Three Little Trees

Adan Espinoza Canela

The Espinoza/Canela case has been dragging on for nearly a decade, but is the end near? Adan Espinoza Canela has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder,* making him eligible for parole in 2019. We never really found out what happened to make him want to kill his three young cousins, but the prevailing theory is Adan's now-dead stepfather Victor Perez's spurned advances to Adan's mom ChaCha. To paraphrase my attempted summary in March, Adan "Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of [former co-defendant] Policarpio. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe [alleged mastermind] were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez." Here's a chart.* Said Adan in court yesterday, "I thought that my family knew me, really that they would understand ... but I see that's not it. … They broke my heart."
Said the children's father, Policarpio's uncle, Mimi's husband, Ricardo, "They were three little trees that were growing. They were cut. They will never flower again."

Three people were shot yesterday*

Last year O'Malley's Executive Director of Crime Control told me there was no DNA backlog, now the state is claiming a backlog for 304 days in the city and 542 days in PGC.* But whatever, we'll take the money.

Robbery and burglary plaguing the southeast as per usual.

Ew, a city police officer, Frederick Allen, was indicted on charges related to sex abuse of a minor.*
In sexier news, the entire Towson University cheerleading team was suspended* for an entire year for hazing.. details please.

In goobernatorial news, Gansler wants to raise the minimum wage. In our poll (top right) enthusiasm for him is decidedly meh, with only 18% supporting. Where is our third party candidate?!