June 17

McDonough grad, father of five, special ed teacher, pharmaceutical sales entrepreneur : BC nominates Martius Harding finalist for the Golden Get In On It Award, bestowed for the most quintessential, well-rounded Bmorean.

Bloomsday

Detective William King got 315 years.

The Sun adds details to the NAACP/ACLU vs. police lawsuit, and an Op-ed on how Bmore's policing strategies are unconstitutional, unhelpful and expensive. The story has gone international and is covered by more than 100 news sources today (so far).

Supreme Court: police don't have to knock.

Judge Kaye Allison sentenced Mohammed Biglari to life plus twenty years yesterday. On April 26, after his third trial, Biglari was found guilty of murder in the 1991 murder of his Charles Village neighbor, Barbara Halsey.

The death of 36-year-old Said Sawab has been ruled a homicide, #123. And the man shot on Towanda Avenue was identified as Kevin A. Sewell, 20.

A third suspect, Jermile N. Harvey, was charged for the murder of Randolph Terrance.

Darius Tyrone Jones, 35, who police say tried to run over two officers in his car in Rosedale, was charged with attempted first-degree murder. And Jamaal K. Abeokuto, killer of Marciana Ringo, 8, will be resentenced.

The man shot to death inside the Valley Center 9 Cinema was identified as 62-year-old Paul Schrum. The shooter was Mujtaba Rabbani Jabbar, 24.

Three men have been indicted for the 2004 murder of 16-year-old Renard Graves in the county.

Fifteen-year-old Kelly Franklin was arrested for killing 16-year-old Vernell Streams yesterday.

Yow: Lee Boyd Malvo admitted to four more killings, in California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida. This brings the snipers' total victim count to 27.

The body of a woman found in Bel Air was identified as Shiela Ann Turner, 42, of Aberdeen, who had been missing for a week. And the body found in Havre de Grace was identified as that of Lillian Abramowicz Phelps, 43.

County police are looking for Anthony Derrell Guy, who resisted arrest and injured an officer in the process.

Deals on wheels: two Baltimoreans and about 20 Westminsterers were arrested for dealing drugs out of Meals on Wheels vans.

More on the Eddie's purse-snatching.

Lots of stolen cars, a few muggings and a creepy guy climbing in a bedroom window in the Northern.

Weed's popping up all over: someone's been stashing their cache in the vanities of Massachusetts Home Depots. (Not Baltimore, but irresistable.)

In honor of Pride Week, the governor fired his Catholic appointee to the Metro transit authority board for saying he believes that homosexuality is "deviant." We love us some gays, but isn't it illegal to fire someone for their religious beliefs?

June 15

Cedrick Bowman, 24, pled guilty to using explosives and conspiracy to commit witness tampering in the Jan. 15, 2005 attack on Edna McAbier's home.

Have you seen this sex offender? If so, do please call 410-838-6600. Thanks.

A 60-year-old man was shot during a showing of X-Men II at the Reisterstown Lowes.

Three more homicides: Trey Branch, 21, was shot on the 2700 Block of East Chase Street; an indentified man was shot on E. Preston Street; an unidentified man on the 2900 block of Towanda Ave. Total killings #122.

A man was shot in Middle River.

A woman's body was found near Route 40 in Havre De Grace.

Baltimore truck driver Stephen Harlee will be arraigned in Camden County NJ for vehicular homicide in death of Dirk Dudek, 49. Dudek was in a Turnpike Authority truck when a coked-up Harlee hit the guardrail, then rammed his vehicle, fracturing Dudek's spine and setting the pickup on fire.

Carjacking, burglary, robbery in the blotter.

City Council's Helen Holton: arrest quotas are real. Matt Jablow: no, they're not. Meanwhile, the ACLU and NAACP have filed a class-action lawsuit.

Rey Rivera's window: there was no suicide note.

Hey cutie: former Homeland Security press aide Brian Doyle says he's no pedo-sex predator, he just sent dirty movies to a fake teen because it was "kind of a power trip." Oh, ok then. Meanwhile, MD legislators have approved laws that allow for stricter penalties and better monitoring for sex offenders.

Note to drug dealers: buckle up for safety. And in Jessup, Chester Griffiths, 43, was driving around with 400 pounds of 'pot.'

Baltimorean Dejuan Carrol, aka Donte Brown, was arrested in a Cecil County motel for possession of heroin, cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute.

Attoney General Curran is cracking down on the purveyor of illegal Yam Cream.

Do you know someone who likes to dump ink? Dump ink in the ground and not the sink? You should call the police then, I think.

Flag Day

Don't worry, though the number of homicides may be down, Charm City retains the "Bodymore" title, with the highest per capita large-city murder rate.

Fucked. Up. From Dan Ostrovsky in today's Duly Wretched:
"Take a deep breath. Have a good day"

Firefighters, police officers, postal inspectors and sheriff's deputies descended upon a room in Baltimore's Courthouse East yesterday, after an employee of the clerk's office discovered white powder inside an envelope addressed to the circuit court. The incident left some courthouse employees uneasy -- not just about the scare, but about the response to it.

"Take a deep breath. Have a good day," was the message written in ballpoint pen on a loose-leaf sheet of paper Francis R. "Frank" Sherry found in a letter-sized envelope. The paper was folded into a square held together with tape, and Sherry said the powder became visible only after he removed the tape.
"This white powder fell out on my lap and in my hands," he said.
The return address on the envelope indicated it was sent by an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center ... A hazmat team determined that the substance was likely foot or baby powder and was not hazardous, according to Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright ... When he found the powder, Sherry notified his colleagues in those divisions, one of whom, Pat Smith, called the sheriff's office ... Sheriff's deputies arrived in about 10 minutes and called the fire department, which responded in another 15 minutes; the hazmat team arrived approximately 15 minutes after that, Gillis said. Margaret Biuk, who works in foreclosures, said Gillis told her to leave the area around 9:20 a.m. -- nearly an hour after the powder was first found.
"I didn't like it," Biuk said. "The minute something was found, we should have been evacuated."

Clerk's office employees have been trained for emergencies, but not specifically suspicious powders, Conaway said.
That point was underscored by Adonis Johnson of the civil division, who said he found powder in an envelope he opened approximately a month ago. "I threw it away and kept on slicing the mail open," Johnson said yesterday.

A 52-year-old woman was killed on the west side, and yesterday 22-year-old Anthony Hill was shot in the face but survived, bringing the # to 119.

Trial of "Itchy Man" is starting and... ten tons of marijuana? Former employees of Central Booking? Twenty-eight defendants? Jayzis H!

Tragic: 400 pounds of high-quality chronic is going stale in an evidence room somewhere.

The Ink reports murders to #118. Wayne Matthews, Marlow Hill, Darryl Duppins and an unidentified man have joined the shadowy ranks of the Baltimore dead.

Trial has been delayed for Liquor Board Commissioner Edward Smith Jr., who threatened his babymomma and her special friend with an ax.

Psychiatrist Roman Ostrovsky pled guilty to defrauding Medicaid of $200,000.

An AAC man got three years for slitting a dog's throat to intimidate his ex-girlfriend.

Robbing the Family Dollar, setting fire to a Ford, stealing bikes... that's how we roll in Bumberg, dawg.

Five hundred words might make an editorial. Or 300. But 95? Why bother?

Edward Thatcher, a Howard County police officer, has been suspended for showing a female employee his indecent parts.

Speaking of editorials, happy pride week!

June 13

The first-degree murder and attempted murder trial of Corey McMillon, 29, began today before Judge Wanda K. Heard. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted McMillon September 26, 2005 for first-degree murder and handgun counts for the shooting death of Jamel Jermaine St. Clair, 17 (left). Court documents allege that on April 1, 2005 McMillon approached St. Clair in the 2000 block of East North Avenue and started to go through his pockets. When St. Clair attempted to run, McMillon pulled out a gun and allegedly shot him multiple times. McMillon remains held without bail in the Baltimore City Detention Center. He also faces trial is separate charges of attempted murder and escape.

The evidence shows that on June 12, JZ's Mike Schuh did knowingly commit Gross and Willful fashion violations against the Dignity of the State while riding along on an East Side drug raid; to wit, sterilizingly tight acid-washed jeans, white sneakers, and a dress shirt sandwiched between a beer gut and Kevlar® vest.

Hamm thumbs nose at number-conspiracy theorists: "We're very pleased that we were able to have the numbers trimmed as we wanted in 2005."

Raymond Leemare Burris, a Hampdenizen who'd robbed a lady in the Rotunda parking lot on June 4, and a woman on the 3300 block of N. Charles on June 6, was arrested. Also two stabbings, a shooting, and boys dropping rocks from an overpass.

Baltimore County Police in Wilkens, Essex, White Marsh and Woodlawn are holding community-relations meetings tonight at 7, various locations.

June 12

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that death-row prisoners may contest the humaneness of lethal injection. This permits the appeals of death-row inmate Vernon Evans Jr. to continue.

Judge Wanda K. Heard sentenced Leroy Mayo, 47, of N. Patterson Park Avenue, to 25 years in prison. A city jury convicted Mayo of first-degree assault on February 13 and acquitted him of attempted first and second-degree murder counts. On December 6, 2003, say court docs, Leroy Mayo and his wife, Sherelle, were arguing in their home when he became enraged and took a knife from the kitchen and attacked her. During the attack Sherelle Mayo was stabbed several times.

Trial of serial killer Raymont Hopewell has been postponed until September.

At a hearing today, Judge Wanda K. Heard sentenced Martinez Brown, 26, to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Kelvin Knight, 18, and an additional 20 years consecutive for use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. A city jury convicted Brown November 3, 2005. Members of Knight's family presented emotional testimony to the court prior to Brown's sentencing. Say court documents,

In the early morning hours of December 7, 2003 the victim, Kelvin Knight, was ordering take-out from New Land Chinese Carry Out at the corner of Montford and Biddle Streets in East Baltimore when he observed Brown arguing with a woman. Upon hearing the victim laugh, Brown turned to the victim and said, "Do you think I am playing?" He then pulled out a handgun, put it to the victim's forehead, and shot him three times in the head and once in the chest. As Brown ran from the scene after the murder, an eyewitness disabled him by striking him with his car, thereby allowing police to arrest him at the scene. Another eyewitness identified him at the scene.

The trial of Cyrus Lee Beads and Joseph Omar Smith starts today. Beads is accused of shooting Lawrence Johnson, 44, Ronald McCutcheon, 19, and Jeremy Drake, 17, on the 3800 block of Roland View Avenue with a 9mm Glock in June 2005. Johnson died of his wounds and McCutcheon was paralyzed. Beads is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and assault and weapons charges.

Three homicides this weekend bring the total to 119. A man was shot last night on the west side, Antonio Alford, 22, was shot in Woodlawn, and Larry A. Thompson was killed on the east side.

A carjacking, a stabbing and lots of robbery and burglary in the blotter.

Baltimorean Matthew Oliphant was stabbed in the parking lot of the OC Denny's.

Bizjournal: Bmore accounting firm Ellin & Tucker critical in case against Enron.

Why are abortion-clinic bombers always male vigins? (See Robert Weiler Jr., left).

Old news, but what the hey: In Greektown, 21 people at an illegal poker game (including Judge Prevas' brother) were robbed of 15k.