January 15

What the ?!?!! The only word for the story out of the Southwestern is unfuckinggddamnedbelievable! Scores of city police officers were up to everything, and I do mean everything. Sex in offices with prisoners, stashing drugs on people, stealing cell phones .. a mind-blowing 375 cases will have to be thrown out. Only a handful of officers will be prosecuted by the city for the drug charges, the rest of the cops face federal charges because you can't have a cop testifying against a cop. So RJ's the knocker now... and maybe the bust at the Owl's Nest was not all total BS after all.

Graham D. Buckmaster, 57, was captured in the Cumberland gap. He was wanted for shooting his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Moore, to death, on New Year's Eve .

A woman was shot during a robbery at the Salvo Auto Parts in Woodlawn.

A man's body was found near a mysterious fire at an Essex used-car dealership.

Good news, ladies! The Sun says that even if Roe is overturned, we'll always have legal 'borshuns in our state.

And at my mysteries; take your revenge.
Thus as he spake, he made o'er earth and sky
To spread a fiery blaze of awful light.
Silence was in the heavens, in the green glen
Not a leaf whispered, and all beasts were still.

Stop the presses: a 17-year-old girl bought a beer at the Fuddrucker's in Columbia.

January 14

Two men were fatally shot in East Baltimore near Aiken and Curtain.

Not to be Confused with Mr. Loverman:Dennis 'Shabba' Burke is back in West Virginia. He was wanted for a murder in Oak Hill WVa. for 11 years and was found in December by Baltimore Police during a Stop-and-Frisk.

Dexter Bert Tyson, 31, had the bad fortune to face federal drug charges for his fifth crack-related felony. He got life without parole. Last week, extremely lucky William Nicholson got just three years for making a living as a cocaine kingpin.

A University of Maryland basketball player, Travis Garrison, is charged with triple ass-grabbery and improper backhanding of a lady at the Cornerstone Grill in PG County.

Nauseating Child Abuse Dept
Police are seeking 21-year-old Minita "Mickey" Genneetta Hughes, left, accused of scalding a two-year-old boy and fracturing his skull at the Towson Ramada Inn.

Loren Williams, 45, will serve 15 years in prison for videotaping himself sexually abusing a boy in Ocean City.

January 13

Mayor O'Malley was unable to attend a Planned Parenthood event due to the fact that his father, Thomas M. O'Malley, died of a lung ailment January 5. A mass of Catholic burial was held in Rockville.

More than 300 criminal cases in the Southwestern may be dismissed beacuse of the Flex Squad scandal.

It's alleged that Mathaddues Rozier, 25, shot a 15-year-old boy and then his 79-year-old father. And then there's some guy named Gerald Reed involved. I don't know, it's confusing.

The skeletal remains found in Jessup appear to have been homicided.

Robert C. Griffin, 71, is scheduled for a hearing at 2 p.m. today before Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin. Griffin was found guilty in 1986 of stabbing and strangling 20-year-old Annie Cruse behind the Reptile House in Druid Hill Park. This past November, Judge Raisin granted a motion for new trial due to the results from a recent DNA test.

How retarded: documents from the NSA detail how agents, via a unit of the Baltimore Police, spied on people who were taking children (maybe even disabled children, 4800 York rd is BARC) to Washington DC for the 4th of July. The probable cause: "advised protestors would be demonstrating with 'against the war' signs."

Police Blotter: "a sampling of crimes."

Things got un-bucolic in Carroll County when police shot 23-year-old Jason Woodward.. oh wait, oh wait, no, they didn't... as he pressed a knife into the throat of a 21-year-old woman he'd dragged behind the route 140 Hess station. Or not. Seriously, what is going on at JZ?

Soon, entry-level prison guards may make more than Daily Record reporters.

Aleksandr Dzhanasvili of Pikesville got arrested for posing as a doctor and trying to steal a morphine patch from a patient at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center.

SSQ mall shooting suspect Brian Keith Rose, 21, had also been convicted of stealing a police car.

Maryland's new bill requiring employers with <10k employees to spend 8 percent of payrolls on health insurance has made national news, as has our governor's blatant canoodling with a certain naughty corporation. Next on the liberal agenda: gay wedding reception packages at the Marriott Waterfront and health insurance for everybody.

January 12

In Greenbelt, James Everett Flood III, 28, got life in prison. Flood was accused of kidnapping and killing Eric Hayes II, a police officer's son.

A shooting, arrests, and a man robbed the "7-Elevent" in the Sun blotter.

Brian Keith Rose, left, is still on the lam, wanted for the carjacking/murder of 31-year-old Warren Fleming. The Sun reveals that Rose was previously charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder three years ago, when he was accused of trying to crash a vehicle head-on into a police car. Those charges were, however, dismissed.

The mean girl who stabbed 15-year-old Kanisha Neal outside of Blake High School in Rockville will be detained for five years as a juvenile.

On the Hill Cafe & Market on John and Mosher in Bolton Hill was robbed last night. Theives broke a door frame and removed the cash drawer. Jessica claims to have sucked it up as a part of Baltimore living but says George muttered something about how much safer things are in Boston.

Here's the lowdown according to Edward Ericson Jr. on the hearing at the War Memorial that went down on January 4. O'Malley gave a speech then left the hearing, pissing off the crowd. Jessamy blasted the police for arresting people without probable cause, noting that in August 408 drug cases fit under the "could not prove" category, and there were 845 loitering cases clogging up t he system. Leonard Hamm made everyone uncomfortable when he was asked to define the 5th amendment and got it wrong. Ralph Tyler, the "Ralph" from yesterday's meeting who is ostensibly acting in loco Mayoris this month, eventually prompted him. Close readers will note that in the handout distributed at the CJCC meeting a week later, the hilarious gaffe still was not corrected. Even funnier: yesterday, before this story was out or I'd even heard about the hearing, my cell phone went off in the middle of the CJCC meeting, playing "Push It". Then after some guy from the police department was like, "was that your ring tone?" and I said, "I plead the fifth!" HA!

...speaking of a reduction in crime, there's been no response as to why Greg Raymond, the drunk-driving lacrosse coach who skewered his friend's skull on a pole at the Guilford street exit ramp, has yet to be charged with manslaughter.

An editorial by Stephen Crockett in a Maine paper accuses Ehrlich of abusing power and points out that though certain news reporters "are Maryland residents, they cannot talk to their own state government by order of the crazed Republican Governor."

January 11

The actions of the police "flex squad" will mean victory for the criminals in dozens of cases in the Southwestern. Meanwhile the police union chief Lt. Frederick V. Roussey (who remarked to the Sun that Police were under pressure from top management to meet arrest quotas) says he feels "like Serpico."

A manhunt is on for Brian Keith Rose, 21, wanted in the Security Square Mall carjacking/shooting death of one Warren Fleming, 31.

Parts of a 26-year-old hispanic man were found along I-95, and now investigators are now looking for a link between that man and a double-murder Sunday morning in Arbutus.

"Murder Ink" covers 12 Baltimore City murders: the last six of 2005 and the first six of 2006.

In one of the most horrific stories recently (even by Baltimore standards), the 18-month-old girl who was killed in Annapolis was beaten to death by her mother's boyfriend, Gerald E. Parker.

David Barnhill, the father who forgot his son was in the backseat of the car, received 18 months probation for the child's death.

A home invasion and sexual assault on an elderly woman in Columbia.

The Annapolis city council is working to expand drug-free zones beyond schools. (Does the idea of a drug-free school in Baltimore inspire cynical laughter in anyone besides me?)

Kevin Delmar Foster was arrested for bank robbery after writing a note to the teller on the back of a business card for a finance company he patronized.

Ahhh... to live in sweet, sweet Carroll County, where banned books get more press than murder, rape, and drug addiction.

The preliminary hearing of Tyrone Bonner, 29, was scheduled for this morning. Court documents allege that on December 15, 2005 Bonner approached the victim of an assault under investigation, verbally threatened the witness and assaulted him with an attempt to intimidate. Based on "statements" Bonner made during the assault the witness identified Bonner as a friend of the suspect in the assault investigation.

Don't miss the new BET reality series, "L'il Kim: Countdown to Lockdown."

January 10

Police Behaving Badly Dept.

January 6 a Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted three Baltimore police officers, Jemini Jones, 28, Brian Shaffer, 31 and Steven Hatley, 27, for first-degree rape, conspiracy to violate the rape laws and misconduct in office following an independent investigation. Jurors heard evidence and witness testimony during secret proceedings [as under Maryland law] before returning indictments.

The allegations occurred on December 27, 2005 following an investigation by Officers Jones, Shaffer and Hatley involving two women, aged 22 and 18, near Old Frederick Road. It is alleged the officers transported the women back to Southwest Police District where an officer allegedly had sexual intercourse with a 22-year old female in an office of the Southwest District station located at 424 Font Hill Avenue. Pre-set bails are $100,000 for each defendant. The boys were on something called the "flex squad," which has since dissolved. Local blowhard Warren Brown is involved.
The Southwestern district is struggling to replace officers in the wake of the suspensions.


Things that make you say "No Wonder" Dept.
From today's Daily Record, by Ostrovsky:
"In the wake of public criticism over allegedly unlawful arrests, the Baltimore City Police Department today is set to begin a comprehensive program to educate approximately 2,600 officers on the ins and outs of Fourth and Fifth Amendment law - everything from proper stop-and-frisk tactics to common errors at Central Booking. While such issues are normally covered in some fashion in the officers' mandatory annual in-service training of 35 hours per officer per year (staggered over 42 weeks) this year's program will have a key difference ... in the past major portions of the legal curriculum were conducted by specially trained police officers - not lawyers ... The most significant part of that curriculum is four hours dedicated exclusively to the law and practical applications of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments... from 8 a.m. today ... the Attorney General's office will provide an overview of the Fourth Amendment." --only 35 hours a year to teach 20-something law-enforcement officers about the law?

Two murders in the city yesterday: 33-year-old Ronald Kinzer was shot in West Baltimore while washing his car at a gas station, and 23-year-old Cornell Lemon was shot at a house on Monastery Ave in Southwest Baltimore.

21-year-old Brian Keith Rose (a.k.a. Mitchell Kemp) has been identified as a suspect in the murder of Warren T. Fleming, the man who was shot to death in his car last week at Security Square Mall.

Gerald Edwin Parker was arrested yesterday and charged with homicide in the death of a baby girl. Parker was babysitting the 18-month-old in Annapolis on Saturday when she died.

Cyrus Duvall Robertson, the alleged shooter in Timothy Morris' murder at TGIFriday's in Owings Mills last Friday night, was denied bail.

At the very bottom of the Metro Digest, an article reports that 19-year-old Daniel Allen Brown is being held without bail on an attempted murder charge stemming from last week's shooting at White Marsh Mall. Jonathan Derrell Parks and Travin Rashaad West, both 19, were granted bail.

A Lehighton, PA man named Thomas Moser was found guilty for soliciting sex from minors on the Internet.

Southeast Baltimore drug lord William Nicholson received a three year prison sentence yesterday after prosecutors reportedly broke an agreement they'd made with him.

The Southwestern district is struggling to replace its "flex squad" (the officers that target violence and drugs) in the wake of five suspensions since November.

Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman asked State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh to investigate the "legality of the links" between Gov. Ehrlich's Deputy Chief of Staff Edward Miller and Jack Abramoff.

January 9

The two men who were found dead near a school in Arbutus have been identified as 29-year-old Youani Alvares and 27-year-old Joel Gonzales, both of the 2600 block of Virginia Ave. in Baltimore. The men both died from multiple stab wounds.

The northbound lanes of I-95 were closed for seven hours today due to "a great scattering of the body parts over a wide range of area of the interstate." At about 4:30am, a person was either pushed from a car or walked onto the highway and was hit by multiple cars, none of which stopped.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John G. Turnbill II signed a death warrant that states Vernon Evans will be executed within a five-day period beginning Feb. 6. Evans was paid $9,000 to kill Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law Susan Kennedy in 1983 to prevent them from testifying against drug dealer Anthony Grandison. Kennedy was mistakenly killed in place of Piechowicz' wife.

25-year-old Howard County resident Fallah Johnson has been charged with second-degree rape and "various sex offense and assault charges" for raping a 12-year-old girl in the laundry room of her apartment complex. (Sorry for the editorial comment, but second-degree rape for going after a 12-year-old? WTF?)

WJZ reports on attorney Warren Brown's statement that there's a lack of substance to the rape charges against three Baltimore City police officers. At one point, Brown asked, "What is it--the State's Attorney's Office trying to make the Mayor and the Police Department look bad?"

Dan Rodricks asks men to step up and be mentors to men who are trying to break the cycle of "drugs-crime-incarceration-unemployment."

An implied armed robbery, a real armed robbery (of a 14-year-old boy), and a couple of shootings make up the city's contributions to the Blotter; all the county has to offer is a stolen bench, 2 stolen rocking chairs, and a broken window. (But for what it's worth, there have been at least four killings in the county since the last one was reported in the city.)

Those stragglers who haven't been rounded up under loitering and public nuisance laws had better be careful where they park.

I do Believe that The Greatest City In America's search for a new slogan warranted a nice, long article in the Christian Science Monitor.

January 8

The two dead men that were found this morning at a baseball field in Baltimore County are being treated as homicide victims.

A human skeleton was found by hunters in a wooded area near Jessup on Saturday morning. Howard County police have not determined a cause of death, but they said the remains appear to be several weeks old.

The Sun has a Department of Justice report that details "serious misconduct" by the FBI in the way they investigated the death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna.

January 7

A man fatally shot an acquaintance in the parking lot of the TGIFriday's in Owings Mills at 11:00pm last night. An off-duty VA police officer witnessed the shooting and confronted the assailant, who then exchanged gunfire with the officer. The attacker hid and was sniffed out by a police dog.

On Saturday morning, a prisoner at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, uh, "escaped by walking off".

January 6

Warren Fleming, the man killed yesterday at Security Square mall, was "described as a role model for aspiring young African-American entrepreneurs." He owned the Cingular Wireless store in the mall, as well as a Cingular store in Catonsville. He left behind his wife, a 7-year-old son, and a 5-year-old daughter. Police are investigating the act as a possible carjacking. A car that witnesses spotted at the scene was found at the Owings Mills Metro station with its engine running. As of 8:00 tonight, no arrests have been made in the murder.

34-year-old Raymont Hopewell is being held without bail on charges including five counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree rape. Hopewell is accused of murdering 82-year-old Carlton Crawford in August, 78-year-old Lydia Wingfield (also in August), 78-year-old Sadie Mack in May, 88-year-old Sarah Shannon in 2002, and 60-year-old Constance Wills in 1999. There is no word on whether Hopewell was involved in last year's murders of Jessie Lee Jr (74), Robert Little (88), or Shirley Chisley (64), but investigators are reviewing cases for possible connections.

Dwight Watson has been identified as the cab driver who was murdered by two teenagers on New Year's Eve.

There is some suspicion of murder in the July 2005 death of Army Sgt. Juwan L. Johnson, a Baltimore resident who was finishing out his active duty in Germany before returning home to his pregnant wife. The Purple Heart recipient had survived a mine attack in Iraq, but according to his family he died from traumatic force to the upper torso.

Unique Coleman remained in critical condition at Shock Trauma last night after being shot 11 times and then giving birth. Her boyfriend, Marcel Foster, was shot once in the buttocks during the alleged carjacking.

Three of the four officers who were suspended with pay from the Southwestern district have been indicted on rape charges related to a woman's claim they forced her to have sex with them after arresting her as part of a drug investigation.

A 40-year-old man was arrested after a 36-year-old woman claimed she escaped from a motel room after being tied up for three days.

In the wake of a September 13 incident where a 21-year-old registered sex offender attempted to randomly pick up a child at Glen Burnie Elementary School (charges were later dropped), Gov. Ehrlich has proposed tough new restrictions against sex offenders.

The second Baltimore County mall shooting of the day occurred yesterday at White Marsh Mall. A group of three men got in a fight with a group of four men, and a shot was fired. No one was hurt, the group of three men was arrested, and the gun was recovered.

30-year-old Baltimore City resident Ian McDonald was sentenced to 20 years in prison for carrying crack, pot, and a loaded gun. He was sentenced in federal court, which is part of a strategy that should go into effect within a month and should result in stronger convictions and sentences. McDonald described himself as "an idiot" for breaking the law, and U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod Rosenstein agreed with the assessment.

The family that cooks together books together: 39-year-old Sheila Beil was charged yesterday with running a meth lab in Millersville, one day after her husband, Michael Don Beil, was charged.

Baltimore has been named The Country's Fittest City by Men's Fitness magazine. It must be all of the heroin addiction and bullet holes that keeps us looking so fabulous.

January 5

Police are seeking the person who fatally shot 25-year-old Gregory "Gotti" Ball at about 12:30am Tuesday in the 1300 block of Booth St.

The body of a 15-year-old boy from a North Baltimore group home was found in a railroad tunnel beneath the 2600 block of Greenmount. Vatell Antonio Murray was shot to death and had been dead for several hours when his body was found on Tuesday night. Police have no suspects or motive.

(For those of you who are counting, that makes six murders in the first three days of the year. It took us five whole days to kill six people last year.)

In the area's first shopping mall killing of 2006, 31-year-old Warren Fleming was fatally shot as he stepped out of his car at the Security Square mall in Baltimore County. Fleming was found near the Hecht's entrance at about 10:30 this morning. Police are searching for a silver 2002 Dodge Intrepid (Maryland tags MWH 755).

A 23-year-old pregnant woman who was shot early this morning has been taken to Shock Trauma in grave condition. Doctors are working to save the unborn child, who was due to be born in a few weeks. The woman was found in a car on an I-95 exit ramp after her boyfriend called police from a motel to report that they had been carjacked and he had been shot.

Identities of two New Year's Day murder victims in the Blotter: 16-year-old Ronny Martin was identified as the person found in a parked car on the 2600 block of Marbourne Ave. in Southwestern Baltimore, and 20-year-old Dahun Javon Jones is the man whose body was found in woods on the 3400 block of Spelman Rd. in South Baltimore's Cherry Hill. (Jones had been dead for 1 - 2 days, but his murder counts to the 2006 number.)

Also in the Blotter, a 22-year-old man was shot in the stomach, and a robber held a box cutter to the throat of a female clothing store employee in Canton.

Dan Rodricks profiles Alvester Rozier, the 79-year-old man who was shot to death because his son was involved in a drug dispute. Rodricks comes to an interesting conclusion for Baltimore: no one is to blame for Rozier's death "but punks from the drug life with guns."

Graham Buckmaster was captured as he drove through the Cumberland Gap into Tennessee. Buckmaster is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the New Year's Eve shooting death of 40-year-old Lisa Moore.

Ross Telp was sentenced to 33 years for stabbing his mother to death over an argument about scuffed hubcaps on her car.

The lawyers for dead convicted murderer Stefan Tyson Bell are trying to have his conviction overturned because he was waiting for an appeal when he died. Bell was sentenced to life for beating Joseph Demarest and then burying him alive.

The owner of Keeper's Market in Northeast Baltimore was shot during a robbery. He shot two of the three assailants, who are facing charges of attempted murder and armed robbery.

Police believe eight Harford County armed robberies might be connected.

In Frederick County, 51-year-old Patricia Nicholson was charged with 244 counts of animal abuse. 119 cats and three dogs were taken from her home, along with 184 dead cats. Contact the Frederick County animal control if you're interested in adopting.

In the "Stupid Companies who Make Identity Theft Really Easy" department, H&R Block sent out mailers that contained the recipient's name, address, and Social Security number on the outside of the envelope. The company played down their mistake by claiming it only happened on 3% of the mailings, and it won't happen again. No official word on whether it was "only" 3% of 10 envelopes or 3% of 6,000,000.

Michael Dronet was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison for an illegal house-flipping business.

Air bags have been stolen from 16 Honda Civics between Ellicott City and Laurel.

And last but not least, there are some interesting comments under yesterday's post from Galt, who attended the public meeting on the BPD's arrest policies. The Sun also summarizes the meeting, stating Mayor O'Malley and Commissioner Hamm appeared before a "mostly defiant crowd".

January 4

Sun columnist and longtime Baltimore writer Michael Olesker has resigned under suspicion of plagiarism. I'm usually infuriated by cases involving lying and/or inept journalists, but on the surface this looks like a witch hunt to me.

Kevin J. Johns Jr., the man accused of strangling Philip E. Parker Jr. on a prison bus travelling from Hagerstown to Baltimore, will be tried in Baltimore County. Johns' attorneys were hoping for a Howard County trial since prosecutors there don't seek the death penalty as often as those in Baltimore County.

Joseph John DiAngelo Jr. pleaded guilty to assault and witness intimidation charges after paying two men $50 each to beat witness Vincent Harmon with table legs. One of the attackers was fatally injured when Harmon fought back. The initial crime stemmed from a roofing dispute regarding a duplex that was owned by the DiAngelo and Harmon families.

A public hearing is scheduled at 4:30pm today regarding the Baltimore Police Department's policies of arresting people on minor offenses yet never charging them with a crime.

A look at "Justice Monday" and difficulties facing former inmates as they attempt to re-enter society.

Four BPD officers have been suspended after allegations about illegal drugs and sex in the Southwestern District.

Christopher Marshall pleaded not guilty to running a meth lab in Anne Arundel County. He has been released and must report to a 28-day drug program.

Information in the Sun on corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff's ties to a company founded by Gov. Ehrlich's Deputy Chief of Staff Edward Miller. (I originally listed the company as being founded by Gov. Ehrlich. My mistake.)

In the Sun's Metro Digest, a 24-year-old drunk driver hit an ambulance with her Honda Civic, and a 77-year-old woman was conned out of $1,400 in a phone scam.

Montgomery County Circuit Court judge John Debelius ruled yesterday that mooning people is not illegal. However, Debelius was quoted as saying the the trial could have gone differently had defendant Raymond McNealy been charged with "being a jerk."

"Murder Ink" is missing from this week's City Paper, but the editors promise it will be back next week.

January 3

Work continues on a plan to imprison violent felons who carry guns in the city.

On that note, the Metro Digest reports a 20-year-old was shot in the stomach in Southwest Baltimore; his name and condition are unknown, and there is no known motive or suspect in the case. In the Blotter, an unidentified man in his mid-20s was in serious condition after being shot at 3:00pm on New Year's Day, and police are seeking information.

An officer at the Library of Congress shot his wife and was involved in a four-hour standoff with police in AccoKeek, MD.

Baltimore police have made four arrests in last week's home invasion and rape in Woodlawn.

ABC2 reports that Calvert County police are seeking a white GMC pickup (Maryland tags 85N235) owned by Graham Buckmaster in relation to the shooting death of Buckmaster's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Moore.

Montgomery county is working on legislation that will make driving without a license punishable by jail time. An advocate says the bill unfairly targets illegal immigrants.

Crimes against Annapolis' population of Hispanic immigrants appear to be on the rise.

Police continue to investigate the church robbery in Harford County, and a reward for information leading to an arrest has been established.

January 2

I just returned from vacation and will begin updating the site. Thanks for the offers to send me info. Chuck

A big start for 2006 with four murders between 1:45am and 9:30pm on January 1. 21-year-old Stephanie Mills was shot as she tried to break up a fight; 49-year-old Michelle Denton's throat was cut by her boyfriend; an unidentified man's body was found in Cherry Hill (it appears he was killed on Friday or Saturday, but his death will go on the record for 2006); and another unidentified man was shot and killed in Southwest Baltimore. It took four days for Baltimore City to reach four homicide victims last year.

The article above also mentions murder #269 for 2005: an unidentified taxi driver was fatally stabbed by two teenagers in West Baltimore on New Year's Eve.

It seems like the "Baltimore's Murder Rate Dropped!" articles are already starting to appear. I understand that nine less deaths is a big deal, but from the little I know of statistics, a 3% movement in either direction can be considered more of a statistical anomaly than a true change.

A 20-year-old man in Howard County killed his father, who was attacking the man's mother. The Sun's article briefly looks into gender issues in Chinese culture.

In Calvert County, 40-year-old Lisa Moore was shot to death by her 57-year-old ex-boyfriend, Graham Buckmaster. A protective order was in place, but Moore's family claim's police officers didn't enforce it since Buckmaster's family is prominent in Calvert County.

26-year-old Gerald Reed has been arrested for the attempted murder of 25-year-old Mathaddues Rozier and for the murder of Rozier's 79-year-old father.

New Year's day robbers in Harford County held about 50 attendees of a church service at gunpoint and stole their cash and valuables.

Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke is pushing for legislation that will allow police to close corner convenience stores in drug-infested neighborhoods for up to six hours each day. Dealing is usually heavy around the local stores, and the six-hour timeslot would be determined by when dealers are busiest in a neighborhood.

Two shootings and a whole lot of robbery in the Police Blotter.

An interesting article in the Sun about Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and what his office is doing to combat crime in Baltimore.

December 30 - January 10

The head cybrarian is on vacation. Please leave a message.

December 29

Early this week, says Gus, was one of the deadliest 24-hour periods of the year, bringing the murder total to 267 (and if it's really that low, it's not from a lack of trying). Fatalities included Alvester Rozier, 79 and Travis Harris, 15.

The man on fire on Christmas Eve on 83 in Hereford been identified as Wesley Cleon Person, 26, of PA.

WJZ: "Croften" teen Thomas Reimann opened fire on parents with semiautomatic.

Dennis "Shabba" Burke, aka Tyrone Blackwell, was arrested in Baltimore for the 1994 murder of 22-year-old Richard Jones of Oak Hill, WVa.

In Columbia, a man named Harsh Thakkar was shot in the parking lot of Bennigan's.

A 24-year-old woman was sexually assaulted during a home invasion in Woodlawn.

An 18-year-old is being charged with manslaughter after a drunk driving wreck that killed teens Zachary Ondrish and Keith Flem.

A man was arrested for running a meth lab in the 'deener

A variegated plethora of east-side criminal activity in the Dundalk Eagle "Crime and Punishment 2005" feature.

Post: Crime reduction is "O'Malley's biggest accomplishment". Mmmkay... well... anyway... the story does go on to have some interesting tidbits: more than four-fifths of the year's murder victims had criminal records, and the victims had been arrested on drug charges an average of 3.5 times. And for some reason Doug Duncan passed out a flier about the guy who was beaten to death with a cane (most smacked-out city in America, indeed).

December 28

Murder Ink notes that the man shot to death at Old Town Mall December 15 was identified as 32-year-old Stacy McDonald.

The Maryland Court of Appeals refused to take on the $691 million Allfirst (AIB) case and sent it to Ireland, ending all American involvement in the scandal.

A Baltimore City firefighter was critically injured by a bomb in Iraq.
Michael J. McMullen is a member of the Baltimore-based 243rd Engineering Company.

Police have released sketches of Al Jolson and Jimbo Jones, wanted in an Essex home invasion.

OpEd Watch:
Post: geographic disparities are much more significant than racial ones when it comes to crime, death penalty issues.
Sun: black men need hobbies, mentors.

Don't laugh coffee out of your nose as you check out your choices for the best of WJZ's Top Stories of 2005, an all-too brief overview of JZ's cream-of-the-crop investigative news stories. Some months the best story is obvious, but then there are months like June where there's so many to choose from...

January: Fish with human face, vs. it snowed vs. a woman had a baby vs. Marty Bass jumped in water
Feb: It snowed vs. police chase
March: Miss USA vs. police chase
April: Police chasing a car vs. police chasing a buffalo
May: Two county-music related features vs. an inmate was killed at central booking
June: A two-headed cat vs. a dolphin having a dolphin baby vs. Tom Cruise squirted with a watergun
July: Marlin Attack Of f Coast Of Panama!
August: Police chase!
September: 'Chico' The Dog Reunited With His Family!. vs. Howard County 'massage parlors' offer happy endings vs. a woman who had babies
October: Police chase #1 vs. police chase #2
November: Mammoth Manic Monday Meltdown!.
December: Too early to say...

Which rocked your world the hardest? Oh to be getting a happy ending on the Panamainian f Coast, away from this snowy, fertile, 'ho-hating town...

December 27

A 25-year-old suspect, Alvin Williams, left has been arrested in connection with the Nov. 12 murder of Brian Jones. Jones was 33, a father of three and a basketball coach at Cardinal Gibbons. Williams was a pro armed robber.

Corpsewatch: Shot hot cop Adam Vasquez returned to Brooklyn. The viewing of Leslie Holiday's 34-years-alive, six-days-dead body will be today from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the William C. Brown Funeral Home in Abderdeen.

Jason Chen, 20, is charged with stabbing his father, Yun Sen, on Webbed Foot Way.

Worcester County police are looking for three men who assaulted a 40-year-old woman in her home for three days.

Liquor board corrupt!

O'Malley asks Ehrlich for $9.3 million to fight crime. That sounds like big money but is really not: it's about $6 million less than what the state spends on its stop-smoking campaign.

Editor & Publisher deems our gov. 2005's "Crybaby of the Year."

A fifth police dog has died, this one from a stomach tumor.

December 26

Howard County Dead Body

The main suspect in the homicides of officers Leslie Holliday and Adam Vazquez, Eugene Victor Perry Jr., had tried to apply to both the city and county police forces.

Annapolis police: crimes against Hispanic immigrants are rising.

Rodricks on the MD criminal justice system:
"[Ehrlich] has made a fix a priority." Read your own paper much?
Like the thing about the City having to sue our own State for witholding a public report about Central Booking... that tax dollars paid for? The one about when Ehrlich announced they'd closed down the Hickey school, leaving nowhere to send juvenile offenders but adult jail or shady group homes? Hey did we ever get those 9,800 treatment slots announced two years ago?

December 25

Top-10 Northern-district first-degree murder suspect Lester Lewis Talley Jr., 30, was arrested in Manchester, Pennsylvania. <-perfect AP style!.

Police are looking for clues as to who was set on fire on the shoulder of 83, and why.

A bullet in the hip and and a metal cane in the eye: popular Bmore Xmas gifts.

December 23

The 15-year-old girl who stabbed 15-year-old Kanisha Neal to death outside a MoCo football game in September was convicted of second-degree murder and weapons charges.

More on the case against and the arrest of alleged serial rapist Reginald Williams.

Who are the nine "gang members" arrested for "crimes"?

In Chase, Md. (wherever that is) a woman was shot in a home invasion.

Another "incident" at Towson Town Center! This time a man was robbed in the bathroom.

Michelle Dohm, a scary-looking Hagerstown middle school teacher, is accused of stalking and threatening students.

Yeech, a 44-year-old school administrator is charged with sending sexy text messages to a 17-year-old student.

A drug arrest, robbery etc from the blotter. From the CP archives: Blotteratio Dick Irwin enjoys mustard, puppets.

December 22

More information on the shooting of officers Leslie Holiday and Adam Vasquez. She was a mother of three, and he had a dog named Peanut. (Poor Gus et al must have been up all night...)

Offensive holiday greeting dept: 83 homeless people have died of hypothermia this year in the city!

BC: lynn, was this just in the city?
l: hi - that was only in the city. i hope this answers your question.
happy holidays! - lynn
BC: "happy holidays?" How awful! We can't spend what it takes as a city to keep these people in a heated room? That is repulsive! Don't we have a place for these people? We can't find them a gym somewhere?! Yikes!
lynn: i couldn't agree more. sorry if my holiday greeting offended you. it was not meant to.

Reginald Williams, the rape and robbery suspect who has been assaulting women in the Central, was shot by police.

An assault with a syringe, a rape on N. Port street, burglary, and an old man mugged at gunpoint at White Marsh in the Dick Irwin special.

Ai Papi: A Columbia (MD) man, Elmer Antonio Galvan-Giron, got 35 years for stabbing his roommate Rigoberto Zavala. Two other Honduran immigrants had been previously sentenced for their involvement.

Metro Digest: Baltimoreans, they loves some drugs.

BoCo police are looking for two guys who robbed a Royal Farms store.

Watch out, WMDs: 69-year-old Sister Ardeth Platte, right, is back on the streets.

Two newborn twins, a boy and girl, were found inside of North Austin Lutheran Church on the West side.

This guy is Blowing the Whistle on gansta culture. Unfortunately, though the word Sisyphean does come up a lot, not a story about the Down Low.

December 21

Two police officers, Adam Vasquez and Leslie Holliday, were shot and killed in Pikesville. A suspect, reportedly a male city employee who reportedly worked for the state Department of General Services (DGS) guarding state office buildings, surrendered in Woodlawn.

The man shot to death at Greenmount and 27th was a 50-year-old cab driver. The murder rate is now at 262.

The Ink is back, cataloguing the deaths of Rashard Thomas, 19; Talib Damon, 21; Timothy Ford Jr., 23; Damian Mitchell, 28; Brian Keith Jones, 18; Mohamed Abukar Barre, 26; Jonathan Coles, 23; Byron Lee Bell, 24; William Lowe, 43; and an unidentified person; but oddly, not Troy Marine or Raphael Grady.

Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey ordered Raymont Hopewell held without bail this morning following a bail review hearing. Hopewell was charged with three counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday. The court set a preliminary hearing date of January 19, 2006 in Wabash District Court. The Sun reports that Hopewell is also now charged with the September 2 rape of a 63-year-old woman. Amelia Tabron, an elderly survivor of an (alleged) attack by Hopewell recounts her struggle in the Sun.

What the?! According to this CP story, plainclothes police broke into David Scheper's house without a warrant, ate three pizzas, left the boxes, took $1,440 and some antique guns that they later used as props in an unrealted case, did $3,700 of damage and arrested him and his female roommate for discharging a gun when they mistook the detectives for home invaders.

A traffic stop at North Chester and Lafayette ended with a 33-year-old suspect shot in the jaw and arm.

Following the Supreme Court decision, charges were officially dropped against Leeander Blake.

Girl-on-girl carjacking action in Lothian.

In Parkville, police raided the Let's Play arcade and removed 20 poker machines.

The blotter is rife with theft.

In an Op-Ed in the Post from Sunday, former Governor Parris Glendening discusses the racial and geographic disparities of Maryland's death penalty, and calls Ehrlich's reinstating of executions "simply wrong."

December 20

Mohamed Abukar Barre, 26, was shot in the head on E. Belvedere Avenue. Also a 13-year-old assaulted a woman in the Eastern.

Raymont Hopewell has been charged in the murders of five senior citizens between 1999 and August 2005: Sadie Mack, 78, Carlton Crawford, 82, Constance Willis, 60, Sarah Shannon, 88 and Lydia Wingfield, 78, are all believed to be his victims. Correction to the Sun report, he was charged with three counts of murder (not five) overnight (he was charged with two Friday). Hopewell appeared before a court commissioner and was held without bail today. A bail review hearing before a District Court judge is expected to be scheduled for tomorrow.

A 45-year-old man got 15 1/2 years in federal prison for selling harerwin.

A 14-year-old admitted to the murder of Jerrod Hamlett, 23, and will serve a seven-year-sentence. The victim was killed after complaining that the boy was throwing bottles. The boy was a member of the "Cutthroat" gang, selling crack out of the Oswego Mall apartments.

More info on the Johnanthan Luna case: apparently the federal prosecutor was asked to take a poygraph over some missing cash soon before he was found dead.

In Glen Burnie, a man was charged with traffic violations in an accident that cost an offier his leg.

Dude. More than 100 pot plants were found in the woods near Wheaton. Who knew they could even tolerate this clime? (Grammar school: when a paper gets stories from the AP, all an editor has to do is write a headline. Still, this WJZ headline contains two violations of AP style. Can you spot them?)

Thank God: Intelligent Design has been thrown out of PA biology classes.

Galt, I can't find anything about the Greemount & 27th shooting, let me know if you hear anything...

December 19

A hearing has been rescheduled for 8:30 tomorrow morning for Heather Mink, 22, at the District Court on Wabash Avenue. Court documents allege that on September 10 Mink did by corrupt means/threat/force, endeavor to influence/intimidate/impede a juror/witness/court officer, in the discharge of his duty. The witness reports that Mink threatened an officer with bodily harm if he testified in court in an assault case.

Shooting victims (of two separate incidents) were identified yesterday as Stacy McDonald, 32, and William Lowe, 43. Also, in Woodlwan, two men were stabbed outside the bowling alley.

In Germantown, 25-year-old nutjob Roxanna Benavides is charged with arson and reckless endangerment after getting pissed at her boyfriend and setting "personal items" on fire. Seventy-five people were displaced, it took 100 firefighters to extinguish the blaze and damages are estimated at $2.5 million.

Intriguing item among the usual stuff stolen in the Northern District, "sensitive papers were stolen from Johns Hopkins University." For what it's worth, JHU was recently declared the main Homeland Security Center of Excellence and given $15 million to study disaster readiness. The Quaker-founded U also develops missles and other WMDs (though not at the Homewood campus).

Citizens beware dept: pugalistic drunk Sidney Ponson is back on the streets after serving five days in protective custody for this third DUI. Also, the are cat burglar(s) on the loose in Howard County, particularly active in the Ellicott City area.

Nineteen-year-old Johnathan Myers was shot in the hand in Crofton, and in Annapolis, an iPod was stolen from a police car.

December 18

Two men were fatally shot last night: Byron Lee Bell, 24, and an as-yet-unidentified man who was shot at Belnord Avenue and Orleans Street.

Twenty-five-year-old Jermaine Bailey was shot to death in Laurel.

December 17

Matthew "Little Troy" Johnson, now 15, was acquitted for the December 2004 murder of 19-year-old Flenall Carter III.

Murder charges were dropped against Rodney Addison after he spent seven years in prison for the 1996 shooting of Lewis Jackson.

The Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence of drug kingpin Anthony Grandison, left. Grandison and Vernon L. Evans Jr. were convicted and sentenced to death for the April 1983 killing of David Scott Piechowicz and Susan Kennedy, who were witnesses in the drug case against him.

Nineteen-year-old David Ernesto Maradiaga was shot to death in Bladensburg, PG County.

It seemed like charges were dropped against everyone in that Owl's Nest poker raid, but turns out gambling-related changes were filed against co-managers Joseph A. Cary and Gerald C. Dickens, and 13 other suspects. All 15 defendants were summoned to appear at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the District Court at 700 E. Patapsco Ave.

Assistant Princeton U. lax coach Greg P. Raymond, 23, right, is charged with drunken driving after an accident on the Guilford exit of 83 that killed his passenger, Matthew Stoffel, left. I don't even want to think about what "massive puncture injury to [the] head" means, or why he was not charged with vehicular homicide a la Maricela Knight.

Wasn't that a John Cusak movie? The owner of a Baltimore County assisted living facility is charged with stealing $4,000 from a resident.

December 16

A man was shot and killed in East Baltimore on Preston street.

Baltimore police are investigating four suspicious deaths. The homicide rate is currently at 259 (or 260, unless the guy shot on Preston, above, was an accident).

Late yesterday afternoon, in the trial of David Ellerby, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all counts, including first-degree murder and handgun violations. In July, Ellerby was also with felony narcotics counts and found not guilty. On April 14, 2003 Ellerby allegedly attempted to murder Jammar Jones, and in August he was found not guilty of that. This time, Ellerby allegedly shot and killed Reginald Tyler, 27, in the 300 block of E. Lafayette Avenue on September 10, 2002. And now he's a free man.

Yick, a probable murder-suicide in Anne Arundel County.

Tyree White, 23, was arrested for the murder of Tavon Antwan Granger, 20. Also in the blotter, a man stabbed in the arm with a knife, and plenty of stolen stuff, of course.

In Cambridge, a 14-year-old girl was stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver.

Gregory Kane writes about Jeryl Anthony Singleterry Jr., who was kidnapped and killed even after family members paid $10,000 in ransom.

Police raided a meth lab in Millersville. A man was arrested and a Rottweiler was shot.

Itchy Man need Prozac to stay out the butt naked room. Tell me about it.

A 13-year-old in Annapolis got arrested after he tried to recruit other students to help him re-create Columbine.

In Chesapeake City, 17-year-old Jason Sweetman got 50 years for the murder of 22-year-old Ross Jones.

Obijah Bushae Robinson, the gap-toothed rapist, was arrested.

An Anne Arundel County science teacher pled guilty to possessing child pornography.

In Columbia, 31-year-old Maricela Knight was indicted for vehicular homicide for a drunk-driving accident that killed her husband, Andrew.

In Frostburg, an elementary-school principal is accused of stealing $18,000 from her school.

Kudos to the Sun for exceptional crime reporting today-- this is the first day since the blog started that they had all the major stories covered.

December 15

A Baltimore City jury convicted Brent Ross, 22, for the first-degree murder of Gwendolyn Boykins, 45. The jury also convicted Ross of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, first-degree assault and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge Paul E. Alpert scheduled sentencing for January 25, 2006. Shortly after midnight on July 11, 2004, Ross and Antonio Smith entered the home of Ms. Boykins, in the 100 block of North Ellwood Avenue, to rob her. Ross and Smith searched the home for money. When they did not find any money, Smith fled the scene and Ross forced Ms. Boykins into the basement of her home, where he shot her once in the back of the head. Ms. Boykins' three children were home at the time. Antonio Smith pled guilty on September 19 to second-degree murder. ED's note: if this was 50's Kansas, this story would be national news, followed by a true-crime novel, then a movie with Robert Blake and some other guys, and then 48 years later a tedious movie-about-a-book. But this story has appeared nowhere but here and the "Murder Ink." Why? Reporters from every network have so much spare time they can spend all day in front of the Royal Farm Store to inform the public it's snowing. Why is there not 15 seconds for such a tragic, horrible story as this?

In the blotter, Oman Hernandez of Honduras was arrested in Houston on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder in the stabbing of Blanca Dubon, 15, who was found with her throat slashed in a car on Loch Raven Boulevard September 12. Also an attempted murder arrest, a rape in the Southeastern, and plenty of robbery and burglary.

A shortish smallish black man has robbed and raped at least eight women in the Western and Central districts.

The murder conviction of Frederick Moore was upheld by the Court of Appeals. Moore was convicted of stabbing and strangling 14-year-old Ashley Mason behind a Pizza Hut in Columbia in 2000.

In Denton, two people have been arrested for the murder of Glenn Killen, 26, of Goldboro. Also on the Eastern shore, investigators believe that Jose Tellez, the 15-year-old stabbed in Crisfield, was armed and trying to break in to a house.

The gun incident on Saturday at Towson Town Center apparently began with a fight over a parking place.

Quote du jour: "Police officers should not be in the business of groping citizens." The Court of Appeals disagreed, as do I-- that would make a great fundraiser, especially if some of the younger, more strapping officers were involved.

Speaking of inappropriate touching, a second religious leader at the Redemption Christian Fellowship in Woodlawn has been charged with sexually abusing a teenager. Even weirder, the congregation raised the $600k for bail for the first groper, Gerald Griffith, who was arrested while attempting to flee to England.

December 14

A man was shot on Bayview and Eastern.

The City is now suing the state prison system to get an uncensored report about the problems at the state-run Central Booking facility. You'll recall that the report was submitted with half of the material redacted. A sentence they didn't censor: "No one was in charge."

Meanwhile, another detainee has died at Central Booking: James Pugh Jr., 41, was pronounced dead at Hopkins Hospital on Monday.

There's a rabbit-toothed rapist named Obijha Bushae Robinson (left) on the loose on the East side.

An arraignment hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow for Afiba Roebuck, 27, before Judge Lynn Stewart. Court documents allege that on September 25 through October 20 of this year Roebuck engaged in a harassing course of conduct, repeatedly made threatening phone calls to several of the witnesses, their family members and friends in an endeavor to intimidate the witnesses in his pending 2nd-degree assault trial.

Two years later, the murder of federal prosecutor Johnathan Luna remains unsolved, and a PA representitive Mark Cohen is calling for Congressional hearings.

In the great Republican tradition of McCarthyism and the Enemies List, Ehrlich's administration is accused of not just firing employees for being Democrats, but making a "Death List" of Republicans who were friends with Democrats.

A Carroll County teacher was acquitted of second-degree assault. She was accused of abusing a student with Down's syndrome.

CP's Stephen Janis doesn't think it's worthwhile for the City Council to investigate adding State Troopers to the streets of Baltimore City, because "adding more police power to the streets doesn't address the underlying causes of crime."

December 13

Nakie Harris, 30, Richard Royal, 21, and Terrence Smith, 24, were found guilty of trying to kill Edna McAbier.

John Edward Kennedy Jr., 19, pled guilty to first-degree murder for shooting William A. Bassett at Towson Town Center.

Opening statements in the murder trial of David Ellerby, 32, of E. Lanvale Street began at 2 p.m. today before Judge John Glynn. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Ellerby August 24, 2004 for first-degree murder and handgun violations. Court documents allege that on September 10, 2002, Ellerby shot and killed Reginald Tyler, 27, in the 300 block of E. Lafayette Avenue.

Damian Mitchell, 28, was fatally shot in the head in the Northeastern district.

Ameer Taylor, 31, was arrested and charged with the murder of Samuel Richardson (shown above, with his nephew).

More on the mysterious homicide of the Reverend Lorenzo Handy, whose body was found in Charles Village about a block from where Samuel Richardson was murdered in June.

The case of the firebombing of Edna McAbier's house goes to the jury today. Chilling revelation: the leader of the area Bloods initially wanted to shoot her in the head with a shotgun, but the gang dismissed the idea as not dramatic enough.

A 22-year-old man was carjacked and stabbed in Annapolis.

There was a second gun incident at Towson Town Center, and in spite of the mall having more than 200 security cameras, nothing was caught on tape.

A fourth police dog has now died under mysterious circumstances.

December 12

A Catonsville special-ed student, Steven Andrew Cearfoss, 17, and his adult minder Anthony Vernon Creek, 25 (who was assigned by the school to keep the boy out of trouble), have been arrested for illegal handgun posession and other felonies related to a burglary at the boy's grandfather's house. Turns out that Creek was convicted in 1999 of armed robbery, assault and the use of a handgun during a felony.

Two Baltimoreans, Kim M. Douglas and Darryl Edward Lomax, are in jail in PA for trying to steal a safe from a turnpike service station.

Former Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson got five days in jail and a $500 fine for drunk driving.

This mind-blowing WJZ story contains only one sentence without a grammatical error. (Also, a 15-year-old stole a Ford Explorer.)

A man was shot in the side on Loyola Northway.

Walker Gladden III is trying to stop the killing, one cemetary tour at a time.

Armed robbery in Dundalk, stolen Christmas decorations in Essex and hot sauce squirted on a wall after a party in the blotter.

Gregory Kane gives Snoop Dogg the "Negro, please" award in this article about Crips founder Tookie Smith.

December 11

A 13-year-old girl has been cleared of all charges for the beating death of a four-year-old boy.

Reginald Graves, 42, of Glen Burnie is accused of assaulting his "girlfriend" Syretha Johnson, 24, with a lug wrench, then setting a car on fire with her inside.

Are city police falsifying crime statistics?

An alert citizen stopped a robbery at the Rent-A-Center.

A Baltimore County public school employee, David Lukes, 34, faces trial in PA for six counts related to using the Internet to solicit sex from someone whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

In Westminster, police are seeking one Shawn Anthony Jones, 27, for the murder of Donnie Bowman.

Someone left their gun at Towson Town Center.

Maryland schools have seized 63 percent more weapons from students since five years ago.

Finally, an answer to every city resident's question, What're all those damn police helicopters up to? Says the commander of the Aviation unit, "We look for guys with shopping carts in alleys."

A Timonium church has redecorated a room at the Mitchell courthouse to be comfortable for children who are crime victims or witnesses.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up Dept.: the head of the task force for the new Baltimore slogan is a Princeton-educated scholar of Byzantine art, and the San Francisco agency working on the project has successfully convinced lots of people that BP is a group of enviromental activists and that it's hip to suck on revolting little mints. Punch line of the story: "officials worry the promotion may become a punch line."

December 9

A West Baltimore grandmother was tied up, her son stabbed and her Christmas tree set on fire by three home invaders.

James Dinkins, 33, was arrested for the murder of Michael Bryant, 22, on Tudor Arms Avenue. Also two attempted murder arrests and lots of the usual thievery in the blotter.

Baltimore City, County and Feredal Courts were closed to today on account of two inches of wet snow.

The MD Court of Appeals yesterday threw out the conviction of Erik Stoddard, convicted in the 2002 killing of three-year-old Calen Dirubbo.

A Florida consultant submitted a report on the problems at central booking, but when prison official submitted the report to Judge Glynn and the Sun, five of its 10 pages were censored, making it impossible to see what the recommendations were.

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in bucolic Crisfield. And a double shooting in Carroll County made Donnie Bowman the county's first homicide victim in more than two years.

In PG County, Wei Shu of Clinton was arrested for fatally stabbing his wife Jin Shi Chen, 28, on December 1st.

Federal prosecutors rested their case yesterday in the McAbier firebombing trial.

Two Baltimore men were arrested for stealing almost $1 million worth of jewelry when the wife of police officer David A. Williamson tried to sell the booty to a pawn shop. What was she doing with it? Good question...

In the County, a third police dog has died under mysterious circumstances.

Black & Decker is being sued by a shareholder for giving company funds to a Mormon temple.

December 8

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed a block from Southwestern high school.

The Justice Department has returned to the city jail three years after their "scathing" report to see if improvements have been made in jail conditions.

Burglary, robbery, and six bundles of wacky tabacky in the blotter.

Robert C. Griffin, 71, is scheduled for a Circuit Court bail review and a preliminary motions hearing 9:30 tomorrow morning, before Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin (231 Clarence Mitchell Courthouse). Griffin was found guilty in 1986 of stabbing and strangling 20-year-old Annie Cruse and leaving her body in Druid Hill Park. Last Month, Judge Raisin granted a motion for new trial due to the results from a recent DNA test.

The trial of Matthew Craighead, 22, of the 1900 block Walbrook Avenue, scheduled for yesterday, was postponed due to a witness' failure to appear. It is rescheduled for January 18, 2006.

The trial of Myron Merrill Gladney, 19, is scheduled to begin 9 tomorrow morning before Judge John Glynn. The BC Grand jury indicted Gladney on June 1 on charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault and intimidating a witness. Court documents allege that on April 6 Gladney approached the victim, who was scheduled to testify in the homicide trial of his brother, at E. 25th Street and Harford Road and shot him in the stomach.

In the arraignment hearing held Monday, December 5, 2005 Amanda Johnson, 23, failed to appear and a re-arraignment date of January 4, 2006 was chosen. Clyde Meadows was arraigned on Monday. His trial date is January 20, 2006 in Pt. 6 (Judge Hargadon). Kenneth A. George, also charged with intimidating the same witness is currently in BCDC's infirmary and was not transported. He too has a re-arraignment date of 1/4/06.

The theft trial of Samuel Terrell Mercer, 29, is scheduled to begin 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge John M. Glynn. A Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Mercer on May 24, 2004 for continuing theft. Court documents allege Mercer stole $323,836.10 from the Baltimore Museum of Industry. If convicted, Mercer faces a maximum possible prison term of 15 years.

Sign O the Times: Some members of the AA County police narcotics unit are training at Quantico to learn how to dismantle meth labs.