Dropped by the CJCC meeting this afternoon, as I was in the neighborhood and had a notion to scope out new commissioner Batts. Batts apparently won't be on the grind until the end of September (Deputy Commissioner Skinner was there instead), but there were sandwiches, and here's some other interesting stuff I done learnded:
According to Tammy Brown, (formerly Chief of Staff of the Department of Juvenile Services, and now executive director of O'Malley's office of Crime Control and Prevention) the state now has no DNA backlog. Fairly amazeballs given that six months ago the backlog was 654. Brown said clearing the backlog has led to 487 DNA-related arrests.
According to Sam Abed of the Department of Juvenile Services, the "VPI" is why the juvenile homicide rate is down so much-- 58% since 2008. Statewide 994 youths are in the VPI program and 276 in the city. The program apparently involves cherry-picking the exceptionally naughty children and GPSing their little ankles and/or making them report to someone three times a week.
Reporting for the Attorney General's office was one Brian Kleinbord, chief of the criminal appeals division, who recapped four Fourth-Circuit cases to watch in the near future, all of which might find their way to SCOTUS:
Maryland v King, aka "the cheek swab case." He said MD filed its "cert" in August and will find out in late October or early November if SCOTUS will grant it.
Woollard, et al., v Gallagher et al, aka the "concealed carry case." The appeal will be argued October 24.
Merzbacher v. Shearin, which he called "as notorious and salacious as any case we've seen." This involves a Catholic-school child rapist (Merzbacher), convicted by a city jury and sentenced to four life terms. After Merzbacher was convicted, he appealed, claiming that he hadn't been informed of a plea deal. Said plea was heard by dear departed Judge Prevas, who found that Merzbacher's lawyer was lying, considering he found it unlikely they'd never talked plea bargaining and furthermore, as it turned out, said lawyer was also a convicted criminal who lied on her bar application. Merzbacher appealed Prevas' decision, District Court Judge Andre Davis agreed with Merzbacher, and so now the 4th C will deal with that mess October 23 in Richmond.
And some other fascinating facts:
Crime is down in almost every category over this time last year, though homicides are up (by less than one percent) over this time last year, and "larceny from auto" is up 6 percent.
So far in 2012, 55,717 people have been arrested in Maryland's "Central Region" (which appears to mean Baltimore City, since other stats in the same handout refer to city courthouses). 88% of these detainees were black, 90% were male. The average daily population of detainees is 3,320, and the most common "dominant offense" = drug-related. So far this year there have been two suicide deaths and two deaths from natural causes.
According to Tammy Brown, (formerly Chief of Staff of the Department of Juvenile Services, and now executive director of O'Malley's office of Crime Control and Prevention) the state now has no DNA backlog. Fairly amazeballs given that six months ago the backlog was 654. Brown said clearing the backlog has led to 487 DNA-related arrests.
According to Sam Abed of the Department of Juvenile Services, the "VPI" is why the juvenile homicide rate is down so much-- 58% since 2008. Statewide 994 youths are in the VPI program and 276 in the city. The program apparently involves cherry-picking the exceptionally naughty children and GPSing their little ankles and/or making them report to someone three times a week.
Reporting for the Attorney General's office was one Brian Kleinbord, chief of the criminal appeals division, who recapped four Fourth-Circuit cases to watch in the near future, all of which might find their way to SCOTUS:
Maryland v King, aka "the cheek swab case." He said MD filed its "cert" in August and will find out in late October or early November if SCOTUS will grant it.
Woollard, et al., v Gallagher et al, aka the "concealed carry case." The appeal will be argued October 24.
Merzbacher v. Shearin, which he called "as notorious and salacious as any case we've seen." This involves a Catholic-school child rapist (Merzbacher), convicted by a city jury and sentenced to four life terms. After Merzbacher was convicted, he appealed, claiming that he hadn't been informed of a plea deal. Said plea was heard by dear departed Judge Prevas, who found that Merzbacher's lawyer was lying, considering he found it unlikely they'd never talked plea bargaining and furthermore, as it turned out, said lawyer was also a convicted criminal who lied on her bar application. Merzbacher appealed Prevas' decision, District Court Judge Andre Davis agreed with Merzbacher, and so now the 4th C will deal with that mess October 23 in Richmond.
And some other fascinating facts:
Crime is down in almost every category over this time last year, though homicides are up (by less than one percent) over this time last year, and "larceny from auto" is up 6 percent.
So far in 2012, 55,717 people have been arrested in Maryland's "Central Region" (which appears to mean Baltimore City, since other stats in the same handout refer to city courthouses). 88% of these detainees were black, 90% were male. The average daily population of detainees is 3,320, and the most common "dominant offense" = drug-related. So far this year there have been two suicide deaths and two deaths from natural causes.
