Cheeky

MD begins DNA collection, but will the state crime lab be able to process all of those samples?

Two days, three murders

A double homicide at the Forrest Street apartment complex, one man in black killed in the parking lot, the other found in a stairwell.

A man shot while walking in Edgewood

Hermann reminisces about hands-on police commissioners of days gone by (check out Ed Norris with hair!)

... so maybe the drop in homicides doesn't make everybody feel safer, but still, that represents 40-something lives, a Greyhound bus full of people. And maybe it indicate that the BPD is effectively applying evidence-based methods. (Or maybe it means we have 48 more undetermined deaths this year. Bur our New Year's resolution is to be less cynical).

The 233 of 2008

... see corrected list posted on 1/6

Ding Dong!

"Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld rung in the new year by personally arresting two people and seizing two sawed-off shotguns"

.. murder #1 happened at 12:50 near Patterson Park.

The Year in Homicide

Who reported it best?

"Murder count falls, hopes rise in city" by Justin Fenton of the Sun

"Baltimore not as bloody in '08 with fewer killings" by Ben Nuckols, AP

Reporter Showdown!
Who wrote it best?	Justin Ben
	Current Results

Life w/o Parole for Cop's Killer

At a hearing today Judge Timothy J. Doory sentenced Brandon Grimes, 23, of the 800 block of Cator Ave. today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and a consecutive 18-year prison term for use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. A Baltimore City jury convicted Grimes August 29, 2008 following a two-week trial and deliberating approximately four hours over two days. Prior to the shooting, Grimes had been arrested 17 times in 3 1/2 years.
Details in this case, from the SAO:

In the early morning hours of January 9, 2007 Brandon Grimes fatally shot Baltimore Police Detective Troy Lamont Chesley, Sr. (right) in the 4500 block of Fairfax Rd. as Chesley was returning home from his shift.

Judge Doory told a courtroom filled with friends and family of Det. Chesley that this case “calls out for punishment” and described the murder as “brazen, cowardly, cruel and unjustified.” Det. Chesley’s mother and brother both delivered victim impact statements to the court prior to the sentencing today.

Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Wiggins of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.

Rite Aid Robber Dies

"A suspect in a robbery of a Rite Aid store in Precinct 11/Essex has died of gunshot wounds suffered in a confrontation with a police officer this morning."

The Ink

The Ink includes the previously overlooked murder of David Woodward, 30, shot Dec. 23, died Christmas Day.

27 minors murdered in 2008

Including baby Blevins (#164).

Gary Mann, shot to death in the 5100 block of Palmer Avenue at 7:23 a.m. on December 16 at the age of 24, also appears to be a new addition to the toll that brings the count to 234-- or is he one of our unid'ds?

233?

"Baltimore City police said a man's body was found Tuesday afternoon in Gwynns Falls Park, and they called the discovery a suspicious death"

"Racial disparity still plagues Maryland corrections system"

MD judges lose a week of vacation!

231, 232

Sunday the 28th, Edgar Christopher Mazyck, 39, died after being shot at Edmondson Discount Mart. Mazyck left the store and was shot by an unknown assailant as he walked back inside.

Last night, a man and a woman shot near Druid Hill park, the man has died, the woman is in critical condition.

Four old people charged with murder of Brooklyn teen

Forty-six-year-olds Joseph Richardson and Lawrence Lewis, 43-year-old Virgil Hitchen and 53-year-old Patricia Trusty are being held without bail in the fatal shooting of Steven Graham, 14. According to charging documents, the suspects were seeking retribution for a robbery at a Brooklyn home Nov. 18.

Best Buy Cares Indeed!

So I had a washing machine delivered this morning from the Timonium Best Buy, and on the way out the delivery guy have me this card requesting that I "please take a few minutes to answer some questions" regarding my "delivery experience" ... and he told me that if he didn't get at least two customers to go online every day to delivery.bestbuycares.com and fill out the survey then Best Buy would dock his paycheck!!

That can't be legal, can it?

County police need help to ID gunshot victim

"Baltimore County Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the body of an adult male, believed to be Hispanic, discovered deceased in the roadway. His body was found in the eastbound lanes of Pulaski Highway east of Stevens Road, 21162 in Precinct 11/Essex."

No S, no M in quintuple shooting

A quintuple shooting: "some of the victims were found Sunday along Wheeler Avenue near West Fayette Street. More victims were found along North Gorman Avenue and in the 100 block of North Benatalou Street." Three victims were female, one was a 16-year-old boy. No suspects, no motive.

The 22-year-old woman found shot to death in Canton last weekend was identified as Alaina Ciara High, apparently a frequent and habitual drug user.

"I have to kill someone for my family," said a 13-year old boy who broke into a woman's home at 10 in the morning, armed with a knife

Police are searching for two missing Landsdowne teens, one of them is suicidal

"Community activists and families of people whose deaths remained unclassified are planning to hold a candlelight vigil outside the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore on Wednesday evening. The vigil, scheduled for 6 p.m., is being held to honor the hundreds of people in Baltimore whose deaths have been ruled 'undetermined' during the past decade."

Take a guess: how many MD law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty so far in '08?

Under-trained OB/GYNs lead to a deadly c-section rate in MD

Crazy-driving dad saves day

In PGC, a kidnapped family is saved by dad's erratic driving!

An arrest in the Edgewood Christmas Eve murder

The MD Court of Appeals is considering how much privacy blog commentors deserve.

For what it's worth... reader opinions of the death penalty haven't changed much since last year.

230

An unidentified woman reportedly found murderized on the property of William C. March Middle School at 1919 N Broadway.

Prison-Industrial Complex

"... the fastest-growing, least-examined type of incarceration in America, an industry that detains half a million people a year, up from a few thousand just 15 years ago. The system operates without the rules that protect criminal suspects, and has grown up with little oversight, often in the backyards of communities desperate for any source of money and work."

Related Rodricks: Immigrants pay taxes

The good, the evil and the stupid

Early this morning two people were shot at Club 410 at Belair & Moravia Rds. in the NE.

"Police have relocated an 87-year-old after a firebombing attempt on her home in the Walbrook neighborhood, authorities said yesterday. The incident occurred early Saturday morning, two days before she was to appear in court to face her alleged attacker in a March home invasion."

Hermann: "Adrian McFadden was pointing a black six-shot revolver at Avon Ball Jr.'s face and threatening to pull the trigger. Ball's foster brother, George T. Johnson, stared back at the gunman and pleaded, 'Don't shoot him, shoot me.' The gunman obliged ..."

A man was shot at E. Monument and N. Port streets.

Tales of the stupid: A Baltimore man stopped for speeding in Easton was arrested for impersonating a police officer after flashing a defunct Loyola College security badge.

229

A 22-year-old woman was shot to death in Canton last night in the 800 block of S. Bouldin St.

Ronald Comer Hall, 46, was shot to death at Broadway and E. Lanvale