Three Little Trees

Adan Espinoza Canela

The Espinoza/Canela case has been dragging on for nearly a decade, but is the end near? Adan Espinoza Canela has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder,* making him eligible for parole in 2019. We never really found out what happened to make him want to kill his three young cousins, but the prevailing theory is Adan's now-dead stepfather Victor Perez's spurned advances to Adan's mom ChaCha. To paraphrase my attempted summary in March, Adan "Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of [former co-defendant] Policarpio. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe [alleged mastermind] were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez." Here's a chart.* Said Adan in court yesterday, "I thought that my family knew me, really that they would understand ... but I see that's not it. … They broke my heart."
Said the children's father, Policarpio's uncle, Mimi's husband, Ricardo, "They were three little trees that were growing. They were cut. They will never flower again."

Three people were shot yesterday*

Last year O'Malley's Executive Director of Crime Control told me there was no DNA backlog, now the state is claiming a backlog for 304 days in the city and 542 days in PGC.* But whatever, we'll take the money.

Robbery and burglary plaguing the southeast as per usual.

Ew, a city police officer, Frederick Allen, was indicted on charges related to sex abuse of a minor.*
In sexier news, the entire Towson University cheerleading team was suspended* for an entire year for hazing.. details please.

In goobernatorial news, Gansler wants to raise the minimum wage. In our poll (top right) enthusiasm for him is decidedly meh, with only 18% supporting. Where is our third party candidate?!

What price decency

No good deed dept: Antomar Jones convicted of killing his youth program mentor Corey Taylor whilst robbing him*

Henry Estrella-Cordova of Ecuador was arrested by ICE in Silver Spring for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl in the city two weeks ago.

Police canvassed the Forest Park area looking for leads in the murder of the mayor's cousin Joseph Haskins.

Police have released 911 tapes in the James Smith/Kendra Diggs barricade/murder situation/clusterfuck.

sup gurl.

I would rather hope not: officially no 4th trial for Policarpio Espinoza Perez.

OMG you guyz jail looks so fun! Just hanging out in front of the cells, fake-chatting on the phone. #livefromthecell, y'all.

Family of Sean Cannady approved to get $100,000 in their wrongful-death suit from the city. Officer Jemell Rayan shot three people in 18 months, and he's still working the streets. As a city officer.

Should Catholic Charities be running a city homeless shelter?

Civic-minded individuals protested the selling of the Sun to the Koch Bros.

Out in Parkville, some letter carrier was all like "fuckit."

Here's a head-scratcher: when it comes to the price per student of education, Baltimore city, at $15,400 per, is only second to New York, and MoCo is third. FWIW, Maryland spends $38, 383 a year for each prison inmate.

the officer who shot Cannady, Detective Jemell Rayam, was involved in three shootings in 18 months.

Read More at: http://foxbaltimore.com/news/features/featured/stories/family-man-killed-undercover-cop-gets-100k-1229.shtml#.UZwhhxgqnLY

the officer who shot Cannady, Detective Jemell Rayam, was involved in three shootings in 18 months.

Read More at: http://foxbaltimore.com/news/features/featured/stories/family-man-killed-undercover-cop-gets-100k-1229.shtml#.UZwhhxgqnLY

'Calm down, your girl is hot looking'

 Larry Markez

Missing 13-year-old boy, Larry Markez (sp?), last seen on East Preston St.

A second arrest for the murder of Cheesecake Factory employee Anthony Black,* one Derek Schuler, who allegedly helped stab Black to death for objecting to his and his friend's drunken sidewalk venery.

Bro Derek.

Larry Horton took an axe* and gave Ryan Jackson 24 whacks. When she heard what he had done, his mother wailed, "not my son!"

Awful: alleged victim of a road-rage murder Anthony Cannady was shot in the back in front of his two daughters.

"I've left this to my God's will,*" said Mimi Quezada, mother of two of the children allegedly slain by Espinoza/Canela, and the only one of the family to not say Policarpio didn't do it. Rather remarkable that after almost a decade no one but she in the family apparently speaks any English, ¿no?
 

Tiffany Linder

Doubling down like a KFC sandwich, O'Malley repeated to reporters that he supports the state's prison chief, Gary Maynard, and called the BGF indictments "a very positive development." Mmkay. From the perpetual o'candidiate I can almost understand that tone, but why the flattering edvertorial in the Sun*? Is he the Mata Hari of Baltimore, with dirt on everyone in town? And whoa, one of Bulldog's babymoms, Tiffany Linder, also made a court appearance. Eight months pregnant is no joke-- she looks like she's fixing to strangle Jayne Miller with a hemorrhoid.

Guns were seized by postal inspectors at 4903 St. George's Ave (in the NE) in a hush-hush Federal investigation. 

D'oh! Robber steals from Charles Street Safeway, assaults security guard, drops and leaves his ID behind.

You can now report your car break-ins online so as to proceed to have them not investigated more efficiently.

Prepare your diddleyhole: Baltimore Redditors are swapping Baltimore Detention Center stories.

 

Plots thicken

Life for Policarpio Espinoza Perez, for three counts of conspiracy to commit murder. So he's 31.* At 40k a year if he lives to 70, that's $1.5 million to imprison him. Are we sure we don't want to outsource this to Mexico?

Daniel Nicholson, the lead detective in the Phylicia Barnes case, was officially charged with assault, burglary and making false statements to police.* Michael Johnson's appeal is set to start next month. Tweeted Fenton, Nicholson's charges are beyond the statute of limitations, yet his attorney agreed to them. Johnson's attorney says the charges prove that the police were sitting on the case, and it's kind of hard to disagree.

Oh my. Nick Mosby's wife, Marilyn, is planning to run against Bernstein for state's attorney,* blaming him for the (latest) BGF prison scandal, which, of all the things to accuse him of, makes the least sense, given that the state is in charge of the prisons. Also today, uberous inamorato "Bulldog" pleaded not guilty.* Scott Calvert Tweeted that he's being held in solitary in Hagerstown and is now moving to Cumberland.

And a guilty plea for malefactor mom Veronica Alford,* who helped cover up Monae Turnage's homicide.

Two Acquittals and a Mistrial but Maybe Three Life Terms

So Policarpio Perez was acquitted of the murders-- but convicted of conspiracy to murder-- Ricardo Espinoza and Alexia Quezada, but a mistrial was declared for the murder count* for the death of Lucero (though he was also convicted of conspiracy in that case.  Just, what? Could there possibly in any way be a fourth trial for this guy? Says Cheshire, "I would like to note that Espinoza Perez was convicted of three counts of conspiring to commit first-degree murder. As a result, he faces a maximum sentence of three life terms in prison." ... which I take to mean no fourth trial because he'll already be as jailed as he's going to get.

Paige Croyder is back! and blogging about the "Stupid Trial" of the officer who recorded Judge Joan Gordon.

Here's the full transcript of Hollingsworth v. Perry at SCOTUS today, and some backstory from NYMag on the case they'll be hearing tomorrow.

Titillating Tuesday

Will Prop 8 /DOMA get struck down ... between now and June?
Will the jury find Policarpio Epsinoza Perez guilty a third time for killing three children?
So much suspense!

Some Enchanting Elevator

Royal Carribean's Enchantment of the Seas in the news again-- a 62-year-old woman was apparently murdered aboard a cruise ship that embarked from our fair port en route to Nassau. The ship has been crime blogg'd before-- a 14-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 25-year-old pool boy, two years ago a crew member was busted with cocaine and heroin.

But wait, isn't that already the law? Senators passed a bill to end the speed camera bounty system, and the bill "does not tighten requirements for allowing offenders to verify a violation."

WYPR's doing a show on our blue-light cameras on Friday.

Pro-gun-control moms are rallying in A-town today.

Progressive MD uncovered $60 million a year MD in lost revenue spent on "corporate welfare"-- loopholes, allowable shifty accounting and superfluous tax breaks that the legislature refuses to fix.

Speaking of A-town, ef the medical marijuana bill, which would lend not a whit of help to pot-smoking grannies like Cher Neufer and Brenda Brown.* Can't we just leave hippie grandma and AIDS grandma alone and give pot to everybody (and tax it) like HBill 1453 aims to do?

The day Andrew Zimmern's "Maryland" episode of Bizarre Foods aired, the House passed a ban on shark fin soup-- TIL MD fisherpeople catch sharks for Chinese consumption. Incidentally Zimmern also went to the eastern shore, where he skinned and ate BBQ'd muskrat and grilled eel that's caught here and also shipped to Asia. The gallivanting gourmand also enjoyed chitlins prepared by Koreans, Korean food prepared in Silver Spring, and Spike Gjerde's whales (or maybe they were hotels).

Saved for later dept:
- A compendium on "The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in Baltimore, 1918-1933."

Fascinating look at world of trap-making, i.e. secret compartments in vehicles often used to hide drugs, money wired.com/threatlevel/20…
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 25, 2013

Balling w Espantoons

Police are securing the West side with espantoons and basketball.*

The 2013 version State of MD vs. Policarpio Espinzoa Perez is to the jury.* Adan Espinoza Canela's trial is to start April 1. Notably, father of two of the children, Ricardo Espinoza, does not believe Policarpio is guilty and thinks the real killers are still at large.

No you did not, Baltimore City Zoning Commission! A jackassed bill has passed that will close down existing liquor stores in residentially zoned areas, which would include many long-running non-nuisance stores that are small and/or family-owned businesses (eg. Roland Park Wines & Liquors.) Burning question: why can't the city just enforce our existing loitering, littering or noise curfew laws? Why can't they just stop granting liquor licenses for stores in residential areas? and how is it legal to re-zone a business out of existence?

I'll be on the Dan Rodricks show on WYPR at noon talking hot topics; news of the day, if you will.
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 22, 2013

Yuck of the Irish

Busy all day, so what the hell happened?
Well...

Cham Green

Baltimore City homicide victim #41(march 18) an Unidentified Male had a disagreement at a home's doorway entrance in the 2700 block of Fox Street, which is in Remington between 26th and 2th street near Howard Street.

The third trial for one of the two guys accused of beheading three children moved ahead with a recording never before played in court*, which places Adan Canela on the scene at the time of the crime.  Fer fart's sake, does every reporter covering this case call these two by different names? So this is the trial now of Policarpio Espinoza Perez, who Justin George is calling Espinoza Perez. And he's calling Adan Canela Espinoza Canela. Anyway so who is Adan Canela to Guadaloupe? Fortunately there's a chart.* Sooo. Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of Policarpio. Espinoza Perez or Espinoza-Perez or just Perez. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez. So now Policarpio can testify against Adan since they're being tried separately for the first time, and even though three trials for illegal immigrants paid for by us is kind of a bitch, at least we are finally getting a clue to what happened and some justice for those poor children, Lucero and Ricardo Espinoza and Alexis Quezada.

Michael Wesley

Police have ID'd Rachel Curtis' killer as freckly Michael Wesley, left, who is out and about, so if you see him call police.

Gary Burton

Surly-looking Gary Burton was arrested* for the homeless shelter stabbing, and two more people were killed yesterday. Cham says ID on 1800 Ruxton Avenue victim is Terrence Rheubottom, 27, of Moreland Avenue. A guy on Manchester Avenue was found bullet-ridden in a car.

Just got off the phone w the father of one of the weekend homicide victims: Worked at Coast Guard yard,* may be mistaken identity situation
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Safe Streets opened a location on Park Heights and they have their own hashtag, #stopshooting

The luck of the Irish was not with the County's Franklin Precinct Capt. Matthew McElwee, nabbed at a St. Patrick's day sobriety checkpoint,* and oo, the Deuce has a photo. Not a sloppy drunk photo, but it'll do.

In Parkville a drug-related stabbing*

Some rough-looking girls got into it at Anne Arundel High over some Instagram photos

Have a smart phone or tablet stolen on an MTA bus or rail car recently? Willing to talk about it for a story? Hit me back
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Can't get out to that most recent shooting scene. If @baltospectator were here, I'd never hear the end of it
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

This is not a repost

Not a repost: For the second time in 3 days, a man and a woman were found fatally shot inside a car. This time in the 1700 block Montpelier
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) February 25, 2013

The couple shot inside a car that was set on fire in Mondawmin were identified as Taewan Tuck, 34, and Alysia Strickland, 33. We have had 29 homicides so far this year. Cham notes that Strickland is the second white female to be murdered in the city this year.

Pre-trial evidence hearings for accused child-killers Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela are underway, and now both DNA evidence and the testimony of a key witness have been thrown out.* Here's the Sun's coverage of the Byzantine case, shorthanded as the "Fallson murders".

Both of the 13-year-old reported missing this weekend, Kaitlyn Benny and Kymira Martin, were found. Or Martin at least contacted her mother and updated her Facebook page. And 15-year-old Taleia Terry was also missing and found.

Meanwhile at JHU/Homewood campus, a girl got hit at a party, her guy friend jumped to defend her and lost three teeth.

Need a city lobbyist? Call Harris Jones & Malone,* who have reportedly repped 41 percent of companies fighting city hall.

Twelve years in jail for Rodney Hailey of Perry Hall, who sold renewable fuel credits he didn't own for bio-diesel he didn't make. Hailey was also ordered to pay $42,196,089.78 in restitution.

Three teenage boys were robbed near Towson Town Center, and the speed camera near Loch Raven and Cromwell Bridge Road was vandalized again (what it really needs is a bikini top, don't you think?).

So councilman Todd "don't you know who I am?!" Huff huffed a BAC of .20. More than twice the legal limit, sure, but to look on the bright side, only half of what killed Amy Winehouse. He's also given up his county car.

July 5

You know you're reading the Sun when the murder of two human beings is less important than reporting on railroad-track repairs and a zoning hearing about a parking garage. But if you scroll way down you might find out that Lamar Robinson, 26, and Donyae Bogues, 30, died last night of multiple gunshot wounds.

...and you know you're reading the Sun when the story's out of date. Kevin Dorsey and Dennis Bowers, 18 and 20, were scheduled to go on trial today for killing 15-year-old Kareem Hanks, but Dorsey and Bowers' trial has been postponed to July 20. The alledged murderers were supposed to be on home detention while out on bail, but the company that was supposed to be monitoring them either wasn't, or didn't report the fact that they were missing to the state. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted the pair on October 26, 2004 for first-degree murder, conspiracy to murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, armed carjacking and conspiracy to carjack.

The "Stop Snitchin'" cameraman, Akiba Matthews, was supposed to go on trial today for drug charges, but alas, the trial has been postponed (or po-stoned, as JZ would say) to September 12. Says the prosecutor's office, "Although the State and the defense were ready for trial, the case was postponed because no courtroom was available."

The murder trial of Adan Espinoza Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 22, is scheduled to begin 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge Thomas Ward. Canela and Espinoza are charged with three counts each of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon, (a knife), in the May 27, 2004 deaths of Ricardo Quesada, Jr., 9, Lucero Quesada, 9, and Alexis Espejo, 10. Canela and Espinoza remain held in the Baltimore City Detention Center without bail. Prosecutors say DNA evidence will figure prominently in the case. (Here's a link to a story about the killings from May 29)

A bail review today, Kevin Armen Jackson, 23, got $250,000 bail. Jackson is currently in the Baltimore City Jail, charged with alleged attempted 1st degree murder, 1st and 2nd-degree assault, and other charges. Don't know the details there, but will investigate.

And in today's bail review of Michael Ward, 28, dude got no-bail status. On December 9, 2004 Ward was involved in the beating of Kenneth Hurt, 45. Hurt was taken to Mercy Hospital for a head injury and was placed in the nursing home unit due to the severe head trauma. He reported that two unidentified black males beat him over the head around the 1500 block of North Eden Street. On January 4, 2004 Hurt died of his injuries. Ward was arrested over the weekend and charged with homicide.

At a hearing today, James Joyner, 27, pled guilty to first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge Roger W. Brown sentenced Joyner to life in prison, suspend all but 20 years, the first five without the possibility of parole. On March 9, 2004 in the rear of a residence in the 900 block of Lemon Street, Joyner shot in the back and killed Antonio Izzard, 28.

Two robbers picked the wrong patsy in the Western last night: the intended victim turned out to be a plain-clothes police officer, who shot them both with his service revolver.