RIP Blue Light Cameras!

Fritze reports it's good riddance to O'Malley's election-season folly, blue-light cameras! (Estory)

When I was at a CJCC meeting while the lights were being installed during the election season, the estimates I heard to get the first generation of cameras up and going was $800,000 - $1.3 million each.
$30k is a bit of a diff!

Sentences for Assault, 1st-Degree Murder of Cecil Saunders, 28

Edited, from the SA's Office:

Judge Robert Kershaw sentenced Leneal Montay Collins, 30, of the unit block of South Wickham Road and Demetrius Williams, 19, of the 5900 block of Deywalt Avenue of first-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault for their participation in the brutal attack assault on Cecil Saunders today. Judge Kershaw sentenced Demetrius Williams to 25 years in prison for assault and 20 years for conspiracy to assault to run consecutively and Collins to 25 years for the conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree and ten years for the assault in the second degree. Assistant State’s Attorney Diana Smith of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.

On March 14, 2008 a city jury convicted Ernest Knox, aka Donnell Williams, 25, of the 900 block of Woodington Road of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. Judge Kershaw sentenced Knox to life suspend all but 100 years for the first degree murder of Cecil Saunders and 20 years for the conspiracy to first degree assault to run consecutively. On August 9, 2006 police identified Knox on a private, security camera beating and kicking Cecil Saunders, 28, 35 times in the head and chest inside a stairwell at the Executive Inn in the 3600 block of Pulaski Highway.

Microeconomics Dept.

Van Smith has another CP web exclusive on the travels of one indicted drug dealer's money.

May 16

Damn, last night was a bloody night. First, a guy got shot somewhere on E. North Ave. and is in critical condition, then four guys got shot somewhere else on E. North Ave. and one of them died, then two guys got shot in the legs in Park Heights, then one guy got shot in West Baltimore and died.

The cops tried to serve a warrant to a Lansdowne man, but ended up serving him a belly full of death.

Lewin Powell apparently didn't try to hide the fact that he killed his mother.

Perv du jour Richard David Morris is looking at a few decades of being the prey instead of the predator.

Lots of stolen clothing in the Blotter, including one guy who gave up his scarf at gunpoint.

They're taking down the blue light cameras.

Another story on the asshole dealers who are stashing drugs at St. Frances Academy. One student said, "This is our neighborhood, and we don’t want drugs in it."

Teenage Boys go Insane!

Daniel Eugene Thompson, Jr., 17, was arrested for stabbing new dad Carlos Santay-Carrillo.

Lewin Carlton Powell III reportedly killed his mom in a fight over grades.

It's a CP Web Exclusive!

Speaking of well-educated sons, the CP's Jeffrey Anderson and Van Smith write about Phillip Winkfield, the son of a federal judge who may soon be facing his own federal charges.

Kisses and Echoes

From the blogosphere: A budding Republican named Kevin posts an editorial on Baltimore's crime problem.
Don't forget to install a stat counter, kid!

And some real family values in CA! The California Supreme Court just ok'd gay marriage! A historic day!

May 15

Another Balto County teen went apeshit. This time, it's a 16-year-old McDonough scholarship student who beat his mother to death with a bat and tried to do the same to his father.

There was a triple shooting with one fatality in the Perkins Homes on Dallas Ct., just a block away from where Frederick Douglass invested some of his money in building homes for poor people.

Things got a little stabby this morning at the Bolton House in Mt. Royal.

A merchant turned over security camera footage that shows a possible suspect in Carlos Santay-Carrillo's murder.

Police have released a sketch of a man who might know something about the murder of Nancy Schmidt in Remington.

Kerri King pleaded not guilty. I wonder what her story is? Maybe she loaned the car to one of her drunk stripper friends, or maybe it's just that The Man is keeping her down.

The new dealers in East Baltimore have no respect for the old dealers' tradition of respecting the sacred space at St. Frances Academy.

There was a bank robbery in Federal Hill on Monday.

The family of Norman Stamp is filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

A murder in Towson!

Split-level in Riderwood? Victim named Donna Rosemarie Campbell-Powell, aged 39? sounds like another domestic...

Guilty Plea for Philip Airey's Murder

Tracy Asbury pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault before the Honorable John Addison Howard. Police believe Airey was killed during a fight with the suspects in Curtis Bay (South Baltimore).
The maximum sentence for second degree murder is 30 years and 25 years for conspiracy to assault. Sentencing will be held sub curia with a date to be set. The story from the SA's office:

"On June 20, 2007 Anne Arundel County Fire Department responded to the scene of a car fire in the field off a ramp leading to West Nursery Road off of I-295. The firefighters noticed the 1993 Chevrolet Prism gas cap was missing, license plates were missing and the area around the car was also burned. When fire officials popped the trunk they found decomposed remains of a body later identified as Philip Calvin Airey Jr., 36.

Statement of facts. Philip Airey had been reported missing by his mother on June 19, 2007. She last saw her son on June 18 just before he left to meet Tracy Asbury at a local bar. According to witness statements, Airey arrived alone, ordered two drinks before Asbury showed up at the bar. The two were observed by witnesses having drinks and playing pool together for several hours before Asbury left the bar alone at midnight. Asbury was observed on her cell phone as she left the bar. Cell phone records revealed that Asbury was calling Michael Martin and Robert Speake. Airey ordered his last drink after Asbury left at 12:07 a.m. Cell phone records indicate Asbury made several cell phone calls to Airey between 12:40 and 12:42 a.m. Shortly after that time Airey arrived at the house on Pennington Avenue. According to witnesses, upon his entrance to the house he was met with fists, kicks and punches in the living room. The fight moved down into the basement where he was further assaulted and ultimately stabbed to death. Witnesses at the house at the time of the assault gave statements that they saw Michael Martin, Tracy Asbury and Robert Speake assault Airey and later saw a body wrapped in a blanket and a sleeping bag in the basement of the house. Another witness gave a statement that the next day, in the early morning, he saw Philip Airey’s prism in the alley and that Tracy Asbury was standing next to the vehicle and the trunk of the car was open. Witnesses gave statements that Asbury had spoken openly about an elaborate plan to assault Airey over the course of several weeks.

Speake, 19, [pleaded] guilty April 7, 2008 to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon (knife) with intent to injure. Under terms of the plea agreement Speake was to testify truthfully in the Asbury trial. and will receive a prison term of 58-years suspend all but 43-years at a later date."

Michael Martin’s murder trial is pending.
Assistant State’s Attorney Theresa Shaffer of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.

May 14

Anna D. points out that despite our recent influx in murders, we're still killing each other much less frequently than we were last year at this time. She also provided ID's for four of the recent murder victims.

A rare misstep from Linskey: Quite a different story has emerged re. the gun battle May 7 on Ellwood Ave!
Turns out the 18-year-old who reportedly shot his mother actually shot his mother's friend. Alleged rotten teen Montreal Proctor, 18, is now in the city jail being charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder.

A look back at some of our city's most famous "criminals," who were motivated by something far greater than drugs, money, and street cred.

Greg Kane focuses on a group of students who are kicking ass in all the right ways.

Grad Student Robbed of Soda

JHU Homewood Campus
ARMED ROBBERY
Unit Block East 29th Street
MAY 13, 2008 - 1:05 AM

A graduate student had parked his vehicle and was walking east in the unit block of E. 29th Street when a black SUV drove slowly by him and stopped. Two unknown males wearing black bandanas over their faces got out of the SUV. One suspect pointed, what appeared to be, a long-barreled gun at the student while the other suspect went through his pockets. A wallet and a 12-pack of soda were taken from the victim who was not injured. The two suspects ran back to the SUV which then drove west on W. 29th Street. Baltimore Police and Campus Officers responded. Investigation continuing.

Thanks Colin!
Loving the new level of detail at CrimeBaltimore.com!

UPDATE: shot baby wasn't shot after all, but had his head scraped as grandma dove for cover.

Fresh from the Gov's Desk

Brand-new laws "expanding the state's collection of DNA samples from criminal suspects, establishing a commission to study the death penalty and delaying a ban on phosphorous in dish detergents."

May 13

There's a follow-up story on the completely chickenshit murder of father-to-be Carlos Santay-Carrillo. For all you cynics out there who are waiting to hear about the victim's rap sheet, it's looking like he was a pretty decent guy who was a victim of a random attack.

If a stray bullet penetrated the outside wall of your O'Donnell Heights rowhouse and suddenly you noticed your baby's head was bleeding, would you run outside to be safe? I mean, the bullets came from the outside, right? MJB, maybe you should address the proper course of action in your next book.

Two men were shot last night, one in Allendale (in the Southwestern) and the other on N. Collington in Middle East. (Or is that the Middle East? It sounds kinda weird saying "A man was shot in Middle East." Of course, it doesn't sound as weird as saying "I saw a bunch of happy children singing songs and playing with puppies and smelling flowers in Middle East.")

Irwin's trying out a new dialect: "A deliveryman for Papa John's was returning to the store about 5 p.m. Saturday when he at a stop sign in the 1300 block of Filbert St." (Also in the Blotter: a couple of shootings and a stabbing.)

Could someone please ask the dipshit editor at the Examiner why he/she thought it was a good idea to put the story about customers who aggressively threw coins at a McDonald's employee above the story about police searching for one of the Edgewood kidnappers?

Three men were arrested, and they're suspected in a slew of city robberies (including the one against a grocery-bearing woman on Schenley Rd. a few weeks ago).

Aaron McCown, the respected Old Town youth football coach who got busted for threatening a ref with a loaded gun at one of his Pop Warner team's games, got 6 1/2 years.

The witness intimidation trial for Yusef Winston-Bey and Victor Shuron has been postponed again. Of course, the trial is a moot point because Margaret Mead says Winston-Bey is "absolutely innocent."

Freddie "flash and boom" Mackler is out on bail and chilling at his brother's house in Owings Mills.

May 12

Okay, this is the saddest and most infuriating story I've heard about Baltimore in... uh... well, I was going to write "in a long time," but unfortunately the proper statement is more like "in about three days." Anyway, Carlos Santay, 19, was fatally stabbed at a Catonsville gas station was putting gas in the family car so he could drive his pregnant wife to the hospital. She gave birth to their first child a few hours after her husband died.

Mothers of murder victims speak out.

A woman drove Timothy Swann Jr. to Shock Trauma, stuck him in a wheelchair, and drove off before he could die. (Sun story)

The man who was killed by a gun-toting bicyclist on Friday night was ID'd as 18-year-old David Henderson. Onlookers at the scene claim they were roughed up by police.

Violence, violence, and more violence in the Blotter. (We even had some flare gun violence.)

Hit-and-run victim Michael Thompson is still in Shock Trauma, and the U-Haul driver has been ruled out as a suspect. Surely, one of you fine readers was shooting some sweet YouTube footage at the McDonald's on Perring Parkway on April Fools Day and accidentally videotaped the crime, right?

There's a new sheriff in town. Actually, it's a new police chief, the town is Annapolis, and they're on track to more than double last year's homicide stats.

"We believe this is just a personal issue he has with uniforms."

May 11

Baltimore City police say two Baltimore City teens were abducted from a bus stop, tortured and possibly sexually assaulted. A suspect, 21 year old Christopher Johnson, has been arrested.

Alleged scorned-lesbian murderer captured by her victim's son in Joppatowne, HarfCo

In the county, a male victim was stabbed to death yesterday at the Carroll Fuel gas station in the 5200 block of Baltimore National Pike.

Blood Convicted of Shooting Crip Ex-GF

Friday, a Baltimore City jury convicted Randy Golden, 19, of the 3600 block of St. Victor Street today of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, wear/carry/transport a handgun. The jury deliberated approximately two hours before reaching its verdict.

Judge Timothy J. Doory scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2008 at which time he faces a maximum possible prison term of life plus 23 years.

On January 9, 2007 at 12:00PM in the 600 block of Washburn Avenue Golden shot his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Stefanski, once in the back of the head. The shooting took place in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Witnesses testified that two days before the shooting, Golden warned three different people, including the victim’s sisters, that he intended to kill Stefanski. The State asserted that the motive for the shooting was that Stefanski began selling drugs for the Crips, a rival gang of the Bloods, of which Golden is a member. Stefanski’s new boyfriend was also a Crip.

Assistant State’s Attorneys Lisa Phelps of the Homicide Division and Brandis Marsh of the Narcotics Division prosecuted this case.

Humbert Arrested in CV Rapes!

The state has in custody one Marlow Humbert, 44.
Humbert?!