Thursday, November 24, 2005

November 24

Two men in two adjacent rowhouses were shot to death in West Baltimore.

35-year-old John Lewis escaped from PG Corrections officials who were transporting him between facilities. Lewis jumped out of the van while it was stopped at a traffic light. Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it seem as if the Corrections officers might have been prepared for something like that?

Dissent in the legal system over the fact that victims aren't being called to testify at their attackers' trials. Circuit Judge Alfred Nance said, "The state has a responsibility not simply to seek and obtain a conviction, but to seek justice." Does getting killed or having your house torched because of your testimoney now qualify as justice?

Judge John M. Glynn declared a hung trial for William Crudup yesterday. One of the jurors apparently made up her mind at the beginning of the trial and refused to consider any evidence. Crudup is accused of attempting to kill to police officers in March.

The Sun's Police Blotter tells of stolen money from St. Frances Academy (a private school that primarily serves inner city kids who are dealing with extreme family/personal difficulties) and stolen money from an 84-year-old woman who was shoved to the ground during the theft.

A Cecil County robber has expanded her territory into Pennsylvania.

Jeremy Justin Lepone is facing state and federal charges after his Harford County carjacking stunt, which included stealing a car from an elementary school staff member and then crashing through the gates of a military facility.

Ehrlich has agreed to pardon 12 prisoners, including two women who were convicted on charges of theft and/or shoplifting, and one man who has served 44 years for murder.

Harvey Edward Brown, a man who attacked one woman and pursued four others on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail, was sentenced to life in prison.

The yet-to-be-determined fate of the Charm City Church gives a microscopic glance into the ongoing class struggle in Baltimore.

Ten police officers were required to restore order (if not sanity) to a throng of unruly shoppers at an Elkton Wal-Mart who were waiting to buy the Xbox 360.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very curious. The ridiculous Balto. City Police Dept. fails to protect anyone, even from being shot. And the Justice system refers to them as uncooperative witnesses, just because they know no one will protect them after testifying.

"It's chronic," Glynn said. "It reflects a general culture of a lack of faith in the system. Nobody has faith that anybody will protect them and that the system will do justice. The motive for participating is diminished."

So, blame it on the victim? Certainly, we couldn't blame it on the City, which refuses to... HIRE MORE FRICKIN' COPS. I mean, isn't it kinda obvious when you have such a low conviction rate that you need more presence to protect witnesses after trial?

It's all about the officer/hoodlum ratio. Boise, ID has few criminals, they need few cops, relatively. We have more hoods in this town than you can shake a stick at. As I walk in the frozen food aisle at the supermarket, I heard one pair of guys talking about how some or another of their buddies 'just got out' and what a good rate another gal got on the bail bond for her boyfriend. In the produce aisle a guy was explaining too his homey the satisfaction he finds in 'three hots and a cot'. My neighborhood is... all about the crime. You can shoot people around here with impunity, it seems, because we would need one heck of a lot of police here to achieve any meaningful officer/hoodlum ratio. Nationally, it's supposed to be about .1. Here, it's more like .01 .