Friday, June 15, 2007

June 15

Quote of the Weak: "I don't like waking up and reading on the front page of the Sunpapers that we're second in homicide in the country. I don't believe that's really factual." -- Mayor Dixon on FBI crime data (second item)

maurice and ericaPolice are looking for Maurice Crosby and Erica Ammenhauser for the murder of Marine Reservist Michael Simms on Sunday morning. Police say Crosby stabbed Simms with a knife while Ammenhauser, who has been arrested 11 times, "came down weilding a bat and an ax."

victim's father beats boy15-year-old Maurice Gordon was pronounced dead after being shot in the 2500 block of Linden Ave while sitting on a porch with some friends. The boy's father told Annie Linsky that Maurice "was not involved with drugs. Random violence. It is past crazy." He then proceeded to slap, beat and kick a boy who he said "set my son up" while photographer Monica Lopossay captured the scene, until Gordon's mother protected the victim with her own body.

Michael H. Wallace, of the 3100 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway in West Baltimore, was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sterling A. Carr Jr., 28. Wallace "served a brief prison sentence for an armed home invasion" four years ago three weeks after being let out on a suspended sentence for assault by Baltimore City District Court Judge Jamey H. Weitzman.

Should the fetus be deemed "viable" by the ME's office, David Lee Miller, accused of killing the woman pregnant with his child, could be the first person to be charged with fetal homicide under MD's 2005 "Murder and Manslaughter - Viable Fetus" law. (Here's a link to a pdf of the actual law.)

1,591 city parolees must report to the 5th Regiment Armory on June 30 to give a "genetic sample." And get your mind out of the gutter, it's a cheek swab.

Wow, that was quick! Sheila D. and Lenny have changed their stance on homicide detectives being required to walk beats.
Quote of the day #2: "It's amazing how quickly they switched gears with one unit. The plan, if there is one, is just to get [the Dixon administration] through three or four months until the election." -- Robert F. Cherry Jr., a union vice president and homicide detective

Teenagers robbing women in the Blotter.

Charles David Richardson IV was indicted for murdering Alevtina Zhilina and Trae Davon Allen in two separate HoCo incidents.

We never would have guessed: The bones found amongst 80's boobie magazines in an abandoned rowhouse in the Northeastern belong(ed) to a human male.

In Olney, 41-year-old "jimluvsyoungguys" got 10 years in prison for having sex with 13-year-old "twinkieboy."

51 comments:

John Galt said...

Dixon and Hamm are such f#@king dummies.

Sorry to be crude, but I see no reason to wait for elections: they need to gonow. The Council should be adopting an anti-stupidity resolution calling for their immediate removal.

Unknown said...

The killing of 17 yr old Maurice was senseless and tragic. According to the article, it occurred just before 2AM on a Wednesday. He was a freshman in high school! I was never allowed out that late at that age, not even on weekends. (I'm only 29, so times haven't changed that much!) And I lived in a VERY safe neighborhood where murders did not occur. So many of these murders could be prevented if parents were stricter with their children and kept them off the streets and out of trouble. As my mother used to say, the only thing that can occur at that hour of the morning is trouble.

I'm not blaming the parents - but drastic measures need to be taken to keep this from happening time and time again.

John Galt said...

Forget about Baltimore parents. They're often little more than children themselves. Your solution would lie in a general curfew. Declare a state of emergency or don't. Either way, it's here.

Anonymous said...

This is not just violence, its a war. And they are armed, we are not. They have the freedom and we do not (people who live in the SW know what I mean), We have to work for everything, they do not, and if we fight back, our punishment can be double theirs. They have pride, cool violent rap music, hip media coverage, and to make matters even worse, lately even the chicks. We walk with our heads down, eyes forward (afraid of being accused of dissing) and our lips sealed (afraid of being accused of snitching).
If you look at that picture (and thats the way it is in my neighborhood), you can see why its going to get worse everywhere theres an urban area everywhere in America. A lot worse.

Maurice Bradbury said...

That always amazed me when I lived in a not-so-great neighborhood, 11 p.m. there'd be toddlers and kids who had to go school the next day running around on the street! All the stuff that's so basic if you have normal parents-- getting a bath, tooth-brushing time, putting on PJs, bed time, did not exist to them. Whenever the kids got tired they'd just go fall asleep on the couch or in a stroller or whatever.

ppatin said...

According to the Sun there was a big fight at MCI-Hagerstown last night, 18 inmates injured, one hospitalized with serious stab wounds.

ppatin said...

Cybes, didn't you say you used to live in Hampden? That area ain't Roland Park, but by Baltimore standard I don't think it qualifies as a "not-so great neighborhood." There were a decent number of punks and wannabe-hoodlums, but murders are still pretty rare (as far as I know).

Marc said...

I call bullshit on this kid.

Just hanging out on someone else's porch at 2AM? He just bought an air conditioner - what, with his milk money? And why would one of his friends (the one his father beat up) has reason to "set him up"?

The daddy (so he says now - he apparently denied paternity in the past) has done some dealing himself. Take a look in the court records under his original name (Maurice M. Gordon minus the -Bey).

Anonymous said...

I know it's been established that the Sun's fact-checking efforts regarding the blotter are routinely subpar, but I notice that today they've referred to Filene's Basement at the Inner Harbor as "Helene's Basement". Huh?!?

Anonymous said...

I hate to dwell on it, but Dixon's statement about treating crime from a "holistic" perspective is reason enough for her to be immediately removed from office. It just means "I don't know what the hell I am doing in this job, but I have to say something." The combination of her, Hamm, Jessamy, etc. combine to make Baltimore the s*** pit it is for normal people. Basically, violent crime is legal here. Criminals do whatever the f*** they want, serve almost no time in jail, while everyone else s***s their pants everytime they have to walk to the grocery store. PLEASE, let's get rid of these losers NOW. We can't wait until the next election.

ppatin said...

Dude, Pat Jessamy just got re-elected in '06 with no significant opposition. We can get rid of Dixon, but our worthless State's Attorney is going to stick around for several more years.

ppatin said...

From today's Sun:

"A 21-year-old man freed on probation for assault last month -- and who also served a brief prison sentence for an armed home invasion four years ago -- was the latest murder suspect arrested this week by Baltimore police."

This sort of crap makes me want to scream. Multiple violent crime convictions, yet this piece of trash was out on the street. There's a very simple way to prevent murders: harsher prison sentences for violent felonies. Most murderers have long rap sheets that include crimes such as assault & armed robbery. If we treated these crimess seriously, and gave out real prison time (as in 10 years, no parole for a first offense) the murder rate would plummet because more future murderers would be in prison.

Anonymous said...

Hey ppatin,
I couldn't agree with you more. Everytime this disgusting s*** happens, we should describe the path taken that put these a**holes out on the street, including the names of the judges, dates of release, etc. Has anyone ever asked these judges what in god's name were they thinking when they suspend most of a sentence for a very serious violent crime? How the hell does one serve "a brief sentence" for a friggin' HOME INVASION!!!

John Galt said...

Are you kidding? Curt Anderson's recent bill to increase parole eligibility was overwhelmingly supported by the Baltimore City delegation. They're trying to put more of these guys onto the streets.

And Baltimore voters appear to be supportive. The population here is criminally-inclined.

What's needed is extrajurisdictional intervention, like when federal personnel were sent into Little Rock to prevent the execution of unlawful local sentiment in school segregation there.

Democracy doesn't work where most of the people have interests at odds with the basic criminal code.

John Galt said...

I had a home invasion in December '06: they still haven't processed the (very clear) prints, because they don't have enough staff in the crime lab.

Friggin' ridiculous.

ppatin said...

Galt, when you said "extrajurisdictional" I first thought you wrote "extrajudicial." I don't normally approve of vigilante justice, but the way things around here are going a lynch mob or two might do the city some good. Let's start with Skinny Suge, once he completes the ridiculously short sentence he got for assault.

DurhamSt said...

Parolee = potential voter.
The fat girl who is wanted for killing the Marine has been a scourge on my neighborhood for years. Locked up a few times but always back way too soon. Maybe now she will be gone for what, about 18 months?

Anonymous said...

I went back and read the sun aricle about this guy Wallace, the murder suspect. He was already a concicted felon who served (ridiculously short) time for an ARMED HOME INVASION when he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to injure. THIS SENTENCE WAS IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDED. I just can't believe this. It takes your breath away. I want this judge to answer, publicly, my question: "JUST WHAT THE F*** WERE YOU THINKING???" How in the world can we have judges this stupid? This guy and anyone else like him should themselves be in jail for putting the public in such danger. Galt, help me here, has the world gone insane? In any other jurisdiction, someone would SERVE at least 10 years for the home invasion, and if arrested again would probably get life. But here in Baltimore, hey, you're out on the street. That must be the holistic approach.

John Galt said...

asshol-istic

ppatin said...

Here is my very simple solution for violent crime in Baltimore. A conviction for armed robbery, aggravated assault, carjacking, or any felony committed with a gun gets you an automatic ten year sentence. Make it like in the federal system where you can get up to 15% off for good behavior, but you must do at least 85% of the sentence. Once you get out a second violent felony or gun crime gets you a life sentence, with no parole for the first 30 years. If anyone is hurt by your crime then it's no parole ever.

I know that I sometimes rant and rave about capital punishment and how I'd like to see us cane criminals like in Singapore, and I also know that that'll never happen. I don't think my suggestion above is that unreasonable though. Obviously no mayor can change state laws, but he or she could at least go to Annapolis to push for tougher sentences.

ppatin said...

Erica Ammenhauser (the woman who's wanted for killing the Marine) has managed to get a pretty decent sheet in the 2 & 1/2 years since she turned 18. It appears that she's been arrested four times. It was mostly for fairly petty stuff, but there was one second degree assault charge in there. What happened with that case? Nolle Prosequi. Typical.

On a more humorous note, Erica the hoodlum does appear to gain give pounds each time she's arrested. Gotta love how MD Judicial Case Search lists the person's weight.

ppatin said...

Whoops, that should have been "five" not "give".

Anonymous said...

I just get sick of the coddling that the politicians do. This explanation of "Oh gosh, the system was against them from the start!" holds absolutely no weight with me. There's responsible behavior and irresponsible behavior and leadership here needs to get more vocal about that.

As bad as it sounds, I honestly can only blame the politicians so much because they're essentially responding to what people want. Well, guess what? People aren't always the smartest bunch in the world. what we need is a politician to be very blunt about the state of affairs here and call for a harsher justice system for anyone that endangers lives, period.

Of course, that would require a kamikaze candidate that doesn't want a political career. Its a shame that Baltimore is horrible at creating those...

Caederus said...

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong here...

Maurice Gordon-Bey Sr. and another man beat up a minor in broad daylight in front of multiple wittness (with photographs), the police arrive and no one was arrested?

Does this seam odd to anyone else or am I just not seeing something?

Anonymous said...

WOW!

ppatin said...

"Does this seam odd to anyone else or am I just not seeing something?"

What do you expect in a city where you an expect "a brief prison sentence" for armed burglary. I mean, in some places that's actually considered to be a serious crime!

Unknown said...

Hocojoe - I was shocked to see that as well. I couldn't believe this that punk wasn't arrested for beating the kid up. But that's the way BCPD rolls - I've had friends beaten up by packs of teenagers, the cops come to break it up and instead of arresting the little demons, they send them on their way. It's sickening.

Maurice Bradbury said...

QTD 3 from the Sarah Silverman program:
"You know, being a cop, I’ve seen things that make you crap a book on how to puke."

WBAL said scErica had been arrested 11 times, but who's counting? Let's hope bitch gets on the moldy-baloney-sandwich-and-rat-milk diet really soon.

PP, we had 25 crackheads next door, a drug house down the way (that's still open for business to this day) and four (registered) sex offenders on the block. Not so nice! Though it is all very relative!

ppatin said...

Interesting. I'd really like to buy a house in a year or two, and Hampden seemed like it had a reasonably good combination of safety & affordability. Areas like Canton & Locust Point are out of my price range, & Pigtown (sorry, "Washington Village") is near some very nasty parts of the city.

Anonymous said...

Forget it, ppatin, just stay in Hopkins House. At least you can control your front door and balcony. It's the next best thing to living in a gated community, which in Baltimore, is essential.

Anonymous said...

What does the average victim of assault do when they find out the case will be "nolle prosequi"? Do they demand answers? Or does the SA only throw out cases when it's obvious the victim has no connections, money or clout, and won't make a stink?

Anonymous said...

I went to look at an apartment in Hampden being shown by a real estate agent (rental) and when I got there, there were two rat eaten lazy-boy chairs on the porch, one stained suede and one duct-taped naugahyde, an upside down ford hubcap filled with hundereds of cigarette butts, and at least a case worth of empty, half empty, and crumpled Natty Boh cans. Suffice it to say I took a pass on it.

ppatin said...

Heh, I'm moving out of Hopkins House in a month. Nice place, but the rent is just too much.

John Galt said...

Living here is about choices: pay too much or be victimized too much.

Most people get fed up and move to a real city.

Maurice Bradbury said...

Does anyone have a good estimate value of the Baltimore's heroin & cocaine trade?... how much gets spent in the city on drugs in a year?

Unknown said...

I was a Dixon fan until I read this. I have decided that there is no way I will vote for her now.

John Galt said...

This is how Missouri dealt with local municipal ineptitude of a pedagogical nature.

On drugs, if we have 50,000 addicts and most are heroin users and heroin users need a fix like 6 times a day,... do the multiplication. A fix costs maybe $25 retail, but a small bag could be $15. An analogous bag of coke is maybe $20.

John Galt said...

Another teenager's been shot at Norwood & Coldspring.

Gor said...

"I couldn't believe this that punk wasn't arrested for beating the kid up."

If the kid is unknown to the police and doesn't go to them (for whatever reason), there isn't much the police can do. Hell, it's hard enough when you do have witness/victim willing to talk, but when the "victim" is probable part the murder I don't think he would be too keen on filing a complaint.

Caederus said...

Here is the origional article with the Dixon quote. Funny how they burried it in the Howard County section. But then I cann't vote against her.

I love the end where the burbs are to blame for the gang problem.

Anonymous said...

Well, remember that Dixon is right. Baltimore is only 2nd out of "large" cities with populations over 500,000. That's a fact a lot of people in the media seem to miss. There are several smaller cities, such as Gary Indiana, with higher murder rates.

SUPREME said...

"Maurice Gordon-Bey Sr. and another man beat up a minor in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses (with photographs), the police arrive and no one was arrested?"

"Does this seem odd to anyone else or am I just not seeing something?"

Its seems ODD that you even ask that this MILD, and i do mean
MILD STOMPING!!! was appropriate...
A few more bodies will be laid to rest after this incident...its the
BALTIMORE WAY!!!!!

John Galt said...

Yeah, let's see a show of hands of those who intend to live in Gary, IN, Camden, NJ, or Compton, CA ??

I didn't think so.


As for the stompdown, since it's on film, I'd be inclined to prosecute the stomper and use the State's (not the assailee's) case against him to induce him to offer evidence on the murder case as a condition of his plea bargain.

Anonymous said...

Hampden has its own set of problems. Yeah, maybe no murders or shootings, but there's still a good bit of property crime and domestic violence. I lived in Hampden for almost 5 years, and while there were great things about it, there was also plenty of sh*t to put up with. Car break-ins, packs of feral children throwing stuff at your windows, parents that tell you to "F*CK OFF!" when you bring their children's behavior to their drunken attention, Avenue thugs that like to randomly assault the "hipsters/yuppies" (aka people with jobs). Of all the cities I've lived in, I've never seen as much crap as I did in Baltimore, and I've lived in NYC. I left Baltimore because it was no longer worth it to spend so much money in rent just to live in an area with some peace of mind. There are lots of cities that are safer and cheaper than Baltimore at this point.

John Galt said...

And so you have it:

Those who are high-functioning and not criminally-inclined will be able to afford a greater tradeoff of safety vs. cost-savings and won't stay here.

Those who are incapable won't be able to afford NYC for long and will default back to Baltimore. Those who are criminal will be punished in NYC and will therefore return here, where they won't be.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Remember that whole "more cops to walk the beat" thing? Yeah, about that...

Let the records say that they are at least consistent in their idiocy.

Anonymous said...

Hey ppatin, I suggest you reconsider leaving Hopkins house. I'm spending about $200 more a month here but it seems like the best $ I ever spent compared to living by 25th and St Paul. That area SUCKS no matter how you look at it, Benefits district nitwits and other urban pioneers (cannon fodder) notwithstanding. Over there, you're the turd squeezed between the left butt cheek of Remington and the right butt cheek of Greenmount ave. At Hopkins House, you're pretty safe for a while in all directions, except southeast, but even then, hell doesn't start for about 6 blocks.

Anonymous said...

I started to go pro-life after recently having my first child, but after seeing a few displays of Hampden style "parenting" complete with 18 yr old mom pulling junior's arm out of it's socket while simultaneously lighting a newport, and conversing with other Avenue luminaries "Hey, f*** off!" "Yeah, you f*** off! HA! HA!" "Whaddid Johnny get?" "A year!"
""Yeah!" (Not exactly Alexander Woolcott at the Algonquin round table, I guess) I'm DEFINITELY back to VERY pro-choice.

Gor said...

I have a feeling that in a few years "twinkieboy" will be in the news again as he follows in the footsteps of his mentor "jimluvsyoungguys".

Maurice Bradbury said...

most victims of molestation don't grow up to be perps.

Gor said...

I not entirely sure he was much of a "victim", the way I read into the article and noticing it was 3rd degree sexual assualt, the boy seemed to know exactly what he was getting into. What with the name "jimluvsyoungguys" and his "twinkieboy",I'm sure "twinkieboy" wasn't too upset with the encounter.