Huh? "The city's no. 2 top prosecutor — appointed late last year by Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein — isn't licensed to practice law in Maryland."
FBI suspects home-invasion robbers got some help from the MVA
Documentary exposes sex abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community. (Oh, CP. "'I didn’t know that I was going to become the molestation writer of Jewish Baltimore,' [Phil Jacobs] said. It was more or less thrust upon him ...")
This will Illinois you Pp -- the state just chucked their death penalty
Same-sex marriage bill goes forth with an official vote scheduled for tomorrow (or so says TDR, the WaPo only calls it "likely"). Thanks Cham for the "House Republicans & DOMA" video... that Brian Moulton just needs to meet the right girl. Love the people having smoke breaks in the background.
Web finds: the blog of Ehrlich's former "Prince of Darkness" Joe Steffan, who apparently enjoys puns, making up nicknames and white-on-black type (two out of three things I like in a blog). Shame he hasn't updated in a while.
34 comments:
MB:
Thanks for thinking of me!
Yes, I wasn't happy with Illinois, although their DP was effectively eliminated by former governor (and convicted felon) George Ryan quite a while back.
Re: Bernstein's new deputy.
He works for the US Attorney's Office, and to work for the feds as a lawyer a law license in any state will do. I'm guessing that's why he doesn't have an MD license.
I may have failed to mention the best part, that Maggie Gallagher, the National Organization for Marriage's 5 foot 400 pound talking potato, has written a book. It's entitled(I am trying to write this with a straight face):
The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially
Cham:
Lol @ your talking potato description of Maggie Gallagher :)
Don't make fun, you guys, she was born that way. It isn't right to marginalize someone because of their genetic predisposition. Heh.
No, Maggie Gallagher wasn't born that way. You can see the progression in the images. You might surmise that before she married she was a thin hottie. One of the pictures contains a gay protester with a sign that says, "Hey NOM, You think we look bad???"
I didn't find thin hottie pictures but I did find this!
I'm seriously regretting my robocall promise of impalement for the leadership of the National Organization for Marriage. When it comes to Ms. Gallagher I wouldn't know which fold to begin looking for the insertion point.
roll her in flour and look for the wet spot?
Heh... talking potato...
Update: Now "more than 60" arrested along with lil Snoop.
This big "operation" of heroin and marijuana may probably just reveal that the police raided a home with a lot people enjoying some mind-altering substances. First it is 30, now it is 60, tomorrow it will be 120. Next week all charges will be dropped against 117, 2 will get charged with posession and 1 will be CDS-NARC NOT MARIHUANA DIST/DISP/MAN. 4 Months from now those charges will be Nolle Prosequied, the police will get a bunch of overtime and some courtroom personnel will earn their keep and absolutely nothing will change. I won't even bother reading the stupid article.
Where's you wedding ring, Maggie?
http://images.wikia.com/liberapedia/images/3/36/Ringless_maggie_425.jpg
Gerard Mungo Sr, the father of the 7-year-old dirtbike rider in Oliver, was picked up in the raid too.
Wow, it's a "Who's Who" of Baltimore's best and brightest...
@Cham - I dunno - "raids Thursday throughout Baltimore and surrounding counties"; "federal and state warrants"; "'Our goal was to totally dismantle this organization from head to toe, and everything in between, Carl J. Kotowski, the Drug Enforcement Administration's assistant special agent in charge, said as hundreds of officers got their assignments at M&T Bank Stadium before dawn;" "Baltimore police officers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms"
Sounds like a bit more than that...
David Simon has written something in the Sun related to Snoop's arrest. He makes some good points, except that for some reason not everybody living in East and West Baltimore is in the drug game.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-david-simon-snoop-statement-story,0,5344675.story
Cham, your point is well taken, except for those facing federal charges. Usually, the case has already been reviewed by the U.S. Attorney before the raids.
It's a sad case, but if you have seen the druggies in action in your neighborhood, you'll be glad they're gone.
By the way, I do disagree with this Perp walk crap. She was only one who the cameras were ready for close up. Making a circus out of it, I think, smacks against your professinalism.
Sean, all that means is that every law enforcement agency this side of the Mississippi is making it their point to suck on the overtime tit. I'm glad it rained buckets so they were all miserable while wasting my money. I don't really care who is smoking dope and pot to self-medicate. The only difference between illegal drug abusers and legal drug abusers is health insurance. Opiates are opiates.
I don't really care who's smoking dope or pot either. I don't think anyone who was arrested, though, was arrested for smoking anything.
Let me be clear - I'm all in favor of decriminalization. Really. In an ideal world, our current insane laws regarding recreational drug use would be scrapped and drugs would be regulated and taxed, like alcohol and cigarettes (which, as we all know, kill far more people that a little bit of the chronic). But, in this world, they aren't. This has given rise to a vicious criminal underworld that has absolutely no qualms about killing anyone who gets in the way of their bottom line and has absolutely no concern for the lives of innocent bystanders who may just happen to catch a bullet.
Again, I know what the long-term solution to the problem (at least part of the long-term solution to the violent crime) is - legalization. We saw the same thing with prohibition in the early 20th century, which gave rise to violent bootlegging and booze-running gangs. Federal, state, and local law enforcement and money was dumped at the problem, with little to no result. In the end, sanity prevailed, and I can now drink my Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale whenever I want (it's delicious).
Funny thing about decriminalization, though. It doesn't necessarily equal the end of violence associated with the drug trade. In the Netherlands, that's stoner's paradise, the example that every drug reform advocate sites, the fighting over marijuana - yes, marijuana - is escalating and getting increasingly bloody. There have been grenade attacks on "coffee shops" that are legally selling weed, and the Hells Angels control a huge portion of the trade there. So it's actually a bit naive to assume that all the problems would just magically go away if drugs were legalized.
Oh, and all that weed that comes into the US? That harmless weed? It's very very often supplied by Mexican drug gangs. I'm sure I don't need to mention what fine people they are and how pleasant their tactics are.
If there were a viable candidate in favor of changing our drug laws, I'd support him/her. I will vote for any proposition, law, etc that puts forth a more common-sense approach to drugs. But in the meantime, while drugs are illegal, while the drug trade is plied by greedy, heavily-armed thugs with no morality, while I live in the city with the highest drug trade in the country, I'll support the efforts of law enforcement.
I read David Simon's letter, and while I still think he's a brilliant TV producer I'm getting a little tired of his preaching. "Snoop" was given the kind of second chance that 99% of former convicts can only dream of. She killed someone, was given a slap on the wrist for it (at least that's what I consider six years in prison for murder) and then got an amazing break with her role in The Wire.
Yes I know that her life has been very difficult in a way that I can't imagine, but guess what, at a certain point you're responsible for your actions regardless of who you are or where you come from. As Buz pointed out there are plenty of people from bad parts of Baltimore who don't turn to hoodlumery and drug dealing. Yeah I know it's easy for someone like me from a stable family, middle class background, etc etc to get on my high horse, but then again I didn't stab anyone to death when I was 14.
Sean--Well written piece, sir!
While there's a lot of people out there extolling the wonders of legalization, the truth of the matter is that there is absolutely no traction for it in our democracy at this time. Can you imagine if, say, Obama, or O'Malley, or SRB said that they will support legalization? They would be pilloried!
I agree a lot of problems are caused by the illegality, and I agree that alcohol and cigarettes are the most dangerous drugs, and that yet they are legal. Yet, we all must live in the world we have; I have seen no viable movement to de-criminalize--except for the so-called medical marijuana movement.
And, as Holland is finding out, you cannot legalize in isolation. Can you imagine: Baltimore's economy would suddenly boom if the mayor and police commissioner declared they will no longer enforce any drug laws. Hotels will be filled, the budget will be bursting with $$$, and a building boom would occur. But, then, watch out for the side effects.
PPatin,
Simon said a lot of correct things in his article, but also said things I disagree with.
The problem with the snoops of this world is that plenty of folks having babies shouldn't be, yet the society extols the virtues of "pretty babies": many people are against abortion, pre-marital sex, and gays getting married, but when Baltimore's schools and foster-care are filled with kids nobody wants and can care for, you get Snoops.
And, PP, if one goes to prison for murder, and you don't get an educations, or psycho-social treatment, or learn how to live in a society and support yourself, you're gonna go right back to doing what you've done.
I just wish they would have perp-walked the allegedly violent criminals they supposedly rounded up yesterday.
I will NOT support the efforts of law enforcement. Through a strange set of circumstances I've gotten very interested in the life and times of Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb. Mr. Lipscomb died on Brice Street in West Baltimore of a heroin overdose....in 1963. That was before Viet Nam. Billie Holiday, another famous Baltimorean, died in New York in 1959 from complications due to her heroin use. Heroin had been on the street illegally for over 60 years. What we've been doing for the last 60 years isn't working. The problem grows worse all the time. The stuff is cheaper and more pure than it has ever been. The only thing the War on Drugs has been doing effectively is lining the pockets of law enforcement and the judicial system with MY money. I'm open to any new ideas: Decriminalization, better and more rigid treatment options, counseling, government control over the drug supply. We need to think some new thoughts on this but we are so entrenched in the War on Drugs and our insistence that it works we fail to look at anything else. I'll cite racism as the core problem.
Cham, again, I absolutely agree with the need for reform. And I believe that drug addiction needs to be treated like the medical and psychological problem that it is. The political will, clearly, is completely lacking, as Buz pointed out.
And one more thing, there is a place where drug laws are no longer enforced....because the opiates are quite legal now. The hotels ARE filled, the airport is teeming and there's a traffic jam on all the roads with people trying to get there. Everyone is quite high and quite hap hap happy, especially the homeless addicts who finally have found the perfect utopia. This place has a name, they call it Florida.
Uh.... what?
I guess you haven't heard about what is going on down there. Florida is turning into a 3 ring circus.
isn't it eeenteresting, Buz, that most often the same people who are waging war against abortion also tend to be the ones working against sex ed and "Obamacare." If abortion is the worst thing in the world, why would you oppose making sure everyone past puberty had a thorough understanding of biology access to birth control?
.. and for that matter, the same conservatives who are "constitutional originalists" when it comes to picking judges will tell you with a straight face that our government was founded as a "Biblically based" nation as if the First Amendment didn't exist.
The Koch Bros et al are not going to be satisfied until they dominate a ruling class of oligarchs presiding over a nation of undereducated, overpopulating, prescription-opiate addicted wage slaves swimming in toxic waste.
Anywho, I wonder where the Federalists stand on the whole gay marriage thing?
.. and what Sean said. Legalization is a great idea, but as dear departed Judge Prevas once said, "if drugs were legal, then drug dealers would just figure out how to make you pay a toll on the way to the clinic."
speaking of our underclass, if I was on the jury of someone arrested for drug possession and nothing else, I'd nullify in a minute. But the impression I get is that addicts generally can't afford to fight charges decently, so they plead out or the case is nol prossed, with the punishment being Central Booking itself. I hope Snoop gets a real jury trial, and I agree that perp walk was awful, like she was a 300-pound marlin.
MB:
A typical addict probably can't afford to fight the charges themselves, but they do have access to a public defender. PDs may get a bad rap, but I've heard that they're really unfairly denigrated. Your typical public defender is apparently much more skilled and experienced than a low-end private practice attorney who does some criminal defense. Sure they're overworked and under-resourced, but so are the ASAs who're prosecuting these low-level cases.
they may be skilled and experienced, but I'm sure none of them is masochistic enough to pursue jury trials just to make a point, when Cracky McOpiate is just going to get a nol pross or PBJ anyway.
A simple possession charge would probably be a low-level misdemeanor with a relatively light penalty, which means the case would be tried in front of a District Court judge. The right to a jury trial in Maryland only applies if the penalty is 90 days or more in jail.
heroin possession penalty in MD = up to 4 years for the 1st offense, up to 8 years for 2nd or more.
In Maryland all CDS charges are jury trial eligible. A few years ago they attempted to get the penalty for possession of marijuana reduced to 90 days, but the Republicans and several democrats weren't having it. Other than a few charges, (DWI, Malicious Destruction of Property or Driving Without a License) you have a jury trial right, and depending on where your case is being tried, you would be an absolute fool not to utilize that right.
PDs are like any group of lawyers, they have some of the best lawyers in the entire state working there. They also have some of the worst. As a defendant, you have no choice in the selection process, the only thing you can be sure of is the assigned APD will have 20 to 30 other cases that day. So the amount of time and preparation your case will receive will reflect that.
Andrew
(A private defense attorney)
I hope this is the best thing that ever happened to "Snoop". I never heard of Snoop before yesterday as I have no interest in the Wire. If I wanted to watch the Wire I can save the wear and tear on my TV and just look out the window. I don't need to be a creepy voyeur in my own city.
I hope Snoop works this notoriety and it will make her into a bigger star that she ever dreamed. Look how well Mr. Sheen is working his crack habit to his benefit.
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