge Marcella A. Holland has denied James Thompson’s Petition for Post Conviction Relief and a Motion for a New Trial. The Post Conviction hearing was held on June 27, 2007 before J. Holland. In 1988, Thompson was convicted of the August 2, 1987 murder of Colleen Willar. Thompson was sentenced to life in prison. In the ruling of August 24, 2007 Judge Holland states:
“The DNA evidence does not remove the Petitioner from the scene of the crime. The DNA evidence does eliminate the Petitioner from being the ultimate rapist. Yet, even in the Petitioner’s testimony at the trial of James Owens, he never claims to be the actual murderer or rapist. His claim was that he stood by as the event occurred. Since the DNA evidence does not show that the Petitioner is innocent of the underlying crime of burglary, coupled with his confession stating that he burglarized the house as the victim was murdered, this Court does not concur with the Petitioner that the DNA evidence exculpates him of the primary crime of which he is accused – felony murder. This Court denies the Petitioner’s Motion for a New Trial.”
"A small group of protesters gathered outside Baltimore police headquarters Monday night to call attention to police brutality in the city, invoking the spirit of the Jena 6 rallies. 'We’re here for justice,' said Fenyanga Muhammad, who was shot four times by police after they mistook a Popsicle stick in his mouth for drugs."
(Matt Jablow disputed this account at the time, claiming that shots were only fired after Muhammad tried to grab an officer's gun. Charges are still pending against Muhammad, government name Donnie Ray Chestnut. Thanks galt)

The good news: "A growing number of police departments across Maryland are adopting a domestic violence program that uses a series of pointed questions to identify those most at risk of being killed."
Domestic violence is the leading cause of death for African-American women aged 15–34. So far in the Baltimore area, only the city's Northeast District uses the lethality assessment.

An NYT Op-Ed piece opines that the links above are related to each other, Isiah Thomas and OJ. What do you think?

Judge: The Baltimore police department "must return the personal laptop computer seized from a lieutenant suspected of using it to send offensive e-mails through the department’s network during working hours."

Nutjobs Farther Afield
Bobby Collins, 32, of Brooklyn, N.Y. "made hundreds of crank calls to Maryland police agencies because he was angry over a two-year-old speeding ticket he received while in the state."

Judge Barbara Jung convicted dog groomer Celeste Rainone of animal cruelty and mutilation in the Feb. 17 death of a poodle.

WSJ invokes Royal "we": "Every state has its problems, but we're especially glad this month that we don't live in Maryland." (subscribers only)

17 comments:

ppatin said...

This city needs more police brutality, not less...

John Galt said...

That's no Fenyanga Muhammad. His real name is Donnie Ray Chestnut.

Doesn't mean you can take target practice on him without a very good explanation, but come on now.

Maurice Bradbury said...

someone told me your name isn't really John Galt, but I wasn't going to say anything.

John Galt said...

He's charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.

ppatin said...

I wish people would stop bringing up the Jena 6 as some sort of example of poor persecuted minorities. Sure the DA in the case may have been an ass, but the Jena 6 are NOT a bunch of innocent victims. Mychal Bell (someone needs to teach his parents how to spell "Michael") is pretty obviously on his way to becoming a career thug. Last week I heard Hillary Clinton drawing a comparison between the Jena 6 and the Little Rock 9, which made me want to throw up.

Maurice Bradbury said...

I feel so bad for kids whose parents give them mispelled names. or nicknames as first names (eg "Donnie"). What a way to start life!

John Galt said...

Police seek witnesses on WJZ tv.

FYI, the murder of video store manager Antonio Gilmore in (better) Waverly remains similarly open.

Caederus said...

Well Bobby Collins (not Robert, Bobby) spent 101 days as a guest of HoCo for his calls to us, while the City went with probation... That seems to track with other sentencing...

BTW a sign that you are a really stupid criminal is when your own defence atorney berates you in court about how stupid you were.

- HoCoJoe
(who's name really isn't Joe)

ppatin said...

Here's an article that was published a few days ago in the Frederick News-Post about Zach Sowers. The bit about the medical bills really made me mad. When Pookie gets his ass shot on the corner because he was dealing drugs he doesn't pay a dime towards the cost of his medical care, but a productive, law-abiding citizen with insurance will be financially devastated because he was a crime victim. Here is my proposed solution, and yes, this one is completely serious. As far as I know each of Zach's attackers has two viable kidneys. Each of them should be forced to have one surgically removed and sold to a patient who needs a transplant. Zach's bills should be taken care of and four dialysis patients will get the transplants they need. It's a win-win situation.

John Galt said...

Is Sheila on crack too ??

It's an effort Mayor Sheila Dixon believes could pave the way toward a safer Baltimore. It's called the "Cleaner, Greener" initiative and one of the first steps is a beautification project that targets medians all over the city. ABC2 Investigator Joce Sterman has more on how much green this project is costing and why not everyone is pleased with the improvements.

When it comes to Baltimore's reputation, the picture isn't pretty. A rising murder rate, gang problems and drug crime have become the talk of the city. But the Mayor has a plan to take back the streets, one tree at a time.

ppatin said...

Let's start lynching criminals from those newly planted trees.

John Galt said...

Oh, let's do anything but hold responsible persons responsible.

Let's commission public art. That will reduce the homicide rate.

Or maybe a big 24-hour Kumbaya Circle at New Psalmist. That would work too.

Maybe we should hand out i-pods in Kindergarten so that the Children will grow up connected to the larger society. I'm sure that would cut the crime rate by double digits.


Police ? Police ? Why, what a novel and peculiar thought. Who would ever imagine that the most murderous city ought to have sufficient police manpower ???

Carol Ott said...

Does anyone know what happened to the city's "Adopt-A-Block" initiative with the police department? I heard about it once and then never heard a peep about it again. It sounded like a great idea, and I'd love to know where the blocks were.

Anonymous said...

Hey Galt, why weren't you down at Artscape protesting? I didn't see anyone with a "Go home! Stop Supporting Public Art!" picket sign.

John Galt said...

Murder in Philly has cleared 305; of course, Philly is two and a half times our size.

As I indicated, shootings in Detroit are waaay down, as are murders.

Bringing up the rear is St. Louis, whose crime is said to be down 15%.
See a good article here on UCR data problems.

John Galt said...

I love art. I love trees
(when well-maintained by someone else at their own expense). But neither makes any contribution to reducing this city's outrageous crime disaster.

It's about getting your priorities straight.

What Sheia Dixon ought to admit is that she's quite content to be the crime capital of the nation. And that she'd like pretty flowers to line the footpaths on her way to crime scenes. Her kinda town.

But it's pretty unpalatable to the rest of middle-class America.

graham said...

ppatin, thanks for the link to the Zach Sowers article. I agree 100% with the kidney idea.