Paperwork Issues

Two suspects were arrested after the double shooting on Bentalou Street-- one man was shot to death (Cham Green ID on Bentalou is Ralph Timmons, 34, of 1905 North Bentalou Street. It was his son that was wounded. Here we have an involved father that was parenting his child and now he's dead. Very sad) but his son, a brave 11-year-old boy who was shot in the leg, was able to run down the street and find officers who were still on foot patrol following the triple murder on Fulton Avenue on the West side.

Intrepid blogger Cham was able to find links for two of the Fulton Avenue victims:  IDs: Tyreka Martin, 20; Kishawna Pinder, 20; Brian Powell, 21

Person of Interest

Police released photos of a person of interested wanted in the murder of Michael Jones on 2/21.

There's no such thing as being "found innocent," but Stewart Dennis Sachs, president of the board of Har Sinai, accused of money laundering for a crack dealer, has seen all charges dismissed against him, his lawyer says the accusations were the result of a "paperwork issue." Sachs is the owner of a firm specializing in "distressed capital" whose property holdings have previously been featured on Baltimore Slumlord Watch.

City officer Adam Lewellen is in hot water for lying on warrants, falsifying a court order and burgling his ex-girlfriend, illegal gun possession, forging his address on his driver's license, dusting scales with phony cocaine...

Berger's Cookies owes the IRS bigtime.

The State Troopers were audited, but auditors found inventory control to be "lax"-- the Troopers apparently are not keeping count of their vehicles ... or guns..  or computers... or real estate.

A prodigious number of updates in this week's Murder Ink.

Ohnooo, a 5th accuser for puppeteer Kevin Clash. And so now we all know who calls those chat lines advertised in the back of the City Paper -- 16 year old boys and chickenhawks. And remember that Towson lady pimp, Di Zhang? The Feds are going after her property.

If you can't get enough of hearing people pontificating about gun laws, Goucher is hosting a panel of experts in their Hyman Anthenaeum at 8 p.m. on April 15.
And a status report:

Gun crime +7% YTD RT @baltimorepolice Violent Crime DOWN 10% in last 28 days, DOWN 30% for the yr. Gun crime DOWN 18% compared to last yr
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 3, 2013

52 & gun bill passed!

Barclay.

I find this highly irksome that I have to sign in to track a bill-- but anyway the House has done it, they passed the gun bill 11 hours ago!!! Having fingerprints of gun owners on file will make a huge difference in solving cases like the Barclay shooting. Combine that with DNA testing, mental health treatment and decriminalization of pot and our crime problem will be solved !

Yowzer the kidnapper pimp

If my psychic mojo is correct (and why wouldn't it be?), that gun bill is going to pass today-- fingerprinting, limited magazines and fewer assault weapons .. or maybe more assault weapons, and a $25 licensing fee.

More on the 49th homicide,* which was on 29th St. in CHUM-- he was ID'd as 28-year-old Dwight Cook. And two more homicides yesterday (50, 51).

Two weeks' worth of crime data from SpotCrime-- west side has been bizzy bizzy. In fact:

1. Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton45m

   Last night's double shooting that killed a man and injured an 11-yr-old was in same area - Mondawmin - that's been hit so hard this year

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Waverly bus-stop robber

Homelanders talked to el Duce about their recent spike in gunpoint home-invasion robberies, and a guy in Waverly has been robbing women at bus stops (see sketch).

A GameStop employee* fought of a robber* on N. Charles St.

Federal charges for Ida Mae Snipe, bathroom purse-snatcher of the White Marsh Mall* (and environs)

New York pimp "Yowzer" (nee Charles Anderson, 25) admitted to kidnapping escorts and keeping them as sex slaves in Brooklyn, and coming to MD to hunt one down who escaped.

Detectives have warrant out for man who struck 80-year-old with his fist on Mon., causing him to fall down steps and die in 5600 Midwood Ave
— Justin George (@justingeorge) April 2, 2013

So there's a headline/lede: Rapists Parental Rights Debated 
Updated: Monday, April 1 2013, 11:24 PM EDT 
Rapist fighting for paternity rights in court sounds far-fetched but women's groups says it happens more often than you think. 

And finally,
FOX45 PROGRAMMING ALERT Fox45 Town Hall 03/27/13 18:57:10 Fox45 is hosting a town hall Wednesday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m.  The topic will be "The Proper Role of Government".  Our panelists will be Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, Professor Richard Vatz, and radio host Mike Papantonio. If you would like to be an audience member, email us: news@foxbaltimore.com

Holy Saturday / Sunday Twerking

Three people were shot overnight last night, on Harlem Ave, 29th and O'Donnell Sts., and the homicide count is up to 49.

Friday morning homicide victim from 1300 Lanvale identified as 21-year-old Khiry Jowers, of Monument St.
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 31, 2013

...must be said, Khiry Marquis Jowers had a lot of arrests for someone only 21 (assault, possession, forged prescriptions).

It passed the House on Friday, but the gun bill will have to wait til Tuesday to go the Senate, tomorrow they're busy voting on possibly designating the soft-shell crab sandwich as the official state sandwich while simultaneously celebrating the 7th day of Passover.

.@baltimorepolice dealing with "two thousand" kids, some fighting, outside of 5th Regiment Armory on Division St #scanner
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 1, 2013

Cops pushing crowd to Eutaw. Pic from inside armory earlier;artist calling himself "Mr King of Twerk" performing(!)instagram.com/p/Xi3ODES7e1/
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 1, 2013

Remember when @baltimorepolice floated idea of earlier curfew, more enforcement last week? Expect tonight to be cited as evidence
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 1, 2013

Daily Howler: Baltimoreans say the darndest things, by whom they mean Dr. Ben Carson, who's been reciting Maggie Gallagher's verbiage verboten on TV: "no group of individuals, whoever they are, whatever their belief systems, gets to change traditional definitions." Inshizzle, my herp derp.

And here's one of the craziest stories of all time: a guy moved out of his house to sell it, and a squatter named Lakisha Fillyaw moved in, won't leave, and talked to the I-Team.

Free pens and solid-gold paper clips

Happy Friday news dump, gun nuts! After eight hours of debate, booing and sighs, the gun bill went to the House yesterday with the assault-weapons restrictions intact. Nathaniel T. Oaks: "Why do the authorities need to retain the fingerprints?” 
Uhm like because duh?
Also released, a list of items found at Adam Lanza's house. What a difference a Bushmaster makes-- if he'd taken an armful of any of the other weapons in his arsenal, how many might still be alive?

Ed Ericson Jr. writes about the variegated dramas of the "Men of the Pen" -- Big Boyz Bail Bonds

Harbor East developers are edging closer to a $107 million tax break, and howcomes traffic cones got 5 times more expensive in three years and office-supply costs quintupled? Hrm?

In another case of the city paying taxes for developers, the state's attorney's office will be spending $1.4 million a year to get out of its rat-infested courthouse offices and into schweet suites in the SunTrust building.

Batts and Bealefeld sat behind a table together at UB Law

White supremacist Matthew Heimbach blarbed to the JZ

"God - given innocence"

Homicide #48 was in Oliver*

Here's the dumbass who was shot by cops on Danville Ave. (6700? 8700?) after he "tested" his shotgun in his city back yard.

Has anyone else heard that the State's Attorney's Office is moving out of the courthouse and to the SunTrust building? I haven't seen this reported anywhere, but a person can't read everything always...

The officer-involved shooting victim/subject/target was reportedly firing off guns in his back yard.*

So Jezebel has picked up the "White Student Union at Towson U" story, simultaneously enlightening the masses and spreading the WSU's message that "The virtue of white Christian womanhood is under attack at Towson University by degenerate criminals seeking to rob our women of their God given innocence." He's in the New York Daily News too.
"school officials said that Towson, which is near Baltimore, has one of the safest campuses in the University System of Maryland. It has the lowest crime statistics among the USM campuses, and the total number of violent crimes in 2012 was down 37.5% despite a 2.3% increase in enrollment."
INteresting that his page features "White Girl Bleed a Lot"-- the author of that book emails me constantly trying to get me to run something about "race riots." ... Anyway best of luck to you, Matthew Heimbach. Keep subverting the dominant paradigm. May you attend all future CPAC events and let everybody know all about what kind of a party Conservatives have in mind.

18-year-old freshman at College Park in trouble for trying to solicit sex from a 12-year-old.

Graceland, Enchantment, Unicycles

A suspect was shot by a cop in the 6700 block on Danville Rd in the SW

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

A police-involved shooting reported in 6700 Danville Rd., a neighborhood called Graceland Park. In 5 yrs I've never heard that neighborhood

and Pigtown recorded its first homicide this morning* of 2013(march 28). Unidentified Male at the 1300 block of Carroll Street. Shooting victim. via Cham, it was the 47th murder of the year.

Ed Ericson Jr. has taken over the Ink from laid-off Anna Ditkoff, he details six homicides from March 20-24; the murder in Remington, D'Andre Thomas, was apparently a beef about some woman that alleged killer Benny Davis had.

but reports of a woman slain on the Enchantment of the Seas were premature.

In the Patch blotter, an assailant wielded a knife in Oakanshawe and a juvenile assaulted a police officer in Pen Lucy.

Do you ever wonder what goes on in Harford County? Well, I'll tell you: nothing but naked girls,* unicycles and cows in the road.

The big MD gun control vote is in the House tomorrow.
And so if everyone in A-town supposedly supports Curt Anderson's bill so much, why is everyone so sure it won't pass? Is Vallario going to sit on it? That guy is the worst.
Meanwhile, opiate poisoning rates are going through the roof, but I don't see him being all "save the children!" about that. 

Dead, taxed and argued over

Note new AP style guidelines when it comes to rifles, weapons and being slain and homicided 

It's hard to focus of Baltimore with DOMA on every news feed in the land-- read the transcript, listen to the audio. It's fascinating and neat to hear Roberts, Clement, Kagan and Alito duking it out re. the estate of Edie Windsor (could you wish for a more perfect or deserving plaintiff)?

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

Self-reliant and suicidal

Gun deaths as well as gun control attitudes both appear to have racial bias: according to government data, white people five times more likely to commit suicide with a gun than black people. Mansplained the NRA's Wayne LaPierre on the disproportionately high rate of gun suicides by gun owners:
"Gun owners are notably self-reliant and exhibit a willingness to take definitive action when they believe it to be in their own self-interest. Such action may include ending their own life when the time is deemed appropriate." And an ABC News/WaPo poll has found 79% of (presumably self-defined) black people were supportive of stricter gun control laws vs. 48% of white people. And, not for nothing, urbanites favoring stricter gun laws by a 2:1 margin over country folk.

When it comes to HeLa cancer cells, Hopkins' patient privacy liberties are the gift that keeps on giving.

In case you missed it: map of doomed-to-close liquor stores by Cham Green

Mary Washington

about an hour ago

HB 829, Correctional Services - Pregnant Detainees and Inmates - Restraint Restrictions has just passed the House of Delegates (131 Yeas, 4 Nays). Now on to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Two women, two dogs

Are homicide stats are what Baltimoreans "care about most" when it comes to crime? Does having a flood of cadets walk the beat* in a violence-plagued neighborhood make a difference? I'll take no and no for $200, Alex.

Jermaul (sic) Dean was charged with posing as a city police officer before frisking and rob a man in the SW.

A man robbed a sex shop in Havre de Grace,* but only for cash.

Great reading: the Maryland Law Review.

In Queen Anne's county, the body of missing Robin Pope was found in the water on Kent Island and ID'd; three weeks ago her dog's body was also found. Curiously, in AAC the day before another woman was found dead with her dog.

4th Circuit Upholds MD's "May Issue" Gun License Laws

... AmmoLand weeps.

Michael Wesley, wanted for the murder of Rachel Curtis, was picked up at a Winson-Salem bus stop*

Benny Davis, 24, was arrested for the murder of D'Andre Thomas in Remington.

A man pushed a woman from a moving car on Clipper Mill Road (March 10).

Why so many domestic-violence killings in the city lately?* *shrug* -- oh, but definitely put this on your calendar:  "THE BALTIMORE LAWYERS’ CHAPTER OF THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY Proudly Presents KATE OBENSHAIN Fox News Channel Contributor, former Vice President of the Young American’s Foundation and author of Divider in Chief, talking about 'The Left’s War on Women.' Thursday, April 18th – 12:00 noon, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes. The event is free of charge. RSVP Brian Fish at asabrianfish@earthlink.net to ensure that our lunch order is sufficient."

County and federal agents nabbed a woman running a brothel in the residential area of Joppa Rd.* in Towson, whose customers have apparently been annoying her neighbors for years.

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

Guns, crack, PCP and another Phylicia Barnes trial

A second trial for the convicted killer of Phylicia Barnes, Michael Johnson, because the defense didn't disclose the criminal history of the sole eyewitness, one James McCray. Understandable on some level, but on another, fckn whut? The ruling came from thrice- investigated Judge Alfred Nance is perhaps best known for jailing a woman who said "I love you" to her brother, being generally explosive and misogynistic, and for striking down the city's gun registry (which was just now upheld).

.. you probably heard that the Assault Weapons ban was effectively killed by the U.S. senate-- but perhaps that will give state and local courts more drive to pass local restrictions.

One Demond Taylor was found guilty of strangling his grandmother to death, which he did while high on PCP, which seems to be making a comeback-- every week or so some dusted-up driver gets busted on 295 and it's the drug of choice for xoJane/Vice writer Cat Marnell.

The president of the Har Sinai congregation was charged with laundering a crack dealer's money.

MD ranked 40/50 for state government transparency and accessibility to records in a Center for Public Integrity study.

Indecent exposure car

A triple murder over by the Mondawmin mall* in the 2200 block of N. Fulton Avenue.

Whoa, man! The state Senate passed (30-16) Curt Anderson's bill (SB 297) that decriminalizes possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana (pot, weed, ganj, green, trees, &tc.). The bill goes to the house on March 28. Gawd that would be such a help in Baltimore city-- in spite of whatever FHBIII said in NYMag's "Truce on Drugs" article, the city still puts thousands of people in jail for minor amounts of weed every year. Promising sign: last year the House passed a bill that lowered the penalty for less than 10 grams from a year in jail and a $1000 fine to 90 days and a $500 fine. Should it pass, HB 1453 lowers the fine down to $100 and gets rid of the criminal penalties completely.

At the same time, the city is cracking down on booze, barring liquor stores from operating in areas zoned 'residential.'

So there have been three home-invasion-ish robberies in the Villages of Homeland development (where Woodburne Ave turns into Homeland Ave). Not to mention about three motorists robbed/carjacked on that stretch of York Rd.

The city is paying $150,000 to a guy who was arrested by mistake-- and held for eight months.

Wait, what? Law enforcement doesn't need a warrant to read your emails -- so long as someone has opened them and/or they're more than six months old? What the heck is that?

State police are swamped with gun license applications.

Victim ID updates: Gerald Commodore, 22, killed on Windsor Ave yesterday; D'Andre Thomas, 25, killed on Fox St
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 19, 2013

Oh noo, a fourth lawsuit for Kevin "Elmo" Clash from his first accuser, Sheldon Stephens,* and the words "crystal meth sex parties" are involved. Stephens has filed in PA, a state with a more lenient statute of limitations than NY (or for that matter, MD).

& if you're into 30-something Hispanic guys with spiky hair WBAL advises you to "Watch for car linked to indecent exposures cases." Oh dang, sorry ladies, they got him.

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

Michael, Mikal and Laquesha

Well, maybe this is why those homeless people who lived under 83 refused to go to a shelter. At the top o the morning a man was stabbed to death at the Harry & Jeanette Weinburg homeless shelter* on Fallsway, and the brown-eyed lad who stabbed him is still a-roaming the streets.

Two shot on E. North Avenue

A conviction for Derrick Toomer, who arranged for the murder of bail bondsman Ralph Hall at the hands of one George Foster Johnson at the KIPP Ujima Village Academy on Greenspring Avenue,* with cameras all over.

A man in Carroll County is dead after his douchburger neighbor squeezed the trigger of his hand-cannon* from an upper floor and shot him while he was on the couch.

Remember that guy, Robert Holiday, who was shot to death at the bus stop on Eastern Avenue? Well, his babymom Laquesha Lewis was behind it, with her new boyfriend Michael Martin and his brother* Mikal Martin. Wax that upper lip, Laquesha.

30 years for Terron White, who kidnapped a woman and her toddler son in Baltimore and tried to force them to drive to Bethesda-- but at some point the victim jumped out of the moving car with her son.

The nonprofit Center for Public Integrity gives MD a D- and ranks it 40/50 states for its level of access to public records and documents.

'We got to think outside the box to get this done'

Another woman murdered, another "domestic-related" situation. Today's victim is Rachel Curtis, age 31 and the mother of five children,* dead from "undisclosed trauma" in the 2600 block of Wegworth Lane.


From City Paper contributing photographer J.M. Giordano:
All this year, I'll be teaming up with the Nether Bmore on a year-long project. The Cost is a series of portraits of those affected by the city's homicide rate. I'll be taking formal portraits of families of the victims while Nether will bring his amazing style of street art to portraits of the victims. Memorials that, space allowing, will be pasted at or near the scene of the crime. If ANYONE knows a family who in 2013 has been affected by the city's murder rate, PLEASE put them in touch with me. I can be reached at jmgiordano2006@gmail.com.


Well, here's some shit: officer Kendell Richburg pleaded to charges on Monday related to planting drugs and guns on people, setting victims up and claiming in court that he witnessed transactions he didn't* while he was part of the VCIS (Violent Crimes Impact Section, now renamed the "Zone Enforcement Section") Perhaps the strangest part, Richburg apparently did it not for monetary gain but to impress higher-ups in the BPD. Claimed Richburg's lawyer Warren Brown,* "the majority of Richburg's contacts with the informant were about making low-level drug arrests, and that such arrests are a big part of the Police Department's enforcement strategy. 'The department will deny that they have quotas, but they do,' Brown said. 'They grab these guys with one bag of weed, and the quality of the arrest is never scrutinized.'"

It's been almost nine years* since the triple child murder at the Fallstaff apartments, and after all these years the motive has remained a mystery. Finally at the third trial, the mother of two of the decapitated children, Noemi Quezada, has testified to a possible motive: the fury of Guadalupe Hernandez over her husband Victor's romantic interests in her niece, Espejo Quezada, who lived with Noemi and her children with her son, Alexis,* who was also killed. Hernandez is in a Mexican prison for trying to have Victor killed in 2009.

Meet the K-Mart disturber, Clifton Duncan Jr. No word on what he did that was so disturbing.

Ian Baron: Honduran by birth, Jewish by adoption, anti-Semetic hate crime convict because alcohol?

Khakis were sullied

One Clifton Rodney Duncan Jr. caused a "disturbance" at the Rosedale K-Mart, then broke into a house, then barricaded himself at Winner Distributing and was taken into custody at about 7 p.m.

Rodney Pridget,
photo Tweeted by Fenton

More than two years after Rodney Pridget was murdered outside of Towson Town Center in what evidence indicates was a Black Guerrilla Family-ordered hit, the accused triggerman and final, youngest defendant, Tyrone Brown, was found guilty.

A water bottle was hurled, khakis were sullied, major defense lawyer Ivan Bates was retained and now Bernstein's Major Investigations Unit is now poring through the nuances of the case of two financial analysts and a venture capitalist who got into a Harbor East slugfest.*

@justin_fenton have you heard anything about the ridiculous amount of car break ins that have been happening by Riverside Park in S. Bmore?
— Steve Beck (@stevembeck) March 12, 2013

Sweet, sweet romance: John Leopold's girlfriend Jane Miller-- not to be confused with the girlfriend who subjected him to oral sodomy in the bowling alley parking lot, or the gimlet-eyed reporter-- testified at his sentencing down in AAC yesterday that Leopold is "remorseful and contrite" and that he referred to his taxpayer-funded pee-bag-dumping employee as "Dr. Patti."

Erin Thorne

More dirty from AAC: a 28-year-old teacher Erin Nicole Thorne is facing serious trouble following allegations from an 18-year-old student that she sent him sexts, texts and "obscene matter" and "engaged in sexual activity" with him after he turned 18 but while he was still a student at Broadneck High.

Nicholas Vargas, 24, of the Windsor Mill area drove up to Pottsville, PA, punched a man in the face at the Coney Island restaurant.

Ten years is a long time to go away for "criminal threats," no?

Damn, Dundalk, $1.5 million worth of counterfeit goods at the flea market*? (But is that the goods' actual value, or what it would have been if the goods were really the brand they were supposed to be?)

So the nefarious Koch brothers reportedly aspire to buy the Tribune-- the newspaper group or the whole sorry mess. But only if baby-eating dingo Rupert Murdoch or cracker-faced capitalist Lee Mitchell lose their bids.

Finally, have a sobering .gif in which you can watch Baltimore's middle-class neighborhoods disappear. 

Gunning

The death of Henry Mills in 2011 was to avenge the death of fellow Black Guerilla Family member Naim King in 2007, reports Justin George,* which led to an unusual conviction under the state's gang statute.

Brandon Mitchell

How did 18-year-old Brandon Kyle Mitchell get bail for a first-degree murder charge*? TWICE*? Shrug. He's now been convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Omar Johnson, a bystander who was watching a fight (presumably between Mitchell and someone else). Oh well, no harm no foul and all's well that ends well, right?

Baltimore police are investigating apparent homicide of unknown man at 600 S Fulton Ave. this morning. No details yet.
— Justin George (@justingeorge) March 8, 2013

Body found this morning in 600 S Fulton was behind train car twitter.com/justin_fenton/…
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 8, 2013

4:20 is coming 2 1/3 hours early today: HB 302, aka the Maryland Medical Marijuana Act, is set to be read today, along with two other medical marijuana bills. The bill would let the state's "Academic Medical Centers" distribute the pot in town. Curt Anderson's full frontal decriminalization bill is to be read March 19, And Bobby Zirkin's got a pot law too, making less than 10 grams a civil offense and fine of $100.

MD's gun clubs claim that they've sent a (literal) million emails to MD's legislators re. SB 281/HB 294 opposing the bill's new gun licensing and sales restrictions.

Three people shot Tuesday night.

What did the Hopkins Men's Lacrosse team do to deserve a benching?

That Baltimore white

Big sads! Anna Ditkoff, creator of the Murder Ink column, has been laid off from the City Paper. Posted she to Facebook:
Due to budget cuts, this week's Murder Ink column is the last I will write for City Paper (a staff member will cover homicides going forward). 
When I created Murder Ink in 2004, nearly 300 people were being murdered in Baltimore City every year, losing their lives to violence so commonplace that their deaths weren't consistently covered in the media. Over the last eight and a half years, Murder Ink chronicled 2,106 homicides and proved that Baltimoreans really do care about the people murdered on the streets of their city. I saw this concern in the researchers, community activists, journalists, victims' families, and readers who contacted me. I saw it in the music and art projects inspired by the column and in the people who sat for hours listening to Single Carrot Theatre's annual Murder Ink reading.
Writing Murder Ink has often been heartbreaking. There are victims I will never forget—some because of the horror of their deaths and some because of the tragically mundane events that sparked them. Still, I am saddened to leave it behind. Making sure every homicide in Baltimore is marked is a mission that I continue to believe in. It's been an honor to report on this difficult issue for City Paper's readers.

Big happy-- happy investiture to my former classmate who's now a real Baltimore city circuit court judge: Judge Julie R. Rubin.

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Cham lists last weekend's six murder victims

Police are trying to identify the woman at right, found in the Inner Harbor.

Jermaine Miller, 29, got 134 months in federal prison for slinging that Baltimore white.