Monday, July 21, 2008

The reporter who broke the Zach Sowers "sleeping baby" story covers the farmer's market protest.

BCPD arrested Edward Leon Medley for a 1980 rape.

Four years later, the courts have finally settled the case of Janet Jackson's tittyflash.
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13 comments:

Cham said...

This drawn-out Zach Sowers thing is starting to irritate me. Perhaps these enthusiastic protesters should turn their attention to the other 299 murder victims and the many unsolved and uncared-about cases that go along with them.

Tue Jul 22, 09:01:00 AM EDT
ppatin said...

Cham:

Zach's family and friends are the ones raising a stink. If the families of other murder victims did the same thing there are plenty of people who'd give their support (assuming of course the victim didn't have a rap sheet with a dozen felonies on it, in which case we should all be grateful he's dead.)

Tue Jul 22, 09:36:00 AM EDT
Cham said...

Having this Burns woman fired gets us where? She made an inappropriate comment. Everyone says something they regret every so often. This protest was petty. Has anyone looked at her record, did she deserve to lose her job? How does this improve anything in Baltimore other than making Mr. Sowers friends and family feel better about themselves for a millisecond?

As far as those other 299 victims, where some of them might previous convictions, do they deserve to die and do their murders deserve to be relegated to 1 paragraph in the Ink and with absolutely no interest from the media?

I'm not completely convinced that those other victims don't have friends and families that are horrified and upset. I think we have a selective media that caters to people that who buy newspapers.

Tue Jul 22, 10:43:00 AM EDT
ppatin said...

It's not just that Margaret Burns misspoke, it's mainly her pigheaded refusal to apologize or retract what she said. She is paid over $100,000 dollars a year, which is more than the overwhelming majority of ASAs make. If the cash-strapped SA's office is going to pay a spokeswoman that much money she had better do an amazing job, which she clearly is not.

Tue Jul 22, 11:01:00 AM EDT
Unknown said...

Idiots like cham are exactly what's wrong with Baltimore. How dare the Sowers family have the audacity to raise a stink about the useless, overpaid and corrupt SA and her spokesmoron! Just because other victims families act like mute lemmings doesn't mean everyone has to. The Sowers activists WILL have the effect of helping the other victims and future victims by getting rid of an SA that lets violent felons walk on murder charges, etc. I'm irritated by the fools like cham that seem to infest this city and try to prevent any meaningful change from happening.

Tue Jul 22, 11:11:00 AM EDT
Unknown said...

Cham, if you're so irritated, why don't YOU publicize elements of the other cases you feel should get more attention?

Tue Jul 22, 11:15:00 AM EDT
Cham said...

The murderer got 40 years in prison, which is 4 times what he would have gotten in most European countries. If we hung this kid on the step of city hall in front of a crowd of millions I am convinced Zach Sowers friends and family still wouldn't be satisfied.

Have these friends of Zach Sowers worked at all to increase a police presence in the park, lobbied for better lighting, encouraged the police department to activate the truancy violation program in the Patterson neighborhood this summer? I'm not seeing it. All I hear about from that Sowers crowd is that the sentences handed down were too lenient.

Oh, and what have I don't recently?...all of the above. I'm more proactive than reactive. I don't sit around and whine, I do something.

I'll be down at city hall this afternoon being proactive about something in my community all afternoon. You can hang me out to dry if you wish in the meantime.

Tue Jul 22, 11:34:00 AM EDT
ppatin said...

"The murderer got 40 years in prison, which is 4 times what he would have gotten in most European countries."

No, one of the murderers got 40 years in prison, and he'll end up serving about 20. The others got 8 years a piece, and will end up serving roughly 3. That fact that European countries are too pussyfied to punish criminals properly doesn't make our own legal system any less shitty.

Tue Jul 22, 11:50:00 AM EDT
Unknown said...

Holy crap, is it true scumbag Trayvon Ramos will be out in 20 yrs? He'll be 37, and I'm sure he'll kill someone within a year of being out. The other scum were involved in armed felonies before and after the Sowers murder. How many other crimes do you think these vermin will be responsible for just a few years from now?

Tue Jul 22, 12:53:00 PM EDT
Unknown said...

I still don't understand what the sound the marbles in cham's head are making are about. So, because the Sowers people aren't doing everything, they should do nothing? Huh?

Tue Jul 22, 01:04:00 PM EDT
ppatin said...

Harold: There's no way to say for sure. If he does something stupid like try to shank a guard in prison then I'd imagine his life suspend all but 40 years sentence will turn into a proper life sentence. As long as he keeps his nose clean I think he'll be paroled in about 20 years though. Parole in this state is very complicated, but I recall the news coverage of the case saying that he'd probably do a little over 20 years.

BTW, I know that the governor must approve the parole of any scumbag serving a life sentence, but does that also apply to a sentence where the scumbag gets life with all but a certain amount suspended?

Tue Jul 22, 01:06:00 PM EDT
helix said...

To be fair, we lock up more people in this country than any other, yet we have crime rates that are absurdly high by global civilized standards. I'm not saying that many people don't deserve to be in jail, but you have to admit something is deeply dysfunctional in our country when it comes to crime and punishment-- and it IS NOT that aren't locking up enough people.

cham is mostly wrong, but he does have a point. Firing burns will not do much at all.

The main thing that is wrong here is that we have failed as a society to get a grip on criminals before they become monsters. You can draw and quarter Ramos for all I care, nothing you do to him will rectify the damage he has done.

Ramos SHOULD HAVE BEEN taken out of circulation a few months before the attack when he and his buddies carjacked someone. Too many juvies get away with stuff for too long and then we all act mortified when they eventually commit a horrific crime.

I keep saying this over and over to people: to impact crime in general, you have to focus on LESSER crimes and INTERVENE in the lives of juvies BEFORE they are lost to a career of crime. Doing so will save their victims and the would-be preps.

Tue Jul 22, 03:33:00 PM EDT
Mr. Mephistopheles said...

I agree with Helix's comment about the carjacking incident. I seriously wonder why the Cecil County State's Attorney office and the judge presiding over the arraignment hearing didn't take any heat for letting Trayvon out on bail.

Tue Jul 22, 03:51:00 PM EDT

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