Judge Trouble

The Maryland Court of Appeals has issued a reprimand accusing city judge Charles Bernstein of showing bias towards prosecutors during a drug trial

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According to WBAL, the women in the 4000 block of Biddison Lane were murdered, and a couple

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"Western District police responding to shots fired about 7:30 p.m. [last night] found Darnell Johns, 21, lying in the 1700 block of N. Payson St. and another man in the nearby 1800 block of N. Pulaski St."

Bodies of two women found in Waltherson in the in the 4000 block of Biddison Lane, so far no word on how they died

Murder charges dropped for 15-year-old Christopher Briggs due to a "serious proof problem," according to Briggs' atty Jack Rubin. Briggs turned himself in for the murder of 18-year-old Keon Cameron

Kids detained for curfew violations, and parents won't come get them

CSA: No mas for former Commish Kevin Clark
y nada for retired Raven Michael McCrary

Lawyer/stalker's license suspended by the Court of Appeals

Crime drives venture capital firm to Timonium

"Burned dog may be linked to dogfighting, police say"

Illegal turtle vendors arrested; the little cuties spread salmonella

It's a great place to work, but I wouldn't want to live here

Apparently, a very notable BPD employee finds Alexandria, VA. a more appealing place to call home.

Gilbert, Dinkins and Goods

Wonder how that jury's doing today...

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"Police were called about 11 a.m. Sunday to a residence in the 900 block of Brooks Lane to check on the well-being of Dana Richardson, 44, who had not been answering his door"

Juveniles charged

in death of Phoenix. Though they're juveniles, WBAL is releasing their names: twin 17-year-old brothers Travis and Jermaine Johnson.
QTD: "it's hard to see children get shot, but to see a dog actually on fire is worse."
For reals?

Pharmacy thief nabbed

The mastermind behind six robberies of a Brooklyn pharmacy has been nabbed by police with a nice stash of 'scrips.

Baltimore PoliceDept SHOOTING: reported @ 1214 McCulloh St-Adult male shot

Jury duty!

Jury duty yesterday wasn't bad at all. There is WiFi at the courthouse for $5.95, and one table that you can put your laptop on and pull a chair up to, and vending machines that take credit cards. If you don't have your summons then you go to the desk and show ID and they make you a new one. Then they call ranges of summons numbers for you to line up and check in and get three five-dollar bills. Then you sit down again. Then they start calling ranges of numbers and courtrooms and if your number is up you and the rest of the range shuffle off in a little herd.

I got lucky and I was picked on the first go-see (in my biz suit, hose and heels, BTW, BUZ) for a personal injury one-day thing. If you don't get picked, then you go back to the jury room and wait for your number to come up again and keep repeating the whole process until 4:30.

In the courtroom they take roll call-- you stand up when your number is called and say present and the lawyers eyeball you. then voir dire, you were to stand up if you'd been involved in a personal-injury suit, then those people (about 6 out of 25) all had to line up and approach the bench with the two lawyers for a chat.

After that was done then the judge's little friend called out the numbers of who they'd picked, and I, #209, was now #5, with five others and an alternate. There was one guy and I was the only white person (besides the plaintiff and the lawyers).

The plaintiff was one David Brown, age 24, an unemployed electrician, doodled on my Steno pad at right, whose Cadillac was hit at Patapsco & Hanover by the defendant's car. The defendant admitted he was at fault for the accident and the case was about how much Brown should get for his injuries. Brown had gone to five different doctors or hospitals in three weeks after the accident, demanding (and getting) Oxycodone prescriptions from all of them and discovering new injuries as he went along. Once we got to the jury room at around 3 it took us about 5 minutes for all of us to agree that he was full of it and about 10 minutes to bitch about what a liar he was. I was the only one who thought he should get anything-- I thought one trip to the emergency room on the day of the accident was reasonable to ask for-- but everyone else was adamant that he get nothing, so nothing was what he got.

So we were done by 3:30. or almost done, we had to wait for the very slow old elevator standing next to the plaintiff and his dad! Awkward! Fortunately they did not pack into the elevator with us, and I caught a cab quickly on Calvert Street and that was that.

Baltimore PoliceDept UPDATE: SHOOTING REPORTED @ 1700 N PULASKI ST HAS 2 VICTIMS.

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Anthony Benitez, 21, was shot to death Wednesday near O'Donnell Heights.

"Decomposed body found in St. Paul Street garage"

City may lose out on Justice Department funds because no one can figure out how previous federal grants were spent (Didn't that happen in the school system, too?).

Detroit and Baltimore-- who's #1?

Rent and wreck

Smashing up rental cars is costing the BCP lots of dough

Police response to a nanny attack in Bolton Hill raises questions

"An Owings Mills woman was sentenced to a year in prison Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to stealing more than $450,000 from the University of Maryland, Baltimore"

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Baltimore PoliceDept SUSPICIOUS DEATH: 2743 St Paul St. Body of elderly adult male found.

Guess whose

beach weekend was ruined by the first JURY DUTY of my life tomorrow?
Be careful what you wish for!
So where should I park?
Can you plug in your laptop? Is there an Internet connection? Can you bring in your phone?
Where are you supposed to go first?
I can't find that piece of paper they mailed me!!
$@#&!

Sex offender on the move

A convicted sex offender who abused family members in Baltimore has been charged in West Virginia for abusing more children in his care.

Ink of the Week

Ink updates city's murder toll to 94, (Sun says 95) Anna Ditkoff is on Ed Norris this morning from 9:30-10. The Northeast is far surpassing other districts' murder rates.

Fenton: "Baltimore saw fewer killings last year than any other in the past two decades, but data released this week show the city's homicide rate ranked the highest among the nation's cities with a population of more than 500,000."

Two teenagers shot after midnight

A second suspect arrested in the Coconuts murder

From the SAO:

June 3, 2009 – State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced today that prosecutors secured a 25-year no parole sentence against Darnell Smith, 28 of 1602 E. Belvedere Street, Baltimore following his conviction on October 10, 2008 for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine. Judge Timothy J. Doory imposed the sentence at a hearing yesterday. The State’s Attorney’s Office filed for enhanced penalties after reviewing Smith’s criminal record. Smith had three prior drug convictions.

On November 27, 2007 at about 3 PM on 3100 Presbury Street, an undercover officer approached Darnell Smith and said, “Any ready out?” This is the street term for cocaine. Mr. Smith stated, “Yeah” and the undercover officer asked for 2 dimes of cocaine. Mr. Smith advised the undercover officer to go wait in his car and yelled “you bring back 4” to Rodney Holden. Mr. Holden walked out of view for approx. 15 seconds and Mr. Smith met a co-defendant at Presbury and Bloomingdale Streets. He then walked to the vehicle and handed the undercover officer 4 zip locks of cocaine in exchange for 2 $10 bills of pre-recorded buy money. Both were arrested and positively arrested by officers who recovered $146 along with the 2 $10 bills of pre-recorded buy money.

The case was prosecuted by narcotics prosecutor Keri Borzilleri.

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Baltimore PoliceDept "HOMICIDE: 21 OLD RIVERSIDE RD, ADULT MALE SHOT" (@ 8 a.m. 6/2)
Also
"SERIOUS AGG ASLT (CUTTING): 2601 MADISON AVE, 2 ADULT FEMALES CUT BY EX-HUSBAND. SERIOUS INJURIES TO BOTH" (@ 1 a.m. 6/1)
"UPDATE SUSPICIOUS DEATH - @ 1943 Mosher St. No obvious signs of foul play. Medical examiner will investigate further" (@ 10 p.m. 6/1)

Liberian presidential candidate Joseph Woah-Tee was the city's 92nd homicide.
Ditkoff: "Last year, another Liberian was murdered in Baltimore City. Jeff Payne, a 22-year-old African-American man, was shot at a party at the Morgan View Apartments on Feb. 15, 2008. At the sentencing of his killer, his family lamented the fact that he survived so many years of civil war in Liberia to die violently in Baltimore."

Wells Fargo whistleblowers say loan officers rode "stagecoach to Hell," pushing "Ghetto loans" on "mud people"

"Gansler considers recognizing gay marriages"

Random Attacks

Victims of random attacks by packs of juveniles include an off-duty NJ police officer. Reader "Tom" writes about a man punched in the face by teens on the Light Rail.

QTD: "The harbor should not be a de facto day care center for people"
- FHB III

Police say last week's raids caught a big fish, Emiliano "Blikk" Aguas, "identified as the leader of the local Pasadena Denver Lanes Bloods set" and now being held without bail.