A profile of Jason Weinstein in the Sun reads like an obituary.* Remembered about Itchy* but had forgotten about his role prosecuting old Ed. Three Valentine's Day underpants gifts for three different ladies, those were the days.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Anthony Batts' Black-Eyed Past
Goodness. According to the Long Beach Beachcomber, our soon-to-be police chief Anthony Batts was been the subject of five domestic violence complaints in three different CA cities from different women, including two from his then-wife. He was also accused of covering up these complaints by altering police documents, going soft on Long Beach port security officers engaging in illegal lobster diving in order to keep the reports secret, then committing perjury while testifying about "Lobstergate" in court for the same reason. Retired LBPD Lieutenant Joe Rabe wrote to the paper, "“We all knew of his domestic violence issues, but Tony was Teflon coated; the rules didn’t apply to him, both in his mind and unfortunately in the minds of his superiors.”
And wait, there's more-- when Batts left the Oakland PD, it was on the verge of being put into federal receivership due to noncompliance of a 2003 consent decree. (Thanks for the links, Cham & disgruntled Patch commentor)
Fenton says he didn't mention the domestic violence/blackmail accusations in his story Sunday* because they couldn't be corroborated. But I do so hope someone will ask Batts about them during his confirmation hearing.
And wait, there's more-- when Batts left the Oakland PD, it was on the verge of being put into federal receivership due to noncompliance of a 2003 consent decree. (Thanks for the links, Cham & disgruntled Patch commentor)
Fenton says he didn't mention the domestic violence/blackmail accusations in his story Sunday* because they couldn't be corroborated. But I do so hope someone will ask Batts about them during his confirmation hearing.
Hampden Attempted Rapist
Another Towson Town Center shooting?!
Freakin rilly? @BaltoSpectator Tweeted @2:23 a.m. "*SHOOTING* Towson Town Center. Confirmed reports of victim shot multiple times in parking lot. Also reports of numerous fights #Homecoming" "one shooting victim confirmed so far. Possibly separate stabbing & several fights too" "Hearing incidents may have initiated at a party sposored by a fraternithy at Recher Theater. Note this is unconfirmed at this point." "York Rd remains completely shut down in both directions through downtown Towson due to earlier incidents." Update 9/23, wmar has a story up, guy was shot in the hand in the parking lot of Trader Joe's
Fenton delves into the lonely, tormented, redemption-seeking soul of Californian divorcee Anthony Batts* (as surmised from the photo; haven't read the article yet).
Friday, September 21, 2012
So Random
Victim of a hit-and-run in West Baltimore, Veronica Grey, has died. Should she be listed on the toll? Homicide, yes, intentional, probably not, but could she been saved if the driver stopped to render aid?
A man was shot in the shoulder by random people* who knocked on the door of his house on Random Road, a 19-year-old was shot on Harford Road, the man shot on Coventry Road was ID'd as Miguel Crosby.
Baltimorean Daquan Davis was charged with killing his girlfriend's six-month-old son in Atlantic City; Davis is due back in Maryland October 1 to face theft charges in Upper Marlboro.
Officer-turned-bail-bondsman Keith Nowlin is facing federal charges from an incident in 2010 in which he used his police computer to run someone's tag number for a friend*-- probably usually not a biggie, but friend was a drug dealer being followed by the feds, and the someone turned out to be an undercover officer. Whups!
Forty years for Bruce Byrd, the triggerman in a conspiracy to murder witness Isaiah Callaway, who snitched on a stolen-money order scheme. (Probably more has happened with the U.S. Attorneys lately, but as has been happening for weeks now their site attempts to load endlessly but won't. Can't help but wonder if some con artist or other disgruntled convict is attacking their server).
Thirty-five years for Steven Langville, who broke into a guy's house while he was sleeping, wrapped his hands around his neck, demanded money and his car keys and rode off in the victim's car.
Police say the Peppers were killed by blunt force trauma from a knife and a dumbbell; Oklahoma Fox affiliate has a photo of their highly suspect grandson Matthew Long, left, who's now out of a coma and in an OK jail.
A lot of missing laptops and a waitress assaulted with a wine glass by a patron over a "dispute about seating" at some restaurant in the 800 block of S Broadway (Max's? Bertha's?) in the Balt Guide's SE blotter.
The Sun recounts a notorious 1956 county murder of a housewife who was snacking on cupcakes and ice cream when a drifter broke into her house and killed her. The moral: snack on what you damn well like, because you just never know.
Good gracious, that Dan McIntosh/Keeghan Leahy trial is still going on down in Greenbelt.
A man was shot in the shoulder by random people* who knocked on the door of his house on Random Road, a 19-year-old was shot on Harford Road, the man shot on Coventry Road was ID'd as Miguel Crosby.
Baltimorean Daquan Davis was charged with killing his girlfriend's six-month-old son in Atlantic City; Davis is due back in Maryland October 1 to face theft charges in Upper Marlboro.
Officer-turned-bail-bondsman Keith Nowlin is facing federal charges from an incident in 2010 in which he used his police computer to run someone's tag number for a friend*-- probably usually not a biggie, but friend was a drug dealer being followed by the feds, and the someone turned out to be an undercover officer. Whups!
Forty years for Bruce Byrd, the triggerman in a conspiracy to murder witness Isaiah Callaway, who snitched on a stolen-money order scheme. (Probably more has happened with the U.S. Attorneys lately, but as has been happening for weeks now their site attempts to load endlessly but won't. Can't help but wonder if some con artist or other disgruntled convict is attacking their server).
Thirty-five years for Steven Langville, who broke into a guy's house while he was sleeping, wrapped his hands around his neck, demanded money and his car keys and rode off in the victim's car.
Police say the Peppers were killed by blunt force trauma from a knife and a dumbbell; Oklahoma Fox affiliate has a photo of their highly suspect grandson Matthew Long, left, who's now out of a coma and in an OK jail.
A lot of missing laptops and a waitress assaulted with a wine glass by a patron over a "dispute about seating" at some restaurant in the 800 block of S Broadway (Max's? Bertha's?) in the Balt Guide's SE blotter.
The Sun recounts a notorious 1956 county murder of a housewife who was snacking on cupcakes and ice cream when a drifter broke into her house and killed her. The moral: snack on what you damn well like, because you just never know.
Good gracious, that Dan McIntosh/Keeghan Leahy trial is still going on down in Greenbelt.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
City homicides to be solved by honor system
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Whoa. If Cham's research is accurate, the police haven't charged anyone with a homicide in nearly a month--- and the last guy charged, Dominic Gantt, turned himself in. If the chart is accurate and I'm reading it right, all of 2012's 151 homicides, only 40 have resulted in anyone being charged. Could that possibly be? A 25.9% clearance rate? Really??
Another whoa, Rod Rosestein's former right-hand man, Jason Weinstein, has resigned from the Justice Dept. following the Fast & Furious report (aka the "ATF Gunwalking Scandal"); the DOJ says he should have known what was happening and stopped it, Weinstein told the papers that's a load of crap (in classier language).
Former Baltimore Police officer Daniel Redd got 20 years in the federal pen for selling heroin.*
A fire in the NE was reportedly set by a molotov cocktail.
Oh, and by the way, if you have more than two pets, according to the city council you're running a private kennel and owe the city $100.
154
The body of a 26-year-old woman was found dumped in the parking lot next to Oldtown Mall. The mall, really just a shopping strip, is a notorious heck-hole; in 1999 it burned down, for years it's been a mostly-vacant eyesore, in 2009 it housed the China Garden restaurant from which the murderers of victim Tien Zin Wang ordered his last delivery.* The woman was shot in the torso.
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A Fenton article in the Sun and WaPo today gives more details on the life and death of scientist and dad Peter Marvit, shot to death in Belair-Edison. (thanks evaline)
David Simon and the City Paper are scandalized about what they say are "new rules" for charging homicides emanating from Gregg Berstein's office, which give the SAO "unilateral" authority to decide to charge suspects with murder. The alleged rules have allegedly tied the hands of detectives and resulted in half as many homicide cases being prosecuted by his office than under Jessamy. Simon and Ericsson also accuse the SAO's office of doling out demotions or transfers to any detective who disagrees with the policy, and of providing misleading statistics to reporters, then, when called on it, claiming that the stats don't matter. Bernstein's office denies both that there's a new policy and that homicide prosecutions are down (no word on the retaliatory demotions). Hrm. (If the new policy exists, then surely it's for a reason-- why deny it?)
Anna Ditkoff's Murder Ink recaps last week's seven homicides
Our own little Chris Brown, Aquille Carr, will have his babymom-kicking-and-punching-related charges dropped if he completes a domestic violence program.*
A burglar burgled the offices of 43rd District Reps Maggie McIntosh, Curt Anderson and Mary Washington, making off with a laptop. The Patch notes that 6th district City Council rep Sharon Green Middleton also was burglarized a month ago. And a few blocks away a JHU security officer caught a burglar breaking in to the Moxie Hair Studio.
Police warn Canton residents of (another) string of burglaries, from a brazen thief who likes to strike between 3-11 p.m. by coming right in the front door.
Matthew Long, grandson of the murdered Peppers who drove off in their car and was found in a coma in a Weatherford, Oklahoma Travel Inn, left a note saying "sorry for what I did."
Twenty big fat federal years for Rodney "Rocco" Peters of the Gettis drug organization from Judge Motz. Peters was the 28th member of the organization to plead guilty, others have included "Captain," "Cutty Rock," and "D-Squared."
A drive-by paintball-shooting in Old Goucher
Four bald pot dealers were arrested in Glen Burnie
Oh, you knuckleheaded cutup, you...
A must-read for any resident of our pervy town from Malcolm Gladwell in this week's NYker: "In Plain View: How Child Molesters Get Away With It."
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
153
A 21-year-old was shot last night on E. 21st St.* near Charles
"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy." Bernstein's taking heat from Charles Villagers,* incensed that one Lonnie Butler of Worser Waverly was sentenced to time served for dealing heroin by Judge Barry Williams, in spite the fact that Butler was on probation when he got caught. (He does have quite the resume, that Lonnie P. Butler b. 1958, a veritable smorgasbord that includes calling in a fake bomb threat to breaking n' entering and assault.) (Bernstein correctly pointed out that he can't tell judges what to do, but don't prosecutors have to agree to deals?) Charles Village court-watcher Steve Gerwitz has another busy week ahead, with armed robbers/ burglars and carjackery on the docket.
Uhm, whut? A 40-year-old man in HoCo, Donnell Vannison, was sentenced to 60 days in the pen, relating to an incident in which he went to Long Reach High School in a ski mask to seek out the teenager who'd allegedly thrown a French fry at his sister two days before. Said teen responded by using the long reach he'd been studying to deck Vannison and knock him out cold, an indignity caught by some student's camera phone. Naturally, the video "went viral" on WorldStarHipHop.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Paramedic assaults patient,
a gas cocktail,
a flipping scheme
A 24-year-old man was shot in the chest on a basketball court in the 1400 block of N Caroline St. in the Oliver* neighborhood, reports the Sun's Mary Gail Hare
?! A woman in the 4600 block of York Road tried to sicken her niece by serving her water with gasoline in it.
?! A paramedic named Shaun White was arrested for assaulting a patient*. Fenton reports that the victim was a drunk 36-year-old woman and the assault was caught on tape* and involved a slap across the face. Oh my. And irony alert!! Olympic gold medalist Shaun White was also arrested this weekend-- he was drunk and assaulted a telephone and then himself by slapping his drunk face on the floor while trying to hit someone else. What does it all mean?!
Poor Anthony Batts! His contract with the city has him taking a $60,000 cut below what he was making in Oakland* to command a force six times smaller than ours.
One Kenneth Koehler pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in a scheme whereby he lied like a rug to get fraudulent loans for six properties in Upper Fells Point, kept Fannie and Freddie's cash and then let the properties fall into foreclosure. Four of the houses are in the same block of S. Chapel St., one is 2217 Gough and another in the 200 block of S. Castle. The City Paper covered this story back in 2008, Koehler told Ed Ericsson he's owned 27 properties in and around Fells Point.
Glen Burnie dad Mitchell Gresham is being charged as an accessory to murder after helping his son, Cornelius Johnson, cover up the killing of his half-brother, Andrew Michael Johnson. (Explains the Gazette, the brothers had the same mom but two different dads.)
More deets on Matthew Long, the grandson suspected in the deaths of the Peppers: he was en route to California and found in a Travel Inn in Weatherford, OK; the motel owner called the cops after not getting a response from Long's room. Creepy detail: the motel is two blocks from Dead Woman's Crossing, so named after a notorious murder in 1905 that, legend has it, led to a suspected accomplice poisoning herself. What does it all mean?!
From the "shocking to no one" files, Luke Broadwater reports that "More than half of the 1,900 city officials and employees required to complete ethics and financial disclosure forms fill out the forms incorrectly or not at all.*" In other unshocking news, all signs point to our gov eyeballing a 2016 presidential run. .. poor O'Malley, after all these years he's still trying to live down "Carcetti." Meowed the guv to Governing magazine, "David [Simon] came to Baltimore and saw nothing but suffering and hopelessness, and made a lot of money on it."
In the Patch metro blotter, a skeevy 20-something in Essex set fire to a garage, a drive-by shooting in Pikesville, an armed robbery on a Sunday afternoon in Owings Mills.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
152
A fatal shooting in the 500 block of Coventry Road* in the SW, a fatal shooting on Buena Vista that was determined to be a suicide, nonfatal shootings on the 4200 block of N. Charles (right between Guilford and Tuscany-Cantebury) and a shooting following a bar fight on 200 block of South Pulaski St.
Murder victim #151 Freddie King was ID'd as the father* of Georgetown's Tyshell King, one of the country's top basketball recruits. "King had done time in prison — court records show he received seven years in 1996 for a drug distribution conviction — and that he was focused on his [child] having a better life."
On Friday one Marcus Lynch was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old in Frank Bocek Park. Lynch also tried to strangle her, but was run off when passers-by heard her screaming.
The city will pay $500,000 to an elderly couple, Aubrey and Lena Knox, who police accused of kidnapping their grandchild, and who were kept at Central Booking even after the grandchild was found in another state.
The grandson of murdered octogenarians Vauhgn and Marjorie Pepper is now officially a suspect in their deaths; Matthew Long, 31, was found in Oklahoma but is in a coma following a suicide attempt.
GOTTA GET TO YANKEE CANDLE!! -- out on the pale swamp, a Volkswagen-driving woman was punched in the face then squashed by the Oldsmobile of a woman who felt the victim had stolen her parking place. Also hit was a bystander who was writing down משוגע's information.
A man who was shot by police when he tried to run over an officer with his car was ID'd as Steven Gary, 45, of Pikesville
There's an idea: a guy in Houston paid his speed camera ticket with 137 dollar bills folded into pigs.
Murder victim #151 Freddie King was ID'd as the father* of Georgetown's Tyshell King, one of the country's top basketball recruits. "King had done time in prison — court records show he received seven years in 1996 for a drug distribution conviction — and that he was focused on his [child] having a better life."
On Friday one Marcus Lynch was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old in Frank Bocek Park. Lynch also tried to strangle her, but was run off when passers-by heard her screaming.
The city will pay $500,000 to an elderly couple, Aubrey and Lena Knox, who police accused of kidnapping their grandchild, and who were kept at Central Booking even after the grandchild was found in another state.
The grandson of murdered octogenarians Vauhgn and Marjorie Pepper is now officially a suspect in their deaths; Matthew Long, 31, was found in Oklahoma but is in a coma following a suicide attempt.
GOTTA GET TO YANKEE CANDLE!! -- out on the pale swamp, a Volkswagen-driving woman was punched in the face then squashed by the Oldsmobile of a woman who felt the victim had stolen her parking place. Also hit was a bystander who was writing down משוגע's information.
A man who was shot by police when he tried to run over an officer with his car was ID'd as Steven Gary, 45, of Pikesville
There's an idea: a guy in Houston paid his speed camera ticket with 137 dollar bills folded into pigs.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Scene Freaked by The Man;
Bum Trips Ensue
Two men found each shot in their respective arms in a car right next to Homeland, at Bellona and E. Northern Parkway. But relax, Homelanders, police say they were shot elsewhere and drove there. Wonder how they were discovered?
Police tweeted regarding a "Questionable death" in the 900 block of Saint Dunstan's Road. "Homicide detectives are investigating." (But relax, Homelanders, that's on the bad side of St. Dunstan's Road).
In a nod to the quaint reporting techniques of a bygone era, CP's Van Smith is physically in the Greenbelt courthouse for the trial of Daniel Gerard Joaquin McIntosh Sr., 36. McIntosh, co-owner of the now-closed Sonar and Talking Head bars and McCabe's in Hampden is accused of being involved in a conspiracy with 15 others to sell a literal ton of pot in a prodigious operation that involved planes, trucks and local stash houses. If convicted he faces life in prison based on his four prior felony convictions. (The jury won't know about his priors or the potential sentence. Still, what would you do on that jury? Selling pot after four convictions is criminally stupid, no doubt, and he seems like kind of a wiener, but $38k a year from taxpayers to support this guy for the rest of his life just for the selling of the pot? Smart move, taking that to a federal jury. I can't think of six denizens I know who wouldn't nullify the pants off that case.) The CP's referring to it the 'Nicka Conspiracy,' as one Matt Nicka was supposedly the guy in charge, the other accused conspirators are Keegan Leahy (pleaded guilty), Anthony Marcantoni, David D’Amico, Gretchen Peterson, Jeffrey Putney, Daniel Fountain, Andrew Sharpeta, Jeremey Landsman, Sean Costello, Ian Travis Minshall, Michael Phillips, Adam Constantinides, and Joseph Spain.
If you ❤ charts you'll be all aflutter at the latest missive from the Bernstein bureau, showing how his circuit court conviction rate is housing Jessamy's-- a charteriffic rejoinder to critics who have groused about the office's gloomy murder clearance numbers.
A guilty plea in federal court from 34-year-old Evan Foreman, who robbed check-cashing joints, a liquor store and the PNC bank inside the Owings Mills Giant (where one of his brothers worked).
Harriet Taylor, 56, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a mortgage-title scheme that netted her $1.5 million. Mortgage lenders sent her the money for properties, Taylor kept the money, and somehow managed to get away with that for an entire year.
QTD: "You can't equate your sin with my skin!" In this month's Mother Jones, some behind-the-scenes on the fight for marriage in MD, including the beaucoup d'$$ funneled to a PGC "bishop" by the National Organization for Marriage. But the bigots aren't the only ones getting out-of-state money, last night Annie Linskey brushed shoulders with swells in Soho,* including Dubya's daughter Barbara (aka "the hot one").
Pay yer taxes people, because The Man does not ef around and will throw yer azz in jail -- like Lauryn Hill, or this guy Makushamari Gozo from Zimbabwe, arrested for fraudulently collecting more than $180k in refunds that he claimed he was owed for buying 39 million gallons of "alternative fuel."
The Man also closed down the Loads of Fun art space in station north after somebody squealed to the housing authority that artists were subverting the dominant paradigm by using it as a flophouse.
And some sad media blabber: after a decade, the Urbanite* es muerto. It will cease publication at the end of the month.
Police tweeted regarding a "Questionable death" in the 900 block of Saint Dunstan's Road. "Homicide detectives are investigating." (But relax, Homelanders, that's on the bad side of St. Dunstan's Road).
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| McIntosh as snapped by Frank Hamilton at CP's 2005 BOB party, via CP |
If you ❤ charts you'll be all aflutter at the latest missive from the Bernstein bureau, showing how his circuit court conviction rate is housing Jessamy's-- a charteriffic rejoinder to critics who have groused about the office's gloomy murder clearance numbers.
A guilty plea in federal court from 34-year-old Evan Foreman, who robbed check-cashing joints, a liquor store and the PNC bank inside the Owings Mills Giant (where one of his brothers worked).
Harriet Taylor, 56, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a mortgage-title scheme that netted her $1.5 million. Mortgage lenders sent her the money for properties, Taylor kept the money, and somehow managed to get away with that for an entire year.
QTD: "You can't equate your sin with my skin!" In this month's Mother Jones, some behind-the-scenes on the fight for marriage in MD, including the beaucoup d'$$ funneled to a PGC "bishop" by the National Organization for Marriage. But the bigots aren't the only ones getting out-of-state money, last night Annie Linskey brushed shoulders with swells in Soho,* including Dubya's daughter Barbara (aka "the hot one").
Pay yer taxes people, because The Man does not ef around and will throw yer azz in jail -- like Lauryn Hill, or this guy Makushamari Gozo from Zimbabwe, arrested for fraudulently collecting more than $180k in refunds that he claimed he was owed for buying 39 million gallons of "alternative fuel."
The Man also closed down the Loads of Fun art space in station north after somebody squealed to the housing authority that artists were subverting the dominant paradigm by using it as a flophouse.
And some sad media blabber: after a decade, the Urbanite* es muerto. It will cease publication at the end of the month.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
A travelling stick-up man.
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| Joshua Ellsworth, Amy Davis/Sun |
Police have released sketches, left, of guys they're ISO regarding a Sept 4 shooting on W Hoffman St.Defense attorney: Perry Hall HS shooter Bobby Gladden wanted to commit suicide by cop
Elicott City "mom" Joaquinia LaJeuness pleaded guilty to injuring her murdered son
What the?! A HarfCo officer suffered a fatal heart attack while attending another officer's funeral, and his was the fourth law-enforcement death in a week up there.
In tort world, the Maryland Small Arms Range in Upper Marlboro is being sued by one Derrick Hunter, who's cheesed by the discrimination of the range's "ladies' day." Hunter and his lawyer have also sued a nail salon that charged him $4 more for a manicure and pedicure. (Hullo, there's no such thing as 'reverse sexism' -- it's just sexism.) Here's hoping they'll also go after hairstylists like the Chop Shop that charge $16 for a guy's haircut and $50 for a woman's, and local dry cleaners that charge more than twice as much to clean a woman's shirt than a man's.
Ps. I see we have a new advertiser, "Concealed Carry Magazine." I guess it's nice that niche publications are still finding a way in our digital world?
Arrest in Mt. Vernon Murder!
BREAKING: @BaltimorePolice Tweet: arrest and charge Quinton Bass for murder of Mt. Vernon's Alex Ulrich -suspect photo here
Amazingly, there is no Quinton Bass on the JIS
Amazingly, there is no Quinton Bass on the JIS
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Kids -> van
Baltimore Police
@BaltimorePolice
Northeast Baltimore -Police investigate a possible
abduction. 5500 block Bowley's Lane. Two juveniles ages 9 & 12 last
seen in a blue van.
... hoping it's a non-custodial parent thing, and not a gang-retaliation thing like those Blackwell brothers...
UPDATE!! Baltimore Police @BaltimorePolice
UPDATE!! Baltimore Police
Update, Northeast Baltimore abduction. 5500 block of
Bowley's Lane. No abduction, the children have been located at a
relatives home.
View Larger Map
Man shot @ Morgan State
Neither victim nor shooter were students, though not sure how the university spokesflak knows that for sure given the suspect fled and is still at large.
Sandwiches and Sin at the CJCC
Dropped by the CJCC meeting this afternoon, as I was in the neighborhood and had a notion to scope out new commissioner Batts. Batts apparently won't be on the grind until the end of September (Deputy Commissioner Skinner was there instead), but there were sandwiches, and here's some other interesting stuff I done learnded:
According to Tammy Brown, (formerly Chief of Staff of the Department of Juvenile Services, and now executive director of O'Malley's office of Crime Control and Prevention) the state now has no DNA backlog. Fairly amazeballs given that six months ago the backlog was 654. Brown said clearing the backlog has led to 487 DNA-related arrests.
According to Sam Abed of the Department of Juvenile Services, the "VPI" is why the juvenile homicide rate is down so much-- 58% since 2008. Statewide 994 youths are in the VPI program and 276 in the city. The program apparently involves cherry-picking the exceptionally naughty children and GPSing their little ankles and/or making them report to someone three times a week.
Reporting for the Attorney General's office was one Brian Kleinbord, chief of the criminal appeals division, who recapped four Fourth-Circuit cases to watch in the near future, all of which might find their way to SCOTUS:
Maryland v King, aka "the cheek swab case." He said MD filed its "cert" in August and will find out in late October or early November if SCOTUS will grant it.
Woollard, et al., v Gallagher et al, aka the "concealed carry case." The appeal will be argued October 24.
Merzbacher v. Shearin, which he called "as notorious and salacious as any case we've seen." This involves a Catholic-school child rapist (Merzbacher), convicted by a city jury and sentenced to four life terms. After Merzbacher was convicted, he appealed, claiming that he hadn't been informed of a plea deal. Said plea was heard by dear departed Judge Prevas, who found that Merzbacher's lawyer was lying, considering he found it unlikely they'd never talked plea bargaining and furthermore, as it turned out, said lawyer was also a convicted criminal who lied on her bar application. Merzbacher appealed Prevas' decision, District Court Judge Andre Davis agreed with Merzbacher, and so now the 4th C will deal with that mess October 23 in Richmond.
And some other fascinating facts:
Crime is down in almost every category over this time last year, though homicides are up (by less than one percent) over this time last year, and "larceny from auto" is up 6 percent.
So far in 2012, 55,717 people have been arrested in Maryland's "Central Region" (which appears to mean Baltimore City, since other stats in the same handout refer to city courthouses). 88% of these detainees were black, 90% were male. The average daily population of detainees is 3,320, and the most common "dominant offense" = drug-related. So far this year there have been two suicide deaths and two deaths from natural causes.
According to Tammy Brown, (formerly Chief of Staff of the Department of Juvenile Services, and now executive director of O'Malley's office of Crime Control and Prevention) the state now has no DNA backlog. Fairly amazeballs given that six months ago the backlog was 654. Brown said clearing the backlog has led to 487 DNA-related arrests.
According to Sam Abed of the Department of Juvenile Services, the "VPI" is why the juvenile homicide rate is down so much-- 58% since 2008. Statewide 994 youths are in the VPI program and 276 in the city. The program apparently involves cherry-picking the exceptionally naughty children and GPSing their little ankles and/or making them report to someone three times a week.
Reporting for the Attorney General's office was one Brian Kleinbord, chief of the criminal appeals division, who recapped four Fourth-Circuit cases to watch in the near future, all of which might find their way to SCOTUS:
Maryland v King, aka "the cheek swab case." He said MD filed its "cert" in August and will find out in late October or early November if SCOTUS will grant it.
Woollard, et al., v Gallagher et al, aka the "concealed carry case." The appeal will be argued October 24.
Merzbacher v. Shearin, which he called "as notorious and salacious as any case we've seen." This involves a Catholic-school child rapist (Merzbacher), convicted by a city jury and sentenced to four life terms. After Merzbacher was convicted, he appealed, claiming that he hadn't been informed of a plea deal. Said plea was heard by dear departed Judge Prevas, who found that Merzbacher's lawyer was lying, considering he found it unlikely they'd never talked plea bargaining and furthermore, as it turned out, said lawyer was also a convicted criminal who lied on her bar application. Merzbacher appealed Prevas' decision, District Court Judge Andre Davis agreed with Merzbacher, and so now the 4th C will deal with that mess October 23 in Richmond.
And some other fascinating facts:
Crime is down in almost every category over this time last year, though homicides are up (by less than one percent) over this time last year, and "larceny from auto" is up 6 percent.
So far in 2012, 55,717 people have been arrested in Maryland's "Central Region" (which appears to mean Baltimore City, since other stats in the same handout refer to city courthouses). 88% of these detainees were black, 90% were male. The average daily population of detainees is 3,320, and the most common "dominant offense" = drug-related. So far this year there have been two suicide deaths and two deaths from natural causes.
Society did it
Boone St. murder victim ID'd as Damon Vaughn, 21. The Patch notes that Vaughn had a sizable criminal record, including a conviction for armed robbery.
The Ink recaps the past week's seven murders
Remember that guy, Christopher Sharp, who took pictures of police beating up his female friend at Preakness? Police seized his camera and deleted the pictures, along with other personal photos and videos of his. So Sharp, with some help from the ACLU, sued the department, considering that taking pictures of the police in public is thoroughly legal, so long as you aren't all up in their business and whatnot. Then the DOJ chimed in as well, with a 10-page letter to the BPD telling them to quit being hosers. Buuut rather than settling the case and quietly moving on, as most flagrantly-in-the-wrong plaintiffs usually do, the department is now using your tax dollars to dig up dirt on Sharp, including talking to his ex-wife, his ex-wife's boyfriend and his former employers,* and subpoenaing his medical records, including the results of a court-ordered hair follicle test in 2007.
....But the city can afford it, because guess how much it made from speed cameras last year? Here's a hint: Xerox's windfall was $18.4 million, it averages out to about $57 per Baltimorean, and it also happens to be about the same amount the city paid out in police lawsuits last year. Note to self, buy Xerox stock.
Criminal-of-all-trades Jose Morales has been charged with soliciting the murder of one Robert Long, an accomplice who'd recently agreed to testify against him in a case involving stolen scaffolding.
The May Flower Chinese buffet at 33rd and Greenmount was robbed at knifepoint
"Parkville Man Allegedly Burglarizes Mother, Blames Society"
In Towson, a guy who wants to start his own railroad has been charged with stealing dirt.
The missing grandson of the octogenarian couple murdered in Pikesville was named as 31-year-old Michael Long*.
A shooting near Catonsville High
"Glen Burnie man shot while tattooing girlfriend"
In Dundalk, a guy stabbed a guy over a woman
The Ink recaps the past week's seven murders
Remember that guy, Christopher Sharp, who took pictures of police beating up his female friend at Preakness? Police seized his camera and deleted the pictures, along with other personal photos and videos of his. So Sharp, with some help from the ACLU, sued the department, considering that taking pictures of the police in public is thoroughly legal, so long as you aren't all up in their business and whatnot. Then the DOJ chimed in as well, with a 10-page letter to the BPD telling them to quit being hosers. Buuut rather than settling the case and quietly moving on, as most flagrantly-in-the-wrong plaintiffs usually do, the department is now using your tax dollars to dig up dirt on Sharp, including talking to his ex-wife, his ex-wife's boyfriend and his former employers,* and subpoenaing his medical records, including the results of a court-ordered hair follicle test in 2007.
....But the city can afford it, because guess how much it made from speed cameras last year? Here's a hint: Xerox's windfall was $18.4 million, it averages out to about $57 per Baltimorean, and it also happens to be about the same amount the city paid out in police lawsuits last year. Note to self, buy Xerox stock.
Criminal-of-all-trades Jose Morales has been charged with soliciting the murder of one Robert Long, an accomplice who'd recently agreed to testify against him in a case involving stolen scaffolding.
The May Flower Chinese buffet at 33rd and Greenmount was robbed at knifepoint
In Towson, a guy who wants to start his own railroad has been charged with stealing dirt.
The missing grandson of the octogenarian couple murdered in Pikesville was named as 31-year-old Michael Long*.
A shooting near Catonsville High
"Glen Burnie man shot while tattooing girlfriend"
In Dundalk, a guy stabbed a guy over a woman
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
More guns @ school
An incident at Stemmers Run Middle School in Essex: WJZ says a student "road to school" with a hunting knife and a gun, pointed the gun at another student and then at himself before being restrained by his teacher.
The couple murdered in Pikesville were ID'd as Vaughn and Marjorie Pepper. And the missing home resident was ID'd as their grandson.
An attempted scooterjacking and the usual stolen accoutrements in the Northern
... I hope to drop by the CJCC meeting tomorrow, anything you readers want me to ask these people or their designated attenders?
The couple murdered in Pikesville were ID'd as Vaughn and Marjorie Pepper. And the missing home resident was ID'd as their grandson.
An attempted scooterjacking and the usual stolen accoutrements in the Northern
... I hope to drop by the CJCC meeting tomorrow, anything you readers want me to ask these people or their designated attenders?
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