Monday, April 21, 2008

April 21

As Galt reported in the comments yesterday, a man was murdered early yesterday morning on 6th St. in the Southern.

Baltimore City is safer than any of the surrounding counties.*

Edward and Catherine Palmer allegedly killed their landlord in self-defense. Then they burned his dead body in self-defense, borrowed a car in self-defense, and dumped the landlord's body in self-defense.

If you decide to go-a-killin', make sure there's only one witness.

The BPD gave the feds evidence related to the shooting of Edward Lamont Hunt.

A skateboarder broke into Eastern Technical High School, removed a door, and used it as a skateboard ramp. It wasn't all fun and games for skateboarders, though, because a teenage boy's board was stolen during an implied armed robbery in Parkville.

The opening six words of Kelsey Volkmann's story make me wonder how many teachers aren't tired of students assaulting them.


* Based on the number of non-fatal shootings and armed robberies reported in the Sun for the weekend of April 19-20, 2008. A 22-year-old man was shot in the leg in Marley (AAC), a 45-year-old man was robbed while walking in Columbia early yesterday morning, and two men were shot in two separate incidents -- one of which was a home invasion -- in Baltimore County on Saturday night. Meanwhile, there was only one non-fatal shooting reported in the City: a 21-year-old man was shot in the leg on N. Robinson St. on Saturday morning.

15 comments:

ppatin said...

Foxtrot was circling my house for at least 15 minutes around 1:30 AM last night. Stupid hoodlums preventing me from sleeping...

buzoncrime said...

Baltimore Crime readers: please be advised that what the Sun posts in the crime blotter is not the only crime which occurs. It is what the Sun reporter(s), usually Richard Irwin, find out by calling around to various districts and Police Communications. There are many variables to what and how much is reported, especially whether or not the grumpy desk person is able or wiling to talk to him. Richard picks a selection of stories based on his time available, and the editors decide on how much space to give.

I worked in several districts in the city, and each district typically has 15-25 crimes reported each day; busier districts or bad nights can make it go up to 40!

But since "crime is down", perhaps all we see in the Sun is all there is..........By the way, if incidents happen late on Saturday night, you might not hear about them at all--unless they're major.

Winston Smith said...

So if someone is killed in the city but dumped in the county does the murder count in the city's total or the county's?

taotechuck said...

I've been wondering about that too, Winston. Does anyone know, or do we need to wait until Anna does (or doesn't) cover it in the Ink?

John Galt said...

Flash: a woman has been murdered in her home on 31st Street across from Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus.

John Galt said...

Details of this morning's stabbing death by Johns Hopkins are found here.

Anonymous said...

Based on what I know from watch "The Wire," the murder is attributed to where the murder occurred, not where the body is discovered.

(a la McNulty using tide maps, etc, to pinpoint that the dead Russian girl was killed and dumped in the water within city limits and then drifted out to the county water, thereby bringing the murder back on the homicide unit in the city).

Also, I get all of my legal/investigative knowledge for Law & Order and all my medical information from House. ;)

However, I think it is true that if they can prove the murder occurred in a certain place, the body count is attributed to that place, rather than the eventual location of the body.

buzoncrime said...

Generally, initially, the place where the body is found is charged with the homicide. However, if there's substantial evidence the crime occurred elsewhere, as in the landlord murder, the original jurisdiction "unfounds" the crime via a supplement report, and the actual jurisdiction of occurrence takes the hit, and picks up the investigation.

I guess they didn't like their landlord. Yeah, self-defense........good luck with that one. On the other hand, where are our two witnesses?

The 2 witness policy is nice for the numbers, but defies common sense and a sense of morality. Sometimes one or no witness is all you have. In many cases of all types of crimes, all you have is overwhelming circumstantial evidence. So, it's great the convictions have increased, but............sheesh.

Maurice Bradbury said...

Thank you Buz, because I have wondered literally for years about how representative the Blotter is of what goes on. The blurb "a sampling of crimes from police reports" is so unnervingly vague. A felonious Whitman's box!
So maybe it's fair to say it "samples" about 1/30th of crimes?

And yes I believe it's where the murder took place!

ppatin said...

A few years ago there was a legal fight about a murder that took place on a Department of Corrections bus. One inmate killed another while they were close to the dividing line between Baltimore County and some other jurisdiction (I think it was the city but I'm not sure.) The killer's lawyers fought to keep it from being a BaltCo murder, because that would guarantee that prosecutors would seek the death penalty against their client.

buzoncrime said...

Yep, just a small portion of crimes that are actually reported.

Buz will be attending the panel discussion at Goucher this Thursday. Hope to meet you then.

And yes, I remember the case on the bus, but not sure whatever happened in the end. Baltimore County is a tough jurisdiction for plaintiffs and defendants.

gmd said...

Wasn't there a burning body found last year in a park just over the border in the county about a year ago? They never figured out where the murder occurred, although the teenager was apparently picked up somewher in West Baltimore. It was never counted as a city murder. The Key Bridge murder earlier this year wasn't counted because is was under MTA jurisdiction.

ppatin said...

gmd:

Are you sure about the Key Bridge murder? The case is being prosecuted by the Baltimore City SA's office, and I'm almost certain that means it counts as a city murder. Just because it wasn't investigated by the City PD doesn't mean it isn't a city homicide. Whenever an inmate gets shanked in Jessup it counts as an Anne Arundel County crime, even though the investigation is the responsibility of the DoC and Maryland State Police.

Oh, I know this is nitpickiness on my part, but the Key Bridge is MdTA (Maryland Transportation Authority) not MTA (Maryland Transit Administration) jurisdiction.

gmd said...

ppatin:

Yes, I recall reading that the Turner Jordan murder would not be counted in the official stats even though Baltimore City courts were handling. I thought I also read this in Baltimore Ink, and the name is not listed in the Baltimore Crime list of victims or received a Baltimore Ink number. My understanding is that jail murders do not count for the local jurisdictions; jail victims Darius Solers from Ocotber 2007 and Xavier Tilghman from November 2007 never appeared in the Baltimore Crime victim list or received a Baltimore Ink number. The Baltimore Sun map does not show the Key Bridge murder either.

ppatin said...

gmd:

Interesting. A couple years ago there was an article in the Sun about how all the murders in Jessup were a huge drain on the AACo state's attorney's office, and they were trying to get money from the state to cover the costs. That made me assume that murders in DOC counted towards the county where they occurred. If someone was murdered at a Port of Baltimore facility would that count as a city murder, even though it's under MdTA Police jurisdiction?