March 27

More about Zach Sowers' death: the Sun, the Examiner, WJZ, WBAL TV, WMAR.

A 19-year-old man died this morning after being shot in the chest in the 100 block of Addison St. in Carrollton Ridge. An 18-year-old was injured in the same shooting.

Four people were shot in two separate shootings last night. In the Eastern, a woman was treated at Hopkins for a "graze wound," and three teenagers were shot on N. Gilmor St. -- including a 14-year-old girl who got shot in the face.

A man on Olympia Ave. in the Northwestern learned an important life lesson yesterday: don't lunge at cops with a knife if you don't want to get shot. He had about two hours to contemplate his mistake before he died.

Baltimore City juries aren't completely useless: (Oops. That was a Baltimore County jury. Anyway...) David Miller's jury deliberated for less than an hour before they found him guilty for killing Elizabeth Walters and their unborn baby.

Eugene Perry got two consecutive life sentences for murdering his ex-fiancee and her boyfriend. Perry was a police officer with the state Department of General Services, and his victims were both cops in the Northwestern.

In HoCo, a student testified against a teacher who allegedly took icky photos of the boy with his pants down.

Zach Sowers

From zachsowers.com:

It is with great sadness that I write to tell you that my close and wonderful friend, Zach Sowers, passed away yesterday, Tuesday, March 25, after a long and steady decline. Anna called me today to tell me that he passed away peacefully around 10 p.m. last night. Zach is now at peace after a long and treacherous battle. He was so strong and fought until the very end but it provides comfort for us all to know that he is now in heaven, watching over his friends and family.

Anna has told me that she and the family are doing as well as can be. They have a strong network of friends and family supporting them and ask that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.

From the Sun:

The teens convicted of beating Sowers could not be charged with murder because the victim hadn't died; their pleas prevent prosecutors from pursing murder charges now.

In December, Trayvon Ramos, 16, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and robbery charges and was sentenced to life in prison with all but 40 years suspended. Three others, who agreed to testify against Ramos, received eight-year prison terms.

Anna Sowers had called the sentences "a joke."

Prosecutors said that the four teens robbed Sowers and used his credit cards to purchase gas and videos during a shopping spree over several days.

March 26

A man was shot in the head this morning in the 400 block of Laurens St. He's at Shock Trauma, but there's no word yet on his condition.

The double-murder trial of David Miller sounds like a Law & Order episode just waiting to happen. The woman who was with Elizabeth Walters when she was killed testified against Miller, an assistant state medical examiner testified that Walters' fetus could have survived outside the womb, a seasoned homicide detective cried on the stand, and Miller tried to fire his public defenders because they weren't asking questions of most of the witnesses.

Bobby Ray Stanbery had a knife, some rope, three porno vids, and had removed the rear seats from his SUV when he tried to "give a ride" to a 14-year-old girl on Woodbourne Ave. last year. For all that, he got a year.

A couple of guys wanted on handgun charges led police on a car chase from East Baltimore to the Harbour Tunnel. WMAR gave the story a big and exciting write-up with phrases like "the driver is behind bars" and "high speed chase through the streets of Baltimore;" meanwhile, the Sun stuck the story in the Blotter and described it as a "medium-speed pursuit."

Allan Clark was homeless when he murdered Michael Evans Sr.; now, it looks like he'll have a roof over his head for a very long time.

Byron Huff indictment

From the State's Attorney's office:

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Byron Huff, 43, of the 1800 block of Richfield Drive, Severn, Maryland on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and first-degree sex offense.

Court documents allege on September 3, 1996, a woman, later identified as Doris Smalls, 30, was found dead and partially nude in a bedroom basement apartment in the 2700 block of Ruscombe Lane. Ms. Smalls allegedly died from stab wounds to the chest.

In 2007, DNA evidence was retrieved and tested. The evidence from the test was matched to Byron Huff, an inmate in the custody of the Division of Corrections, and police charged Huff with murder in February 2008.

An arraignment is scheduled for April 29, 2008 before Judge John P. Miller, Room 428, Mitchell Courthouse.

March 25

The body of 36-year-old Robert Long was found next to the train tracks in Carroll Park with at least one bullet wound to the head.

The Frederick man who was killed outside the New Cathedral Cemetery in the Southwestern on March 9 has been ID'd as Levette Johnson.

The link above also mentions a 17-year-old who was shot in the back in the 2600 block of McElderry St. on Friday night.

The link above also mentions a lot of people who haven't figured out that you don't leave your $700 GPS or your $800 camera behind when you park your car. This isn't a Baltimore thing, people, it's true in any city. Don't leave shit in your car.

A 22-year-old UMBC student is in critical condition after she was severely beaten by four women at Cheerleaders sports bar in Fell's Point early Sunday morning.

David Miller's murder trial started yesterday, and it's the first time prosecutors are using Maryland's fetal homicide law.

More evidence that the war on drugs is a miserable failure.

Careful, parents, or your young huffers might end up getting beatdowns at Baby Booking.

There's a hefty dose of either racism or paranoia over in homicide.

Yesterday was a rotten day to work in an AAC pizza joint. Some dude robbed a pizza place on Somerville Rd. and carjacked their delivery driver, and three guys with a semi-automatic robbed a Pizza Boli's on Crain Highway.

In Bel Air, Deborah Turner lost two houses to arson within three months. In other Bel Air news, three teenagers were arrested and charged with vandalizing some cars and setting a trash can on fire.

Okay, I admit it. When I read the headline "Referendum on police looks likely," my first thought was, "What? Are they prohibiting mustaches?"

Afternoon

ppatin wrote it in the comments section, and it's far more eloquent than anything I could write: "The actor who plays Sevino on The Wire was stabbed in the ass last night."

March 24

The Easter Bunny brought a basket full o' killing yesterday: one man was fatally shot at 7:20 a.m. in the 3700 block of Ravenwood Ave., and another man's body was found in the 3400 block of Wilkens Ave. at 6:40 last night.

There were several unsuccessful murders over the weekend as well.

• There was a double shooting yesterday afternoon at the corner of Park Heights Ave. and Spaulding Ave.
• On Saturday afternoon, a man got shot in the leg. "The victim and a witness twice changed the stories they initially gave police. Police believe that the victim accidentally discharged his gun and shot himself while trying to escape from a robbery in the 300 block of Collins Ave. in West Baltimore.
• On Saturday morning a 21-year-old with a "long criminal record" was shot and likely paralyzed in the 500 block of N. Decker St.

On Thursday night, a 54-year-old man was shot in the right leg in the 900 block of Druid Hill Ave. Also in the Blotter, a 90-year-old woman's wedding ring was stolen.

Someone firebombed a Middle River family's home in an apparently random attack.

Why wasn't there better communication when 15-year-old Tyisha Brown disappeared?

The family of Tracey Testo is still hoping to find out what happened to their daughter when she disappeared three years ago.

Annie Linskey takes a mighty interesting look at the Southwestern Flex Squad. Meanwhile, the NAACP says former Flex Squad commander Robert Smith should be reinstated.

A man was stabbed during a fight in Finksburg, and the stabber was arrested.

The Examiner talks with Pat Jessamy about fighting crime.

Hey, HarCo: If you want the Guardian Angels, you need to step up and volunteer.

The latest issue of Harper's has the following tidbit: "Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a 'maverick' since 1995 : 6,757." Apparently, we have a less heralded maverick right here in Baltimore County.

March 21

April Montford died last Friday, after a non-profit agency helped move her from a nursing home to an apartment where her two daughters were paid $13/hour to take care of her. Allegedly, they didn't do a very good job. "Montford, 40, was found in bed Feb. 29 with gangrenous open wounds and bedsores with lice and maggots in them, according to police. She had a month’s worth of urine and fecal matter on her, and her uterus had fallen outside her vagina because of neglect, police said." Her daughters have been charged with vulnerable-adult abuse, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

The Blotter has a couple of shootings and a whole bunch of stolen electricity.

Here's a closer look at Sarah Kreager and some of the crap that police had to deal with.

The court says former Police Commissioner Kevin Clark can ask for his job back, along with a $120M raise.

The mother of a Lutherville teen who was killed at his landscaping job says her son was murdered.

An Edgewood man was charged with second-degree murder in the July death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.

Some dude in Edgewater was keeping a pet squirrel, and in the same article but lower in priority, six people were arrested in Annapolis after "neighborhood complaints and recent crime in the area."

March 20

Curse you, Bealefeld, and your almost crime-free news days. Fortunately, I forgot to link to the Ink yesterday, so you murder junkies can get your fix with five homicides over the past week. Of particular interest to those of you who love to bandy about accusations of racism, a black man and a white man were shot outside the convenience store on Garrison Blvd. last Saturday, but only the black man died. Conspiracy???

Nicholas Browning kills like a man, but will he get tried like a little boy?

MTA regulars say our buses are hardly safe and reliable. "Sometimes kids get on the bus and your heart is pounding. ... You better keep quiet or you're going to get slammed. You pray to get off safe."

You gotta love a city where a burglary at "Tiffany Hair & Gift Shop" results in 30 stolen cartons of cigarettes. Next time I need some tequila, I'm hitting my local barber shop.

Now why in the world would Mayor Moyer think a curfew could be enforced when the current laws aren't adequately enforced? (All sarcasm aside, I'm actually glad to see she's looking at possible ways to curtail violence in her city's public housing. Besides, the quotes from the article suggest she's not a total imbecile. Thoughts?)

Actually, Mayor Moyer might want to consider building on this strategy: "An Annapolis man went to the hospital early Tuesday morning after trying twice to buy drugs in different areas and getting beaten up both times."

Carroll County school board cracker Jeffrey Morse used a naughty word. To his credit, he took full responsibility. To the Sun's discredit, this article got about 10 times more words than most murder victims get. (And to the Sun's credit, they've gotten much more thorough in their coverage since we've stopped killing each other so often.)

In really cool news that has nothing to do with crime, a 290-pound baby boy was born at the zoo last night.

March 19

Five Four teens are guilty in the Sarah Kreager beating. A fifth teen was found guilty of second-degree assault (a misdemeanor) against Kreager's boyfriend.

There's some funny business about the gun that the late Curtis Blache used in his cops vs. robbers shootout.

PDJ: Jeffrey G.A. Stimson was charged with possessing and distributing kiddie porn, and is now out on bail.

March 18

The man killed outside a convenience store in Northwest Baltimore has been ID'd as Andre A. Jones.

Curtis Blache, the man who had a gunfight with police, probably won't be in critical condition much longer. Meanwhile, "Police said there was nothing to conclusively link the shooting to nearby Club Choices, the scene of several violent incidents including two homicides since March 2006."

A man was stabbed at a strip mall on Sinclair and Moravia Roads in Northeast Baltimore yesterday afternoon.

A middle school student says that Sarah Kreager threw the first punch, and "The lady had a black eye ... Everybody was laughing at her eye." Nice.

The records of some allegedly corrupt guards at the Maryland House of Corrections will be given to lawyers for Lamarr Harris and Lee Stephens, the two inmates who are accused of killing guard David McGuinn.

In one of their motions, defense lawyers raised the prospect that other officers might have set up McGuinn, a by-the-book officer who strictly enforced prison rules. In court papers, they noted an unnamed witness' statement to state police that corrupt guards "ordered the hit" on McGuinn.

More details on Kwame Travon Johnson's murder. Johnson is the fourth homicide victim in Annapolis so far this year.

Three brilliant teenagers had some assault and home invasion fun in Glen Burnie, then drove home in their car -- a car that the victims could identify.

What do you do with a drunken sailor? Apparently, you charge him and his friends with DABASUI (Driving A Big Ass Ship Under the Influence).

Bossman says the police weren't very nice to him after one of his friends broke a beer bottle over someone's head at a S. Broadway bar.

Sen. James Brochin says felons shouldn't get assistance with their hospital bills. Given that this is a crime blog and not a blog about health care finance, I won't ramble on about how Brochin's proposal, if passed, will likely mean that taxpayers will foot felons' hospital bills instead of a fund that does not consist of tax dollars. Are you gonna mention that to your constituents, Brochy?

25 years for 1985 Robbery, Rape and Murder of Nurse

At a hearing today, Orrell Youmans, 51, of the Division of Correction (DOC) pled guilty to second-degree murder, carrying a deadly weapon and first-degree sex offense. Judge Gale E. Rasin sentenced Youmans to 40 years in prison suspending all but 25 years and five years probation and imposed the sentence consecutive to 1985 rape conviction and sentence. Details:

On January 28, 1985 Youmans deposited the lifeless body of Beverly Louise Feight, 26, in a wooded area in the 4000 block of Westchester Road. Feight had been kidnapped, assaulted, robbed, raped and stabbed. She was last seen by her family the day before when she left for her shift at University Hospital as a nurse. Hospital officials contacted her family when she failed to show up to work.

DNA samples taken from the crime scene were entered into the statewide database in 2002 and 2004 and on October 13, 2006 a match was made to Youmans, an inmate in DOC custody serving a 40-year prison term from a 1985 rape conviction in Baltimore City. Police obtained a search and seizure warrant for Youmans’ blood and on October 24, 2006 a sample of his blood was drawn. On December 5, 2006 the Police Crime Lab informed detectives that this sample matched the crime scene evidence and Youmans was arrested.

Assistant State’s Attorney and Forensic Sciences Director Sharon Holback prosecuted this case.

Conviction for Motel Murder of Cecil Saunders

Friday, a city jury convicted Donnell Williams, 25, of the 900 block of Woodington Road first-degree murder, first-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. Judge Robert B. Kershaw scheduled sentencing for May 16, 2008. Williams faces a maximum of life in prison plus 50 years. On August 9, 2006 police identified Williams on a private, security camera beating and kicking Cecil Saunders, 28, in the head inside a stairwell at the Executive Inn in the 3600 block of Pulaski Highway. Two other men are alleged to have participated in the attack. Co-defendants Demetrius Williams and Leneal Montay Collins are charged with murder and scheduled to stand trial today. Assistant State’s Attorney Diana Smith of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.

March 17

One of the two men who were shot outside a Northwest convenience store on Saturday night has died.

Over the past few days, we've had shotgun assaults, cutting assaults, bottle assaults, Taser assaults... it's like a buffet of sociopathic behavior!

It's been a year since Gerard "jailbird" Mungo Jr. was arrested for sitting on a dirt bike in East Baltimore.

Lots of news in AAC: A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in the same Annapolis block where Timothy Hayes Marsh was killed last month; alleged drug dealer Nicole Tamika Freeman is on the loose; George Alexander Yates really needs to stay away from gas stations; and 0.4% of people stopped at drunk driving checkpoints over the weekend were charged with DUI.

Also in Annapolis, a man was arrested and charged with sexually abusing his stepdaughter for more than 10 years. One of the girl's friends was also abused. "The stepdaughter said she was 7 years old when the abuse began and 12 when the suspect raped her for the first time in the summer of 2004. The last time her stepfather raped her was Jan. 21, before her mother found out about the abuse, according to the charging documents."

Club Choices = Portal to Hell!

Officer Anthony Jobst was shot in the foot and officer Hayden Gross was grazed by a bullet during a shootout with a suspect, Anthony Blache, after they pursued his Audi as it left the vicinity of Club Choices. Blache was wearing illegal, Omar-esque body armor but is nevertheless in critical condition at Shock Trauma.

Other Club Choices incidents:

• This month, "During a fight in Club Choices in the 1800 block of N. Charles St. about 1 a.m. Sunday [March 4], two men were stabbed and a third suffered a broken nose."
  
  
• Jamal Rowlett, 20, was shot to death December 16, 2007 after leaving the club


• "A bunch of kids stabbing each other" February 27thish of 2007 (details lost forever to a dead Sun link; a search of "Club Choices" on the Sun archives says "No Articles Found")


• Pregnant Ashley Harris, who happened to be on the sidewalk outside, was shot to death in March of 2006 after "a brawl involving as many as 40 people" inside the club continued on the street

It's the devil's disco!

Scandalous!

"Victims' fund assists felons."

A double shooting last night in the 2900 hundred block of Garrison Boulevard.

A police officer was shot in the foot this morning.

The City school system paid $123,000 to two former employees who had alleged racial discrimination.

Saturday

Thursday's murder victim was ID'd as Jamal Alphonso Harrison, 22.

A funeral was held this morning for Tyisha Brown, 15. JZ says her family reported her missing, but for reasons unknown it took three weeks for her to be identified.

County Police have arrested and charged three people-- Malcolm Lee Land of Woodholme Avenue, Brandon Christopher Smith, 28, of Flannery Lane, and Frank Antonio Jones, 23, of Brendan Avenue-- in connection with the murder of 23-year-old Marcus Ellis, stabbed to death in the Texaco parking lot in Pikesville.

A Prince George's County corrections officer accused of smuggling cellphones into the jail for inmates is a suspected member of the Bloods "and was bringing the phones to fellow gang members 'as part of an organized conspiracy' involving fellow officers, according to charging documents made public yesterday." In the past three months, six other officers at the jail have been in various kinds of trouble, including two female guards who were allegedly getting freaky with inmates.

Eight corrections officers have been suspended from Roxbury after an incident March 8 involving suspected excessive force.

Before you hire a lawyer in MD, check out the state's site of disciplined attorneys. There, one can learn tidbits such as how KWARTENG, Charles O. was reprimanded for "making a sexual gesture with his tongue at a female clerk at the Circuit Court for Baltimore County," and WARD, Kenneth S. was "suspended indefinitely for acting incompetently and sloppy."

Astonishing stupidity files: MoCo Football coach Aaron Timothy McCown, 31, pleaded guilty Friday to "knowingly receiving an explosive, that is, a loaded pistol, intending to use it to intimidate the referee at a youth football game."

March 14

An unidentified young man was shot and killed yesterday evening in the 1900 block of N. Rosedale St. He's number 37, compared to 57 at this time last year.

The man killed on Spelman St. in Cherry Hill on Wednesday was ID'd as Lemell O. Barnes. (I took a drive down Spelman St. last night. Even the bedsheets hanging on the clotheslines were red. The feds might want to go all Coumadin on that neighborhood.)

A cop who was directing traffic near the arena was run down by a douchebag who didn't want to turn. Some awesome citizens chased down the alleged douchebag and held him/her until police arrived and took him/her to Central Booking, where one can hope he/she was beaten severely.

In other news of citizens not taking any guff, alleged shoplifter Charles Andre Brown was trapped in a Dumpster by Rite-Aid employees who chased his (allegedly) thieving ass down.

In addition to road rage, we also seem to have a bad case of Metro rage.

St. Agnes was locked down yesterday afternoon, thanks to a jackass with a paintball gun.

A 14-year-old boy was beaten but not robbed on Chestnut Hill Ave.

Some charges were dropped against some of the teenagers who might have beat up some people on some bus.

Bobby Hough got 33 years for helping to paralyze a man by dropping him head-first on concrete. Meanwhile, in other concrete news, HarCo police are looking for the dumbasses who dropped a chunk of concrete onto a car from an overpass.

I could soooo make an "up the creek" joke about alleged drug dealer Thomas Creek and prison sex, but that would be tacky.

A man, who may or may not be Zorro, robbed a "convenience story". Inconvenient stories were left alone.

Holy cow! College students drink! I had no idea. We must stop this immediately.

No Death Penalty for David Miller

Remember David Lee Miller, who shot Elizabeth Walters, his 7-months-pregnant girlfriend, in the parking lot of the Home Depot strip mall off Perring Parkway? It seemed like he was going to be the first person to be charged under the new fetal-homicide law, but because the law rejected 'fetal personhood,' he won't be eligible for the big DP.

The Wall Street Journal columnist on Baltimore: the problem isn't poverty, it's crime.

These cases are so freaky. Wendi Scott, right, will plead guilty to one count of child abuse. She "had been using syringes to withdraw blood from her daughter so doctors would suspect [the daughter] had leukemia."

March 13

A 22-year-old was murdered on Spelman Rd. in Cherry Kill last night. He's the third murder victim there this year.

The person who was killed on Edgecombe Circle on Tuesday morning was 16-year-old Tavon Burks.

Let me get this straight. 15-year-old Tyisha Brown (#21) was missing for three weeks before anyone -- her teachers, her friends, her father -- thought to question where she was?

It's cases like this -- the rape trial of twice-convicted sex-offender Eugene Waller -- that make me hope there is a special place in hell for defense attorneys.

Angry and outraged yet? Pissed off at the incompetence of our government officials? Disgusted with the citizens of Baltimore? If not, try reading the story about 15-year-old Farron Tates.

Okay, now for some good news. The State's Attorney's Office hearts the BPD, and maybe you should too. "... in 2006 her prosecutors had to throw out one in three criminal charges. Last year, only about one in five cases could not go forward."

Byron Alonzo Huff was already serving 30 years for killing Holly Jean Keefe when he was matched to DNA found on 1996 murder victim Doris Smalls. Huff said he "cannot say offhand" whether or not he knew Smalls, and he doesn't know how his DNA could have gotten on her body.

Sgt. Robert Smith can have his job back if he just admits he was wrong.

Former CVS pharmacist Ramon Bautista Juta would take care of you, if you'd take care of him (wink wink, nudge nudge).

In AAC, Carlos Rice was found guilty for murdering Peach Cake. Of course, his defense attorneys said that the murder weapon was used to shoot at Rice's car, so Rice couldn't have done it. Now, forgive me for not understanding the subtle nuances of this case, but couldn't Rice have killed Mr. Cake, and then shot at his own car? Crazy, I know.

A student at Chesapeake Science Point Charter School in Hanover threatened to bring in an Uzi and kill everyone. Meanwhile, staff is getting ready to bail before anybody pees on them.

I understand, John. I always confuse lawn chairs with railroad tracks, too.