4th Circuit Upholds MD's "May Issue" Gun License Laws

... AmmoLand weeps.

Michael Wesley, wanted for the murder of Rachel Curtis, was picked up at a Winson-Salem bus stop*

Benny Davis, 24, was arrested for the murder of D'Andre Thomas in Remington.

A man pushed a woman from a moving car on Clipper Mill Road (March 10).

Why so many domestic-violence killings in the city lately?* *shrug* -- oh, but definitely put this on your calendar:  "THE BALTIMORE LAWYERS’ CHAPTER OF THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY Proudly Presents KATE OBENSHAIN Fox News Channel Contributor, former Vice President of the Young American’s Foundation and author of Divider in Chief, talking about 'The Left’s War on Women.' Thursday, April 18th – 12:00 noon, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes. The event is free of charge. RSVP Brian Fish at asabrianfish@earthlink.net to ensure that our lunch order is sufficient."

County and federal agents nabbed a woman running a brothel in the residential area of Joppa Rd.* in Towson, whose customers have apparently been annoying her neighbors for years.

Balling w Espantoons

Police are securing the West side with espantoons and basketball.*

The 2013 version State of MD vs. Policarpio Espinzoa Perez is to the jury.* Adan Espinoza Canela's trial is to start April 1. Notably, father of two of the children, Ricardo Espinoza, does not believe Policarpio is guilty and thinks the real killers are still at large.

No you did not, Baltimore City Zoning Commission! A jackassed bill has passed that will close down existing liquor stores in residentially zoned areas, which would include many long-running non-nuisance stores that are small and/or family-owned businesses (eg. Roland Park Wines & Liquors.) Burning question: why can't the city just enforce our existing loitering, littering or noise curfew laws? Why can't they just stop granting liquor licenses for stores in residential areas? and how is it legal to re-zone a business out of existence?

I'll be on the Dan Rodricks show on WYPR at noon talking hot topics; news of the day, if you will.
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 22, 2013

Guns, crack, PCP and another Phylicia Barnes trial

A second trial for the convicted killer of Phylicia Barnes, Michael Johnson, because the defense didn't disclose the criminal history of the sole eyewitness, one James McCray. Understandable on some level, but on another, fckn whut? The ruling came from thrice- investigated Judge Alfred Nance is perhaps best known for jailing a woman who said "I love you" to her brother, being generally explosive and misogynistic, and for striking down the city's gun registry (which was just now upheld).

.. you probably heard that the Assault Weapons ban was effectively killed by the U.S. senate-- but perhaps that will give state and local courts more drive to pass local restrictions.

One Demond Taylor was found guilty of strangling his grandmother to death, which he did while high on PCP, which seems to be making a comeback-- every week or so some dusted-up driver gets busted on 295 and it's the drug of choice for xoJane/Vice writer Cat Marnell.

The president of the Har Sinai congregation was charged with laundering a crack dealer's money.

MD ranked 40/50 for state government transparency and accessibility to records in a Center for Public Integrity study.

Indecent exposure car

A triple murder over by the Mondawmin mall* in the 2200 block of N. Fulton Avenue.

Whoa, man! The state Senate passed (30-16) Curt Anderson's bill (SB 297) that decriminalizes possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana (pot, weed, ganj, green, trees, &tc.). The bill goes to the house on March 28. Gawd that would be such a help in Baltimore city-- in spite of whatever FHBIII said in NYMag's "Truce on Drugs" article, the city still puts thousands of people in jail for minor amounts of weed every year. Promising sign: last year the House passed a bill that lowered the penalty for less than 10 grams from a year in jail and a $1000 fine to 90 days and a $500 fine. Should it pass, HB 1453 lowers the fine down to $100 and gets rid of the criminal penalties completely.

At the same time, the city is cracking down on booze, barring liquor stores from operating in areas zoned 'residential.'

So there have been three home-invasion-ish robberies in the Villages of Homeland development (where Woodburne Ave turns into Homeland Ave). Not to mention about three motorists robbed/carjacked on that stretch of York Rd.

The city is paying $150,000 to a guy who was arrested by mistake-- and held for eight months.

Wait, what? Law enforcement doesn't need a warrant to read your emails -- so long as someone has opened them and/or they're more than six months old? What the heck is that?

State police are swamped with gun license applications.

Victim ID updates: Gerald Commodore, 22, killed on Windsor Ave yesterday; D'Andre Thomas, 25, killed on Fox St
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 19, 2013

Oh noo, a fourth lawsuit for Kevin "Elmo" Clash from his first accuser, Sheldon Stephens,* and the words "crystal meth sex parties" are involved. Stephens has filed in PA, a state with a more lenient statute of limitations than NY (or for that matter, MD).

& if you're into 30-something Hispanic guys with spiky hair WBAL advises you to "Watch for car linked to indecent exposures cases." Oh dang, sorry ladies, they got him.

Yuck of the Irish

Busy all day, so what the hell happened?
Well...

Cham Green

Baltimore City homicide victim #41(march 18) an Unidentified Male had a disagreement at a home's doorway entrance in the 2700 block of Fox Street, which is in Remington between 26th and 2th street near Howard Street.

The third trial for one of the two guys accused of beheading three children moved ahead with a recording never before played in court*, which places Adan Canela on the scene at the time of the crime.  Fer fart's sake, does every reporter covering this case call these two by different names? So this is the trial now of Policarpio Espinoza Perez, who Justin George is calling Espinoza Perez. And he's calling Adan Canela Espinoza Canela. Anyway so who is Adan Canela to Guadaloupe? Fortunately there's a chart.* Sooo. Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of Policarpio. Espinoza Perez or Espinoza-Perez or just Perez. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez. So now Policarpio can testify against Adan since they're being tried separately for the first time, and even though three trials for illegal immigrants paid for by us is kind of a bitch, at least we are finally getting a clue to what happened and some justice for those poor children, Lucero and Ricardo Espinoza and Alexis Quezada.

Michael Wesley

Police have ID'd Rachel Curtis' killer as freckly Michael Wesley, left, who is out and about, so if you see him call police.

Gary Burton

Surly-looking Gary Burton was arrested* for the homeless shelter stabbing, and two more people were killed yesterday. Cham says ID on 1800 Ruxton Avenue victim is Terrence Rheubottom, 27, of Moreland Avenue. A guy on Manchester Avenue was found bullet-ridden in a car.

Just got off the phone w the father of one of the weekend homicide victims: Worked at Coast Guard yard,* may be mistaken identity situation
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Safe Streets opened a location on Park Heights and they have their own hashtag, #stopshooting

The luck of the Irish was not with the County's Franklin Precinct Capt. Matthew McElwee, nabbed at a St. Patrick's day sobriety checkpoint,* and oo, the Deuce has a photo. Not a sloppy drunk photo, but it'll do.

In Parkville a drug-related stabbing*

Some rough-looking girls got into it at Anne Arundel High over some Instagram photos

Have a smart phone or tablet stolen on an MTA bus or rail car recently? Willing to talk about it for a story? Hit me back
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Can't get out to that most recent shooting scene. If @baltospectator were here, I'd never hear the end of it
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Michael, Mikal and Laquesha

Well, maybe this is why those homeless people who lived under 83 refused to go to a shelter. At the top o the morning a man was stabbed to death at the Harry & Jeanette Weinburg homeless shelter* on Fallsway, and the brown-eyed lad who stabbed him is still a-roaming the streets.

Two shot on E. North Avenue

A conviction for Derrick Toomer, who arranged for the murder of bail bondsman Ralph Hall at the hands of one George Foster Johnson at the KIPP Ujima Village Academy on Greenspring Avenue,* with cameras all over.

A man in Carroll County is dead after his douchburger neighbor squeezed the trigger of his hand-cannon* from an upper floor and shot him while he was on the couch.

Remember that guy, Robert Holiday, who was shot to death at the bus stop on Eastern Avenue? Well, his babymom Laquesha Lewis was behind it, with her new boyfriend Michael Martin and his brother* Mikal Martin. Wax that upper lip, Laquesha.

30 years for Terron White, who kidnapped a woman and her toddler son in Baltimore and tried to force them to drive to Bethesda-- but at some point the victim jumped out of the moving car with her son.

The nonprofit Center for Public Integrity gives MD a D- and ranks it 40/50 states for its level of access to public records and documents.