April 18

The BPD doesn't have the 50 grand it needs to either exonerate Douglas Scott Arey or confirm that he's a killer.

"An unidentified man who was found dead Sunday in a new townhouse development in Middle River in eastern Baltimore County was killed in East Baltimore." There's a sketch of the victim, right.

A bunch of pending drug cases involving Sgt. Allen Adkins and Detective Deryl Turner are being dropped.

As bupe is being used more, more of it is being used illegally.

In HarCo, Samuel and Donna Merryman got 22 years each for starving their 8-year-old son to death. "... two of the couple's other children provided a look inside the family home in Whiteford -- where, they said, their brother was bound, strapped to a crib and deprived of solid food." (Examiner article.)

Kerri King got off on a HarCo driving charge that should've sent her to prison. She's still being held in the city for killing Courtney Brooks.

More Teen Hooligans!

Yikes, a 15-year-old boy stabbed a 14-year-old boy in the neck and back with a pair of scissors at Lemmel Middle School.

Har! "Police charged five Montgomery County teens and one adult [last week] with being linked to what authorities said was a scheme to steal guns from a student's home and sell them to classmates, a sale broken up when a 14-year-old potential customer accidentally fired a bullet into the wall of a restroom stall."

... and one brokedown stripper! If you've ever doubted that booze is bad for the complexion, check out this picture of Kerri King (alleged hit-and-run killer of Officer Courtney Brooks).

April 17

Tavon Smith was fatally shot yesterday afternoon in the 2900 block of Garrison Blvd. in the Northwestern.

Who needs stupid shows like CSI when you've got the Southwestern? Seriously, if the shit going on over there were in a Mark Wahlberg movie, I'd dismiss it as bad screenwriting. (Here's yesterday's article on the police shooting, and a couple of paragraphs in the Examiner.)

We're not prejudiced against either side of town, though. Last night, a dude got shot on the west side, and a dude got shot on the east side.

Are they spreading shitty sludge around poor black neighborhoods in Baltimore, or are they treating the soil with compost to help eliminate toxins and reduce risks of lead poisoning?

Cynthia McKay was convicted for killing her boyfriend and setting his body on fire. She faces 30 years. (Sun coverage.)

Tyron Montray McGowan admitted to killing Kwame Travon Johnson last month in Annapolis.

PDJ: Daddy likes to touch his teenage daughter and watch her take showers. Maybe some nice men in prison will like touching daddy and watching daddy take showers.

Rape now occurs the moment a woman says no and she is ignored, even if it's in the middle of a deed to which she's already consented.

Some Fredneck dumped the bodies of more than 70 dogs in the woods.

Third Trial Starts for Erik Stoddard

A third trial has begun for Erik Stoddard, accused of the murder of three-year-old Calen Faith Dirubbo in 2002. Stoddard's first conviction was thrown out because a toddler's "utterance" was considered hearsay by the CSA. Here's info on the case from the second trial which concluded in May of last year; that conviction was also thrown out. Reported the Sun last year:

... the judge in the case ordered a new trial, saying he should have asked jurors during the selection process whether they had any racial prejudice against the defendant.

Circuit Judge Allen L. Schwait's decision was based on a little-known but sweeping 1999 Maryland Court of Appeals ruling that a defendant has an absolute right to question jurors about racial bias, even in cases with no apparent racial dynamic.

Stoddard, 26, is white. Calen Faith Dirubbo, the 3-year-old who was fatally beaten in June 2002, was white. All of the state witnesses in the case were white. The attorneys and the judge were white. The jury was made up of eight blacks and four whites.

This case has inspired some interesting comments over the years.

April 16

Hot diggity damn. Only one new murder in the Ink (that of Anthony Izzard), and details on Yolanda Brown (who was ruled a homicide victim on 4/8). One of the other men who was shot at the same time as Izzard was apparently struck by a stray bullet while sitting in his house.

A boy was shot in the face this morning in West Baltimore.

18-year-old Charles Jakes didn't mean to kill his 14-year-old girlfriend Shawndreta, who was found lying in a bed naked from the waist down. Jakes accidentally shot himself in the thumb at the same time. Too bad he didn't accidentally shoot himself in the head. Congratulations Charlie, you are the douchebag du jour.

The burned body of an unidentified man has been ruled as a homicide, but police aren't releasing the cause of death.

Despite what the Jessup teenagers who got shot say, the cops say they only fired one shot.

PDJ: Scott Carpenter of Dundalk pleaded guilty to receiving kiddie porn. Maybe Chuckie Jakes can shoot off Carpenter's wang.

The state dropped charges against Patrick Byers so the feds could wholeheartedly nail him. Or so we hope. (Byers was indicted for killing witness Carl Lackl.)

Rapist Eugene Waller got 20 years.

Evening Update

City Officer Mark Spila was shot in the upper hip during a routine traffic stop around Poplar Grove Street and Lanvale Avenue in the SW. The suspect is still at large.
(TG the bullet didn't hit the "ephemeral artery"!!
UPDATE: the officer is recovering from surgery, and WBAL corrected the typo)

Eighteen-year-old Charles Jakes has been arrested for the murder of 14-year-old Shawndreta Griffin.

Party is sure to be a verb as "the b Street Team" holds a "Happy Hour" tonight at "The Green [sic] Turtle" in Towson. (Yes, I just posted that for no other reason than to annoy you).

April 15

Jee-zus. Practically every headline in the local section of the Sun is a crime story. I may be the only blogger cheering for the crime staff over there, but dammit, I'm cheering loud. Meanwhile, the Examiner site has been totally redesigned, and I kinda like it. Anyhoo... on to the wacky hijinks of us Baltimorons.

The girl who was killed on N. Patterson Park Ave. yesterday morning has been ID'd as Shawndreta Griffin. Shawndreta was actually 14, not 15 as previously reported. (I drove down that street last night, and it is one of the bleakest streets I've seen in this city. Greenmount Ave. is like a healthy and thriving neighborhood in comparison.)

A typo contributed to the murder of Jeffrey (aka Jeffery) Clinton Butler.

Antajuan Wilson confessed. Hopefully they spelled his name right.

The boy killed by the wayward van on Saturday has been ID'd as 3-year-old Kyrell Sellers. Police are investigating the possibility that the two cars might have been racing.

The Griffins of Rodgers Forge were indicted for murdering their 2-year-old son. (It's taking all my restraint to not write something like "HA! Serves you right, fuckers!" Oh... shoot... I just wrote it. Oh well.)

In case you missed MJB's post yesterday, DNA evidence led police to 46-year-old Roger Ervin, aka the alleged Roland Park Rapist, pictured at right. (Despite my challenges to Lori Barrett at "b," there's nothing today on the Parkville rapist. Oh well.)

There was a bizarre stabbing/wrestling incident in the can at Douglass High School yesterday.

In other stabby news, a man was knifed by a relative at a family get-together in Edgewood on Friday night.

If the schools weren't run as if a herd of lobotomized cattle held power on North Ave., Andres Alonso might have better luck getting volunteers. Oh, and he also wants to quadruple funding for gifted students. Does videotaping the beatdown of a teacher count as "gifted?"

There's something to Alonso's statement about volunteers, though, as the Towson/Cherry Hill partnership suggests.

Ick. People in Jessup want to castrate the police. Oh, castigate. That makes more sense. My bad. (Despite my stupid commentary, it's an interesting article. Citizens are pissed about the police shooting in the Pleasant Chase community last week.)

Can we start a new feature? The Douchebag du jour? If so, Sanford M. Abrams totally gets my vote.

The honorary DDJ award goes to the Fells Point double-parker who attacked the woman writing him a traffic ticket.

More fires in Harson County.

That's Cold

Tribune lays off reporters, replaces them with hired bloggers to comment on the remaining reporters’ inadequacies.

First-Degree Conviction in Daniel Savage Murder

Today a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury convicted Alton Teel of the 3700 block of Bonview Street of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Daniel Savage in February 2008 in the 1500 block of N. Bradford Street in East Baltimore.

At approximately 8:40 a.m. on February 21, 2007 officers and medics responded to the 1500 block of N. Bradford Street where the victim Daniel Savage was found lying in the street with multiple bullet shot wounds. Mr. Savage succumbed to his injuries.

Assistant State’s Attorney Theresa Shaffer prosecuted this case. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Roland Park Rapist Caught!

For real this time (we hope)!

"Roger Ervin, of the 3500 block of Dudley Ave., faces numerous charges of rape, sex offenses, assault, handgun and burglary charges, police said. He was charged on Sunday after detectives linked DNA samples taken from the victim."

Here's links to the stories from last August, (amazingly, the ones from the Examiner still work) and a picture of Ervin at right. (Thanks anon.)

Fatal homicide on east side

WJZ reports that "Baltimore Police are investigating a fatal homicide in East Baltimore. ... Police say a male was shot in the head."

Nick at the Sun tells us that a 15-year-old girl was shot in the head in the 1900 block of N. Patterson Park Ave. (which, for the record, is nowhere near Patterson Park). A suspect is in custody. A construction worker at the scene said he saw six or seven kids being taken out of the house, and two of them were young enough to be placed in baby seats.

And yes, it appears that this was, indeed, a fatal homicide.

(Thanks to Mr. Mephistopheles for the info)

April 14

Anthony Izzard, one of the three men who was shot on Friday night in Franklin Square, has died.

The burnt body of an unidentified man was found yesterday morning near Middlesex Elementary in Baltimore County.

In West Baltimore, a van was hit by another car and was forced onto the sidewalk where it hit two little boys (one of whom died). In true Baltimore style, onlookers then beat the woman who was driving the van. The depth of the anger in this city is truly terrifying sometimes.

Two men tried to rape a 15-year-old girl in Cockeysville.

Olesker talked with people who were paying respects where Bryan Adams was murdered in Columbia, and Antajuan Wilson was arrested for Adams' murder.

The war on drugs is alive and well in Baltimore.

From the Daily Record:

For a fugitive riding public transportation, it didn't pay to be cheap. A North Carolina bank robbery suspect is in custody after he was caught taking a free ride on Baltimore's light rail. A ticket on the train costs $1.60. But the Maryland Transit Administration says 58-year-old Isaac Ray Dunn didn't have one when an MTA police officer asked passengers to show their tickets on Thursday afternoon at the North Linthicum stop south of the city. After arresting Dunn for failing to buy a ticket, police did a check for outstanding warrants and found out he’s wanted for a bank robbery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police turned Dunn over to U.S. Marshals.

April 12

As reported by Bmore in the comments, three men were shot last night in Franklin Square.

An employee at a McDonald's in Catonsville was stabbed by a co-worker yesterday morning. Another co-worker was arrested for offering to hide the stabber.

Bealefeld's statement that the murder rate is dropping holds a bit more water than then-acting Police Commissioner Hamm's statement to the Baltimore Criminal Justice Coordinating Council on (or about) March 9, 2005 that Baltimore had "finally turned the corner on violent crime." Turning Hamm's corner was kinda like turning from N. Carey St. onto W. Mosher St.

Eugene Waller may have a history of violent sex crimes, and he may have gotten away with some things due to technicalities and bureaucracies, and he may not be doing life for his latest attack, but it certainly wasn't a random rape.

Marcus Crandell could get up to life in prison after pleading guilty to a bit of fiery street revenge.

"My parents are gone, and he's still here."

Hmmm... if female Navy officers can pay off debt by working as hookers, how about middle-aged civilians with receding hairlines, man-boobs, and pedophile beards? Uh, because, you know, I've got a friend who might be interested.

I can totally see how this'll go down. First, someone on the City Council will read Jill Rosen's article about kids who videotape school fights. Then they'll propose a law that banishes the Interwebs and the World Wide Net and MyTube from within Baltimore's city limits. Then a Web Offenders' Registry will go into place. Six months later, MJB will get arrested for illegally making a blog post to Baltimore Crime (because we're, like, totally revolutionaries that way), and the City Council will pat themselves on the back for making the city a safer place.

Goddamn, I'm getting cynical. I saw the headline "Baltimore Community Celebrates Milestone" and my first thought was, 'What? Nobody picked up a hooker for three entire hours in Pigtown?'

April 11

Blotters like this one are what make me pissed at the Sun. I will grudgingly accept that three shootings and an armed robbery get stuck in the Blotter, but when a woman gets attacked and raped at her home in Parkville and the story is stuck between a stolen GPS and some stolen power tools, well... somebody at the Sun needs to pull their head out of their ass, post haste.

Well, at least one shooting was deserving of its very own story in the Sun.

A man was stabbed at the Whores You Came in On bar in Fell's Point.
... and WBAL now has a Web cast! The future is now! (Thanks Winston--MJB)

Apparently, it's Jolita's fault that she got attacked, because she lacked the skills to defuse the situation. Maybe next, we can blame it on what she was wearing. The good news is that our fearless leaders "will be working to provide students with anger management resources they need..."

Of course, the school system will never admit that maybe there's a serious problem going on. Maybe they should talk to Yvette Brebnor, who was repeatedly attacked by a fourth-grader. The good news is that our recent cases of school violence are getting some national coverage, so maybe someone will be humiliated into making some meaningful changes. (Start holding your breath... now.)

The guy who got shot by police on Wednesday night ain't doing so hot. Meanwhile, the men and women of the BPD are pretty effective with their firearms.

One of the boys who was "accidentally" shot by a HoCo cop in Jessup claims the cop accidentally shot them twice.

There's a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of Bryan Adams' killer.

Shaggy Taylor got life + 20 for killing Joseph Miller over some gang graffiti. Like a good little doo-bee, Taylor wore his gang colors to trial.

Octavius Savage was found guilty of killing his 64-year-old roommate and chopping the body in half.

Yesterday, Christopher Harryman got 17.5 years for being part of the Remington Mob.

The NY livery cab driver who dropped baby Daniella at a fire station is free if he can behave for six months. Daniella is the daughter of a teenage runaway from Baltimore, and the cab driver conspired with the teenage girl's aunt on how to get rid of the baby.

Why do we put up with this kind of poo from our leaders? Stop behaving like a petulant child, Conaway, and do your freaking job.

April 10

We recently lost Kevin Bacon to a murder, and Billy Crudup is up on murder charges. Now, Bryan Adams just got killed in Columbia.

Oh, goodie. The guy who killed Mister George, a grandfather / Korean War vet / generally well-regarded citizen, got 30 years. It's too bad he wasn't busy doing time for his other murder conviction instead of being out on the street killing old men.

Someone on Gertrude St. in the Rosemont section of the Southwestern learned that it's probably not smart to shoot at cops.

53-year-old Russell Lockett III was attacked in Annapolis on March 15 and died two days later. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Violence in our schools? That's unpossible!

An (allegedly) drunk-ass Baltimore City employee (allegedly) stole a cab in Annapolis.

Is it defamation if I call someone a douchebag?

El Cynic notes that the story of the attack of art teacher Jolita Berry was on the "Today" show this morning. She'll also be on "Nancy Grace" tonight at 8 and 10 p.m.

Kerri King indicted!!!

It's not often that info from the State's Attorney's office makes me happy, but this does:

Baltimore, MD – April 9, 2008 – State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced today that the Baltimore City Grand Jury returned indictments against Kerri J. King, 35, of the 100 block of Danford Drive, Elkton, Maryland on charges of auto manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Court documents allege that on December 31, 2007, Kerri King struck and killed Officer Courtney Brooks of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Department as he directed holiday traffic at the intersection of Exit 53 on northbound Interstate 95. Ms. King is also charged with driving while impaired and driving under the influence of alcohol.

The maximum penalty for auto manslaughter is 10 years in prison. The maximum penalty for leaving the scene of an accident is also 10 years. An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but an allegation of criminal wrongdoing.

In case you moved here yesterday...

Don't leave a GPS system or an iPod in your car. Or your phone. or change. Or your school books, CDs, pens, candy wrappers, Kleenex boxes, soda cans or week-old newspapers. However, even if your car is empty and your doors are unlocked, you may well get your winder broken anyway. The system considers that vandalism, so even if by some wacky coincidence the perp is caught in the act, he'll be out of CBIF within hours. That's why smash-n-grab is such a popular low-risk, high-profit venture.
Yet, if you staked out your car and shot said vandal in the knees, you'll be the one to get sued and go to jail.
"That's why they call it the criminal justice system, it serves to benefit the criminal." -- Some cop

April 9

The City Paper covers the murder of Gerrald Megginson, whose body was found by the railroad tracks near the B&O Railroad Museum during the search for the Blackwell brothers. Unless I missed it, I didn't see any other news source follow up on the identity or killing of Megginson.

The body of Yolanda Brown was dumped in Gwynns Falls Park on March 20, after she was strangled.

Two eighth-graders at a West Baltimore middle school got the shit beat out of them by at least 10 other kids because one of them was wearing sneakers with red trim.

Two 13-year-old boys from Bethlehem Christian Day School are obviously not understanding the whole "Jesus" thing.

An art teacher was beaten after she told a female student to sit down, and the attack was recorded on a cell phone camera. The school apparently did nothing after the beating Friday, but now school police they'll "begin an investigation."

A bullet grazed the head of a man who was standing in front of the Save-A-Lot grocery store on Erdman Ave.

Michael Thompson, the teenage victim of a hit-and-run in Parkville, has already had six surgeries and won't be able to join the Navy as he was planning to do.

There are a lot of women out there named Violet Marie Gaston, and at least two of them really need to lay off the rock.

The Mungo family are a bunch of misunderstood angels.

For the first time since its inception, criminal charges were made using the new gun offender registry.

Damon M. Jackson of Haverdeegrayce was arrested and charged with robbing and killing Alan Zurita on the side of I-95 last week. Jackson also got shot during the robbery, but he was driven to the hospital by alleged accomplice Demetrius Lovelace instead of being left to die by the side of the road.

There's a disposition hearing (whatever that is, pardon my ignorance) for Thomas Taylor scheduled for Thursday morning in front of Judge Prevas.

At 2:59PM on March 1, 2006 in the 3300 block of Oakfield Avenue Taylor, a self described blood, shot and killed Joseph Miller, 26. Miller, Taylor and others were arguing over Bloods graffiti located on the wall of a corner store in the neighborhood. Taylor, who was wearing red, left the scene. He returned with a gun, having changed his clothing to black. Miller remained at the scene in an attempt to break up the argument over the graffiti. Taylor hid behind some bushes, stood up, and fatally shot Miller and seriously wounded another.

Ewwww. There's an unregistered child molester out there (pictured at right) whose nickname is Pooh Bear. That's disgusting on so many levels, I don't know where to start. (His beard is kinda disgusting, too, but I've been known to sport the Unabomber / Iron & Wine beard, so I'm not one to talk.)

PDJ: There's now a federal case against Ronald Glenn Draper Jr., who not only stored kiddie porn on his work computer at his state government job, but also allegedly molested two male relatives.

You know it's hard out here for an innocent young black man.

Media Blabber

Sam Zell to Tribune reporters: "all of you are overhead."

April 8

A body that might've been a man but maybe was a woman was found in the charred remains of a house in the 2000 block of Guilford Ave. An autopsy will be performed.

A man was shot in the thigh on The Alameda early this morning. The Sun's description of the location reminds me of an 8th grade story problem. "If a man is two blocks north of East Northern Parkway, walks west on Walker to Northwood, then walks south toward East Lake, what direction will he be facing when he gets shot?"

Two teens were accidentally shot by police during a drug investigation in HoCo's "well-kept Pleasant Chase neighborhood." (Are there poorly kept neighborhoods in HoCo? Shit, even the trailer parks on Rt. 1 are classier than my city neighborhood.)

The Blackwells don't Talkwell.

PDJ: Michael S. Pollard's roommate at the Naval Academy described the horrors of opening a file named "Boy Party" while borrowing Pollard's computer. The roommate made a point of telling the court that "It looked like 13-, 14-year-olds engaging in sexual acts ... but I'm no expert in child pornography."

Hey, finally some good people of Park Heights got recognized in the news!

Wow. Did Marty Bass really compare dropping viewership for TV news stations to bombing Hiroshima? It's been a while since I busted out with my favorite word, but I've been provoked: Marty, you're a douchebag.