Saturday, April 16, 2011

Clusterage

So let me get this straight: the three cops that Bernstein is prosecuting will all be tried together, but two of the defendants are having a jury trial, and one (the only white one?) is having a bench trial. Never heard of such a thing & must agree with a commentor, if the point of the SA prosecuting a case is to show ASAs how it's done, why not pick something more typical? Or is the whole point just to show the world that Bernstein and the police aren't in bed together (in spite of the fact that he and the mayor's liaison to the police are literally in bed together)? Or is the whole case so bizarre and technical he feared some ASA would ef it up?

Friday, April 15, 2011

What did I miss?


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The city's 53rd murder victim of this year was a 24-year-old woman found shot in the head and chest behind apartment buildings in the NW.

One Syron Abdullah, aged 20, arrested for the murder of Jhoma Blackwell, and allegedly stealing and pawning her video game systems. Abdullah was also charged three years ago with raping a 13-year-old.

A triple shooting and crazy car chase Wednesday linked to a fight at Dundalk Middle School; the jizz has mug shots of the Camaro-driving superwinners Charles Robinson and Quincy Alford, and bonus video footage of Robinson's big fat hairy gut slopping out of his drawers.

Fenton reports that 1990s drug 'kingpin' 'Great Billy Guy' is in 'trouble' again.

Ten years for a 21-year-old who allegedly conspired to rob a drug dealer

Motions expected to continue today in that case Bernstein is trying.

The MD Gazette's take on General Assembly winners & losers.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Paging Maurice Levy

The law offices of Stanley H. Needleman were raided by the Baltimore PD and possibly the Federales this morning.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

.. in other news

Police say they are closing in on a suspect in the murder of Jhoma Blackwell.

Neighbors and Joan Floyd help keep the Nancy Schmidt case alive.

Police are ISO these brazen robbers, and arrested these.

Two traffic tickets for Jeannette Marie Walke, who mowed down cyclist Nathan Krasnopoler

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued cease-and-desist orders against eight mortgage bankers

The endless case of Lee Stephens

The Maryland Court of Appeals has rejected a pre-trial appeal by Lee Stephens. He is one of the two inmates accused of murdering Maryland House of Corrections CO David McGuinn in July 2006. No trial date is set, but it sounds like the judge is free to schedule one now that this appeal has been dismissed. Stephens's co-defendant still has a pre-trial appeal pending.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Uncharted lands

INteresting! The AP reports that Gregg Bernstein is going to try his first case this week, of three police officers accused of dropping off teenagers in the wilds of HoCo and the East side. (Wonder how 3 officers and 2 incidents = one case?)

$13.

Life (aka >35 years) for 19-year-old Troy Taylor, who killed 72-year-old Charles Bowman, a security guard at the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper and a Vietnam vet, shot to death at the Yau Bros carryout in the course of being robbed of $13.

Millions for horse tracks, a 50 percent increase on the booze tax, in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, pot decriminalization for the chronic and more on Sine Die in Annapolis

Alleged carjack victims describe the "creepy feeling," "scary eyes" and hamhanded gearshifting Isaiah Dixon subjected them to.

"Council calls hearing on lead-paint judgments"

Monday, April 11, 2011

Manslaughter conviction for Sian James

and nobody's happy

Man shot by police today after stealing handgun from Bank of America guard in Federal Hill
(good gracious that's a lot of verbiage from Justin Fenton in one day.. this is why you should never try or be good at anything, you'll get worked like a carnival mule.)

.. and more from Nick Madigan on the conviction of Frederick A. Christian

Christian Guilty

in the murder of Jerryell Myesha Foster, reports Fox. Last week Christian took the stand and accused police of tampering with evidence. Friday, county ASA Rachel E. Karceski decried the defendant's "Lies! Lies! Lies!"

In other news, you can bring your dog to an outdoor restaurant, but management doesn't have to serve your butch-looking girlfriend.

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Two murders this weekend

Former county prosecutor Isaiah Dixon about to go on trial for carjacking (??)

Holy yikes! Glen Burnie woman allegedly awoke to the sight of this crackhead trying to strangle her

Speaking of prosecutors, last month SCOTUS threw out a $14 million award for an exonerated death row inmate, who published a very sobering op-ed in the NYT yesterday. (And yes, Harry F. Connick Sr. is Jr's dad, if Wikipedia is to be believed!)

Poignant! BaltCo's 14 court reporters to leave by this summer & be replaced by robots (aka remote-controlled digital recordings).

UFOs in Glen Burnie? Nazis at the mall? Fenton on the fascinating finds in the FBI's Baltimore files

And it's the last day of the 428th session of the general assembly, and Linskey & Bykowicz recap your winners & losers. Bite it, fracking!! And this just in, a state health care exchange.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

50.

Oh fer ef's sake! Dwight Taylor, 25, was shot to death while waiting to get a haircut at 200 W. Saratoga St -- 5 p.m. right there in the Central District, like two blocks from the Daily Record! Police Tweet that CitiWatch cameras caught the suspect, who is in custody.

It doesn't get much Baltimorier than this: search of Patapsco Park didn't find Phylicia Barnes, but did turn up a man's body.

In Fell's Point a man was stabbed after bumping into someone at the RoFo

County police are ISO a-hole Antonio Marquis Johnson, who broke into his ex-gf's house and assaulted her 3-year-old son

Unshockingly, the Sun is all for in-state tuition for illegal/undocumented immigrants. (Comment: "figure out a way to do something with people whoe brake laws. Its not difficult")

Saturday, April 9, 2011

50?

Police Tweet "OVERNIGHT HOMICIDE: 4900 Blk Bowland Ave. (Northeast District), 1:20am, 31 year-old male stabbed in the chest" -- but now I can't find the report of the demise of the stabbing victim at Lexington & Paca... did I hallucinate that?

Judge Nance says the city's gun registry is unconstitutional

Alleged killer of David McGuinn asks for a delay, which was denied, but then the C of A ordered a stay

and Baltimore Spectator is podcasting from Patapsco State Park, where an on-the-ground search for clues in the Phylicia Barnes case is underway, even though police apparently have no specific tips

Op Ed: Drug courts are not the answer

Torbit findings to be released soon

Prosecutors say they will release their own findings on the friendly fire killing a police officer and bystander soon.

Friday, April 8, 2011

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Police FB'd that this stabbing at Lexington & Paca was fatal.

Fox reports that the jury "deliberated for almost seven hours today" in the Jerryell Foster case

Free Snoop!

FINALLY Felicia Pearson is out on bond

Downtown, Sian James took the stand and cried, more from the Daily Record

and why did Rep Donna Edwards (D-4th, down around PGC & MoCo) quote White Stripes lyrics on the House floor?

City DOT workers fired

7 employees terminated after the IG"s office found them drinking on the job.

M.I.A.

Yet another missing teenager! County police are ISO Chalese Jenelle Brown, 16, last seen in Parkville. (And flickr will apparently no longer let me post pictures to this blog, so until I find another hosting service I guess there will not be any)

Three people shot last night.

Eric Rich, 28, charged with attempted murder after allegedly dumping scalding water on old people he thought were stealing drugs

Final vote expected today on that parole-for-lifers bill.

It sounds like the evidence in the case of Lee Edward Stephens, alleged killer of correctional officer David McGuinn, meets MD's new standards for the death penalty .. but will he get it? (& if he does, what are the chances of some kind of protocol ever being worked out?)

PGC police fatally shot an ax-wielding man outside of a day care center.

Who owns your e-mail cloud?

Congrats to Justin Fenton and a couple of other people, up for a national Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc award for the "City Rape Stats Questioned" story

Thursday, April 7, 2011

I can has justiz?

The woman shot in Reservoir Hill was ID'd as Keenya Jordan, a case manager for disabled adults.

Four witnesses plus 911 tapes in the Sian Jones trial today. The Sun also reported earlier the fucktarded circumstances that allegedly led to the perp feeling threatened.

A conviction for Tracy Denise Queen in the tutoring-fraud scheme uncovered by Baltimore Brew reporter Joan Jacobson.

Jemini Jones' former attorney Janice Bledsoe to head Police Integrity Unit

Cameras bust a North Avenue drug deal. ... must be a rare event for it to make the news

Mistakes were made

The city OKs $75k in spending to pay for probe of the Club Select shootings

Man murdered on Monday ID'd as Christopher Bullock, 24

Trial set to begin today for the killing of Detective Brian Stevenson. Update: trial started with Sian James' lawyer claiming that his client felt threatened. After he walked to the parking lot because his friend's girlfriend called him, incensed that he didn't respect her right to save a parking place by standing in it. Stupidity. Astounding.

Officers Chris Funk and Matthew Ryckman were cleared in the shooting of an unarmed police informant

Family of Haines Holloway-Lilliston, killed in a high-speed chase, are suing the city for $40 million

A three-hour hearing for a motion to dismiss the State Center lawsuit.

And the city is on the hook to pay for a new paint job for a resident's car

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

48

A homicide last night in the 600 Blk Lennox St. (Central District), 1:15am, "adult female shot multiple times."

The Ink has last week's seven murders, plus case updates

Dundalk murder victim's finacee told the Patch's Ron Cassie that the accused, her brother, was trying to protect her and her fetus

Glad to see the Dooce's Cold Case files covering the 2008 murder of Remington septuagenarian Nancy Schmidt

Was William Torbit's funeral too over the top?

VA court upholds the use of warrantless GPS tracking devices. Though I guess law enforcement still needs a warrant for someone's cell phone tracking records?

Ed & Van: "A British ex-con was sentenced to 78 months in prison—-quite a bit below the 120-month mandatory minimum—- for scheming to export cocaine from Baltimore to London."

Lee Farkas, the former chairman of the mortgage company that financed many a flipped house in the southeastern is now on trial in Alexandria VA for fraud

Bicyclists are biking from Bmore to A-town this morning in support of a bill that would create the new offense of manslaughter by criminal negligence

Yesterday the in-state tuition bill passed the House Ways and Means Committee

If you're a drunken weenus at an O's game, here's where you're going to go

MD police seminar focuses on "sexting." That doesn't sound good to you? Well, what if I threw in a picture of my cock?

And in national news, the FBI has released hundreds of pages of files re. the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. ... though so redacted you can't really read anything.

It took a year

For police to serve a warrant against a high level DPW supervisor and sex offender after his step daughter reported that he beat her in 2010.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The evening dismal

Feeling good? Had a great day? There's a cure for that...

Nick Madigan covers the murder trial of former used-car salesman Frederick A. Christian, accused of killing Jerryell Myesha Foster and dumping her body in the wiles of Virginia.
(.. I remember this case, and while a search of the archive turns up stories of a man found dead on a burning couch, a 5-year-old shot by a gun he found under the couch, a pissy drunk on the couch, knives stashed under the couch and a 16-month-old killed by a couch, can't find the archive.)

HoCo jewel thieves used the stolen car of city murder victim Derek Jones.

A state appeals court won't hear appeals in the case of children who sued Saint Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart claiming a priest was their father.

Man's ass glued to terlit seat at Elkton Wal-Mart

Look before you turn

Injured cyclist Nathan Krasnopoler is not expected to recover.

The death toll from this morning's shootings has gone up. Current tally is two dead, five injured.

Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday

One man killed near the 3400 block of Powhatan Ave. and six others injured in shootings all over town in one single hour this morning, reports Yeganeh June Torbati

Very sad: co-workers testify that murder victim Jerryell Foster came to the job with her face black, blue and swollen before she disappeared

A Waverly resident attacked with a hammer in the Patch blotter

SRB: it's not possible to pay lead-paint claims

Justice4Safety's David Udoff ponders what makes a murder newsworthy

Police tow scam

Now expanded and may include insurance fraud.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

On the scene gruesome details from Burboun Street

a"bloodbath" inside the club

45

The BPD says "UPDATE: 4/2/11, 1:00am, 300 block of Guilford Avenue. Four men were stabbed inside of a night club. A 24 year old man has died as a result of his injuries. Homicide detectives are investigating" ... Sun reports it was ladies' night at the Bourbon Street Ballroom, which went on lockdown after the stabbing; a lady was Tasered when she tried to leave.
Oh, what a night.

"A man stabbed outside a Dundalk house just after midnight this morning has died, county police said."

In Glen Burnie a jockey's girlfriend pleaded guilty to "slaying" 52-year-old Debra Lynn Gill, and "retaliation against a witness", though it sounds like the jockey was the one who did the actual slaying.

And a 46-year-old woman was arrested for robbing a Wachovia.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Don't Drag Race

Donneil Raeburn's trial for a fatal drag-racing accident on I-70 began on Tuesday.

Gun stolen from businessman registered to police commander. I had no idea that the owner of Arcos was "politically connected." They did have good Mexican food a few years ago.

Classics

In Edgewater, a man was arrested after a stand-off in which he swung a sword at officers

A knife fight over a pee bucket in the Baltimore Guide blotter

Fifty years ago, says Baltimore or Less, police busted a stripper for dancing provocatively with a snake. The dancer's lawyer said it was strictly art.

41

The man shot at the Frankford Gardens Shopping Center at 5400 Sinclair Lane has died

More details on the fatal stabbing in Remington-- Fenton Tweeted that she was 16, WJZ says she was an 18-year-old nursing student, IV says "teenage woman"-- and the murder of Gregory Davenport, who (Lord forgive me) sounds like he had it coming.
UPDATE: The police ID'd the victim in Remington as Johma Blackwell, 18

Fenton also dropped by a creepy/sad memorial for 48-year-old Mary Williams, killed in one of our many if-the-killer-had-been-in-jail-like-he-was-supposed-to-be-this-wouldn't-have-happened murders.

Last week's three murders in the Ink

Shomrim is being sued for assault by "notorious gadfly" Leonard Kerpelman

TDR says the city council held a hearing re. East Baltimore Development Inc. last night. Also in politics, The CP visits elected officials' homes, SRB cut $65 mil from the city budget, the Senate Leader says the odds of the "trans bill" passing are "next to none (rallying certain commentors against the "homopromo" lobby), and the House Minority Leader said multiple poaching bills are "overkill". And, reports JZ, "A man on trial for sending Governor Martin O’Malley a threatening email is getting a groundswell of support."

& finally quote of the day from Fark: "Perhaps Justice Scalia wouldn't get in car accidents if he rode a horse, like the Founding Fathers intended"

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

more details on stabbing

teenage girl was stabbed to death...

Fox says..

"Breaking News: Baltimore City Police are investigating after a woman was found dead inside a home on Huntingdon Ave. We have a crew on the way and will bring you more information as it becomes available."

This can't be happening

A supervisor is suspended without pay for allowing DOT employees to party all the time.

ugly, dangerous, depressed and angry

40 years for 20-year-old Donald Vaughan, who slithered between the cracks of probation supervisors and sexually assaulted a Canton woman and slashed her neck with a knife. He also pleaded guilty to a 2007 rape, and faces charges related to two rapes in VA.

30 years for Taron K. Melvin (including five years without possibility of parole ...ooooo) for the murder of Shawn Williams, 28.

The city council approved the new district map. More details from Patch.com on how this affects the North side (there goes Belinda Conaway's neighborhood...!)

The MD Senate passed the wine shipping bill 45-0.

The Dooce is starting a new cold case news series next Tuesday

That's-a interesting: Caesar's Den, Chiapparelli's, Da Mimmo, Sabatino's and Vaccaro's have joined a lawsuit against the State Center project

"Baltimore is ugly, dangerous, depressed and angry, according to national lists."

Sunday, March 27, 2011

"Good, minimal protections"

At least we don't live in Uganda! The House passed the "Trans Bill," which will make it illegal to discriminate against a bio-dude who looks like a lady or vice versa when it comes to jobs or housing (though it is apparently still legal to kick someone of questionable gender off of a bus, out of a restaurant, out of the mall, etc.). Interestingly, supporters included the two Dels. who waffled on same-sex marriage, Sam Arora and Tiffany Alston.

And a "questionable death" at 36th and Falls this morning

Re. the county murder arrests announced on Friday, Hermann notes that the Jan 8 murder of Nathan Bowles hadn't been disclosed to the public in the first place, and asks "What made Friday the perfect day to release weeks- and months-old news?"

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Worse and worser

The man stabbed in Barclay was ID'd as Reginald Leon Wragg, 46

Crazy video of four guys beating the tar out of a guy at the Charing Cross shopping center in Edmondson Heights.

Horrible: Social Services placed foster children in homes "despite credible evidence that the care providers had abused or neglected children," said a General Assembly audit, and "also failed to follow up on 159 children born to parents who had had their parental rights terminated."

In the county, arrests for the murders of Nathan Bowles, Vincent I. Thomas and Gerardo E. Botello.

Wilkens Ave RoFo robbed again

Alleged East Coast Rapist Aaron Thomas pled not guilty, is rather unremarkable-looking

Better news: House passed the bill to limit natural gas drilling in Western Maryland, probably after members read this freaky-deaky hydrofracking story in the NYT (or watched the "Gasland" documentary)

Also on the Patch, "Dumb Maryland Laws You May Have Violated"

DOT at work, gambling

13 DOT workers busted last night for playing dice on the job.

Friday, March 25, 2011

37? 38?

A fatally stabbed man found in an alley in the 2100 block of Barclay Street

Crazy standoff situation in Cherry Hill

30 years or less for the 7th "Bounty Hunter," Anthony Williams, involved in the murder of Petro Taylor in 2008. (In 2009 Judge Prevas, via his clerk Susan Janoski, mailed me a hefty packet with the details of this case, oddly paired with an unrelated, banal illegal-weapon-seizure case-- page after page of tragic, pitiful details of Petro Taylor's torment and torture and begging to call his mother and trying to escape. I always meant ask Prevas why he sent that to me, esp. aired with some random weapons case- did he mean to say that that is what it's like to be a judge, boring cases then cases that make your neck hair stand on end?)

30 years for a woman whose robbery plan killed her neighbor

"Maryland's Court of Special Appeals has struck down the conviction of Darryl A. White Jr. on weapons charges stemming from a 2008 shootout with police in which two men died"

Remember John Nicklas and Shannon Leigh Honea, who did things to children in Essex/Middle River that that made a neighbor "want to vomit"? (Not to be confused with Jesse Aaron Davison and Tiffany Bolner of this month's other child-abusing-porn-making puke-inducing story). Niklas got 60 years, Honea has a plea agreement pending for 30-35 years.

President of the Baltimore county FOP is accused of drunkenly displaying his weapon and punching a sedan driver in the face.

Twenty years for Aaron Davis, convicted of robbing a Towson liquor store

And corrections officers in Hagtown "have filed a petition asking that a union leader be banned from the prison for allegedly threatening them during a meeting"

Some good news, the house has passed a bill to ban BPA in sippy cups and baby bottles. BPA shrinks your 'nads, and there is some credible evidence that exposure contributes to obesity, among other things.

Adam Meister claims that Frank Conaway is also a water-bill deadbeat, and asks "why is the Sun going after Jill Carter?" Says Carter, "Reporters and editors like to keep a close relationship with the politically powerful. The gov, speaker, et.al, steer them in the direction of who to cover and how to spin the stories." .. do you think the Sun has it in for Jill Carter?

More Dennis Edwards Drama

Former JZ personalty's wife has been charged with assault and use of a handgun.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Sin, the wages of

"Alcohol tax increase advances to full senate." Fun fact I learned from this book:before Prohibition, all government activities were paid for by the alcohol tax; the income tax was supposed to get the government off of the teat. But of course now we have both, because there's no such thing as the government ever wanting less money. Also poised to pass, the wine shipping bill. So how long until I can order 18 cases of Trader Joe's 5-buck chuck to dodge the jackassed tax?

Also approved in the Senate: medical marijuana.

Doug, put ya Ballys on. It started on White Marsh Drive, and now county police are looking for Seth Josiah Burgess, 21, a suspect in a shooting at Bally's Total Fitness White Marsh.

36

Man found stabbed to death in vacant home on North Ave

Creepy & sad: officer shot on the same block where another cop was killed a decade before

It all seemed like just so much grousing, but now I'm starting to wonder if the Sun (or at least Laura Vozzella) really does have something against Jill Carter. "Deadbeat" is an awfully strong term for someone with an unpaid water bill, whilst there's nary a word in the papers about Belinda Conaway, who either doesn't live in the district she represents, or does but is cheating on her taxes by claiming her primary residence is somewhere she doesn't actually live (a sin of commission, as it were).

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Making the scene

Whoa! City officer charged with sexually abusing a minor, and the dept apparently has no compunction about putting his name right on out there.

Can you ID any of the people in these photos from the scene right before the fatal stabbing of David McLaughlin Jr.?

The Ink has last week's four murders and some updates.

Former marine Tyrone Brown was shot by off-duty officer Gahiji Tshamba, who was indicted for first-degree murder and assault. The police department is being sued by his family for $270 million, and today Tricia Bishop delves into the victim's sketchy mental health history (and the officer who shot him is apparently no prize pig either). Also witness accounts and charging documents

More on the Landsdowne murder of 17-year-old Keon Dobbs

Hee hee! Van Smith covers the drug bust of Reptilian Records' "Chris X," noting that the reporter was familiar with X's pot-dealing past, "having purchased small quantities of marijuana at the store more than 10 years ago while working as a freelance journalist and bartender." Then Van and Mike get into it in the comments section. I love this town!

Inside the mind of child killer Melvin Jones

Inside the case of the sex offender who killed an 11 year-old boy for cheating on him, by the BPD homicide detective who worked the case.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Might as well face it...

The Justice Policy Institute trains its sights on drug courts in its latest report, "Addicted to Courts: How a Growing Dependence on Drug Courts Impacts People and Communities"

Four more shootings yesterday, and Fenton says the total over the weekend was 18, WBAL says 20, in any case the highest weekend total I can remember. Said FHBIII, "we should punch these guys in the mouth that are contributing to this violence."

A teenage boy shot & killed on Birdknoll Court and Songbird Circle

Police say Kenyon McClain, 35, has been missing for a week

Crazy/awful details in the Bethesda lululemon murder. Guess the perp was "living in the moment" and doing her "one thing a day that scares you"

Family of comatose cyclist Nathan Krasnopoler are suing the octogenarian who ran him over

Alleged toilet terrorist Duane Davis talked to JZ hottie Adam May from Spring Grove hospital for the artistically misunderstood

Adam Meister questions Belinda Conaway's residence, wonder if he'll run by her house in the morning to watch her take her kids to school?

Inside Baltimore city homicide

Former BPD homicide detective Kelvin Sewell asks the question, "Why do we Kill?" revealing the inside details about the case of Devon Richardson, who shot a 67-year old Baltimore woman in the back of the head on a dare.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Dangerous interactions

Mom of David McLaughlin, Jr, father of four, says he was robbed and murdered for minivan money.

Shot police officer Michael Rice was a war veteran (wonder which war?), the suspect who shot him had a history of "increasingly dangerous interactions with police"

The perv du jour is Jeffrey Trantham, a HoCo 20-something who allegedly enjoys child rape, webcams and fleeing to Canada.

The gun that a 4-year-old shot himself with was not legal, say police

No bail for Brittany Norwood, suspect in the Lululemon murder

North Baltimore Patch, aka Adam Bednar, "live blogged" tonight's City Council meeting.

What tha...? Fifty-one poodles, yorkies and porkies removed from one home in the 'deener

Maybe the feds are fed-up

Lawyers cooperating with Feds investigating tax lien auctions drop claim against city resident fighting foreclosure for 12 years.

I apologize in advance

Not Baltimore, but can't resist this headline: "Crack Found In Man's Buttocks"

Park Heights shoot-out

At least nine shots fired in one of three separate shootings in Park Heights Sunday.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

34, 35

Homicides 34, 35, and much, much more.

34 Id'd as Darshewn Freeman.

35 Id'd as David McClaughlin Jr.

Sad news keeps coming, a 4 year old boy accidentally shoots himself in the head and dies.

Also, an arrest for the February 22nd murder of Martez Hall. Respectable looking gentleman Patric Glasco arrested for the killing.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

33

A 21-year-old man, id'd as Angelo Fitzgerald, killed in the 300 block of McMechen Street during the course of a crazy night last night, with eight (or is it 11?) shooting victims in four separate incidents, including the officer shot in the neck and the alleged gunman, who is in "grim" condition

A case against a 48-year-old man charged with raping a 15-year-old is dropped, Bernstein's office apparently doesn't believe the public is owed an explanation, and Peter Hermann is justifiably puh-issed.

William Vincent Brown's only known surviving victim confronted him in court (I ♥ u IV, but Fenton's story is much more in-depth & readable)

In the county, Jeremy Richards pled guilty to first-degree murder and admitted to robbing his 61-year-old neighbor and setting her house on fire

Bel Air residents busted for supplying booze to minors (and what is going on in that picture?)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Officer shot

An officer is in stable condition after being shot in the neck near East 25th Street and Harford Road

Wha?? "The 27-year-old co-worker of the woman killed at a Bethesda yoga store, who originally was portrayed as a victim in the violent outburst, has been charged in the killing of [co-worker] Jayna T. Murray"

Serial killer now tied to PA case

William Vincent Brown's only known surviving victim gave dramatic testimony at his sentencing hearing today. Prosecutors also revealed he had a prior conviction for "terrorizing" and imprisoning a woman in Philly.

32

A man shot to death at the U.S. Fried Chicken on Pennsylvania Ave.

And in Frederick, a worker killed at the Burger King

Life with all but 50 years suspended for William Vincent Brown (so how much time will he actually serve?)

Senate says yes to medical marijuana, ignition-locking devices for drunks, bans on novelty lighters & smoking in a car that has kids in it, and a 180-day use-it-or-lose it parole deadline for the guv. .. and $60 million in new fees?! Effing effers!!

Page Croyder: "if the governor is simply removed from the parole process, prison and parole proceedings will be left shrouded in darkness and unavailable to the public."

WYPR’s Garland Thompson reports why three-year investigations of large drug-dealing conspiracies are worth it (audio link).

"Independent Examiner" Hassan Giordano reports that "The 49-year old former Baltimore City Council President, Lawrence Bell took the first step in exonerating the charges and clearing his name of allegations made against him. Shan Mabry, a longtime 'friend', who brought forth her second peace order claim against Bell in six months, while also filing a criminal complaint against the man she once shared her heart with." (includes a courthouse picture of the plaintiff, so totally not kosher!)
Fun fact: in 1999 Bell won a CP award for "Best Scandal"

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Denied!

Perhaps spurred by the House passing the "Use it or Lose it Bill," looks like O'Malley is planning to make like the Circle Jerks and deny everything, starting with these seven cons.

Trunky McGuilford-Robber, aka John Couplin, got 20 years and the label of "menace" from Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill, but Mary Pat Clark thinks it's a load of crap: "Twenty years becomes 10 years becomes a modified sentence." The conviction also means Couplin violated his probation for a 2008 knife attack, but the wack-azz judge in that case is letting him serve that time concurrently.

Here's a picture of that a-hole disturbed individual who set his mother on fire

Police are ISO a guy with a tattoo on his throat reading "REAL GOON"

Yeeks, a doctor at a clinic owned by Bon Secours Hospital is accused of performing unnecessary eye procedures, including surgery that blinded a woman.

Adorable local hipsters create an app to help you avoid tickets

Say what? MD senators want to help sluts slots parlors dodge local taxes.

Changing minds

Intriguing article in the New Yorker this week about how childhood trauma can lead to health problems in adults and predispose them to violence later on.

The Ink has last week's two murders and lots of case updates

An inmate in a federal heroin case managed to get a list of witnesses against him and "convinced many defendants to change their minds about pleading guilty"

Van Smith on Jean Therese Brown's "terrifying pot-smuggling saga"

Have you seen these two suspected armed carjackers?

A drug dealer may get off because DEA agent & convicted embezzler Mark Lunsford "admitted to the FBI that he concocted information in the case."

P.G. County police confirm that a body found in a trunk was that of a missing man, but they're not treating the case as a homicide(?)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Confessions of a Baltimore serial killer

William Brown pleaded guilty two killing two women and maiming another between 2003 and 2004

Half psychotic, sick hypnotic...

A rare "not criminally responsible" finding for D'Lana Simmons, who beat her aunt Cecelia Mitchell to death.

The last two TTP Bloods defendants were sentenced yesterday to 100+ months each

A MoCo police officer is accused of helping to run a cocaine ring

Fox reports that "A Baltimore County man is accused of setting his mother on fire. It happened just before 11a.m. this morning inside a home in the 7900-block of Baltimore Street in Eastview."

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Thoroughly, deeply, completely depressing

Not only was 19-year-old murder victim Tanise Ervin an "innocent bystander," according to police, she just came off of a 10-hour shift at McDonald's, then went back to have her last meal there. She left, was shot in the back, and when her mom arrived at the scene, she says "police wouldn’t let me touch her." Apparently the gunperson(s) were shooting at Ervin's companion; the male "friend" was shot also but is not co-operating with investigators.
Mourners gathered tonight in Better Waverly.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Truth in advertising

Hot topic of the week: forcing the guv to use or lose the option of parole for lifers. County SA Scott Shellenberger: "I view the need for the governor to sign off on the parole of a 'lifer' not as putting politics in the parole system but as a way of making sure that the person who makes the weighty decision of when a lifer is released is a person directly accountable to the citizens of this state."

And the General Assembly is set to begin debating the death penalty this week; yesterday Archbishop Edwin O’Brien hosted a prayer service aiming to increase support for abolishing it (wonder what religion he would be if the Roman Empire had had life without parole?).

Freaky story of a 7-year-old Amanda Mitchell, attacked by dogs: said her aunt, "They both were yanking. One was on the left, one was on this right side of the cheek."

Hey prospective divorcees, the Senate has approved a one-year separation requirement. In other marital news, "Bigamy costs Baltimore Co. man $500K"

Re. this MADD story, the trouble with drunk driving laws is that DUI is the only offense someone can commit and not know they're committing it. If we wanted to actually solve the problem, we'd put breathalyzers at the exit doors of bars or put interlock on every car-- 80 percent of DUIs are first-time offenders.

Under Armour sues the company Purple Armour for ripping off its logo & cybersquatting

The real crime

When you drive around Baltimore and see dozens of rotting homes, you might want to thank these guys for in part making it happen. Of course they're not going to jail, they live in Howard County, they just sucked money out of the city and got away with it because they were smart.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

31

Nineteen-year-old Tanise Ervin was shot to death in Better Waverly

A 15-year-old boy shot on Friday, plus three other shootings and a man stabbed in the thigh
gardener
What is going on with all these missing teenage girls?! Police are now asking the public's help in finding Andrea Gardener, 15, right, if you see her call 911.

.. and eeeeeew, 10,000 gallons of sewage overflowed in the 400 block of East Eager Street. Survive the violence, die from the cholera & e. coli!

Huh? Judge tells Felicia Pearson she got no bail because "You are a good actress."

In Bethesda, MoCo, a worker murdered and another sexually assaulted at Lululemon Athletica

Serial bank robber strikes again, have you seen this guy?

Linskey & Bykowicz's gay marriage post-game recap, and Steve Lash's, and one from the WaPo; so much for personal appeals making a difference. Or maybe certain Democratic senators found $1 million mighty personally appealing.

Friday, March 11, 2011

.. in other news

No bail for Snoop. Sixty-four people arrested in old Latrobe in a case that took three years to develop. (Why so tense, Bernstein?)

Police are asking for help to find Stephanie Jones, 21, and her infant son.

As part of a class-action suit, a debt collector will drop more than 10,000 cases

Media blabber: in a rare move, the NYT's public editor agrees with outraged readers that a "Gang Rape Story Lacked Balance"

And just like that..

Reports Fox, "The Maryland House of Delegates has sent the same sex marriage bill back to committee, effectively killing its chances of being passed in the House. There were not enough votes to pass the measure, so Del. Joe Vallario entered a motion to return the measure to committee."
More from the WaPo and Sun
Gawker: "last-minute pressure from church groups and the National Organization for Marriage apparently scared a few new, sensitive delegates"

Elsewhere, hundreds of people denuded the Rhode Island state house, where same-sex marriage hearings are being held, and on Wednesday, a U.S. House panel "voted 3-2 along party lines to direct the House counsel to come up with a legal defense" of DOMA

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Gayest. Legislature. Ever.

One Charles County closet just got a little cleaner-- Delegate Peter Murphy is here, queer, and says his constituents are already used to it. This Å“uvre makes the MD legislature the nation's gayest, says the Washington Blade.
.. and I hadn't heard of Maggie Gallagher before yesterday, but I get the feeling we're all going to become very familiar with her tuberrific form, given the $1 million bounty her group has posted for the defeat of pro-equality legislators.

In other big gay news, WBAL has a clip of Snoop's perp walk posted and filed under "entertainment." Say what you will, she always has a flawless complexion. Here's David Simon's statement, and his notorious "jury nullification" essay from Time.

Oh, Snoop!

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson (& 29+ others) arrested for running a drug ring

Huh? "The city's no. 2 top prosecutor — appointed late last year by Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein — isn't licensed to practice law in Maryland."

FBI suspects home-invasion robbers got some help from the MVA

Documentary exposes sex abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community. (Oh, CP. "'I didn’t know that I was going to become the molestation writer of Jewish Baltimore,' [Phil Jacobs] said. It was more or less thrust upon him ...")

This will Illinois you Pp -- the state just chucked their death penalty

Same-sex marriage bill goes forth with an official vote scheduled for tomorrow (or so says TDR, the WaPo only calls it "likely"). Thanks Cham for the "House Republicans & DOMA" video... that Brian Moulton just needs to meet the right girl. Love the people having smoke breaks in the background.

Web finds: the blog of Ehrlich's former "Prince of Darkness" Joe Steffan, who apparently enjoys puns, making up nicknames and white-on-black type (two out of three things I like in a blog). Shame he hasn't updated in a while.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

30

Charles Hopsan, 22, stabbed in 2010 in the 1100 block of Cooks Lane and recently deceased, was posthumously awarded the title of the city's 30th homicide victim.

One Terrance Sims, 30, was arrested for the murder of 17-year-old Olympic hopeful Ronald Gibbs.

Tiffany Bolner, 21, pled guilty in federal court to sexually abusing a minor to produce child pornography; surely one of the most barfulent stories in BCrime history.

And a guy named Derwin declared himself guilty of pimping

Ten years for Rosedale home-invasion robber Antowan Bell, 25

Crack and guns confiscated on the East side

"Bathroom Bandits" nabbed, and Hermann has pictures of one of the alleged perps and her nappy-azz fur coats

Pawn star gets 46 months for money laundering

Lawyers for Policarpio Espinoza Perez and Adan Espinoza Canela have asked the Court of Appeals to grant them a third trial. In 2006, the childrens' parents told an AP reporter that they don't believe police arrested the right guys, though DNA allegedly linked Canela to the killings. Here is the Sun's guide to the epic mystery and related stories on the case.

Fertilizer control: All kinds of issues being rassled over down in A-town this week, including, of course, the melee that is the same-sex marriage debate. Oh Brooke Murdock, why did you have to wuss out and stay your opinion? .. and here's an article on what all those National Organization for Marriage polls were about.

Dixon's doughy swain is out, but the State Center project goes on.

More suspensions in tow case?

Police say there may be more cops suspended as the result of the feds investigation, but won't give a number.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Well that's odd..

I just got a letter in the mail from Talmadge Branch thanking me for my e-mail regarding "House Bill's #175 & #55, "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act". Which is odd because I haven't sent anyone an e-mail -- I'm not even in the 45th district.
Could supporters or opponents be sending fraudulent letters? Anyone else get a letter like this?

Four times in the back?

The family of Dennis Gregory, a police informant shot by officers four times in the back in February of last year, is not getting any answers from the department about what happened.

dannellewiggins_Mp13wCounty police are ISO two children, Tyquan and Shani’ya Wiggins, abducted from their foster mom by their bio-mom, Dannelle, shown left and here on her Facebook page (maybe her friend PrettyLaydee ButtButt knows where to find her?). Update: Hermann posted pictures of the kids, too. The JIS says Wiggins was arrested in '06 on narcotics charges & received a PBJ.

Capitol News Service tweeted that "The House of Delegates has delayed debate on the same-sex marriage bill until Wednesday," the Post is saying the vote will be Friday. Said Bishop Paul Wells, "you are either against God's word or for God's word. There is no in-between." Which is why I never shake hands with a menstruating woman and keep my adulterer-stoning arm limber at all times.

Baltimore hosted the U.S. House committee on oversight & reform this morning. Tweeted TDR's Danny Jacobs, "Behind Cummings is yellow map of city with green marks where foreclosures are. Looks like mold spreading."

The House just passed a bill that will force the governor to make parole decisions within 90 days. And you can watch the Justice Policy Institute's documentary on the parole process on their new YouTube channel. If you're into that kind of thing.

... kind of like my girlfriend who lives in Canada

Prosecutors' "Do Not Call" list officially abolished, but Bernstein evidently has a list of his own, and Tricia Bishop is on it: "[Bernstein] declined to be interviewed, saying in the 500-word message sent a week ago that his 'schedule is a bit tight' and he was not 'able to meet … or talk on the phone'."

Take-home car solution

BPD commander's predicament with a take-home car could have been easily solved, if city taxpayers were willing to provide some roadside assistance.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Taking it to the streets

The Baltimore Police Dept is henceforth posting regular online YouTube updates for concerned citizens. Here's the first of many, they say. Gun seizures up! ... meanwhile, three months in, the State's Attorney's office remains invisible, with nary a TV appearance from anyone in the office and no web presence whatsoever, other than two-month-old swearing-in photos posted on his Facebook page yesterday. What's going on up there?

Mysteries

The boy fatally stabbed yesterday was ID'd as Ronald Taijon Gibbs. The Sun reports that he was trying to defend his sister.

The mysterious case of two girls abducted near the Dollar Store and rescued by police

Mug shot of the day: Ellerson Carter, arrested for the murder of George Marshall

East Coast Rapist headed to court today. But I don't understand how keeping his mug shot "under wraps" will encourage more victims to come forward.

A two-week hearing starts today in Delaware for creditors of the Tribune Co.

Towson U police are ISO a "person of interest" following a campus assault

The bad part of getting arrested in the county: you may actually do some time. The bright side: adjudication in these spankin' new courtrooms!

Can you ID the police officers or reporter in these charming old photos?

Can't help but ask...

Six hundred and twenty-eight words in the Sun for George Marshall. Wonder how that word count compares to the word counts of the year's 28 other victims?
Update: a reader points out that Marshall did get "less than Hezikah Wilson (1,023) and Tyra Trent (898)." Duly noted.

Could this really happen?

Councilman wants us, city residents, to vote for a 50 percent cut in the property tax rate

Sunday, March 6, 2011

29- @?$#!

what is going on this weekend? February was so peaceful!
The weekend's 3rd murder victim is a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed during an argument.

28

At 244 North Hilton Street, 23-year-old Paul Simons III was killed during a home invasion (the Deuce has the victim's age wrong).