March 7

A Baltimore jury convicted Ameer Taylor, 32, of the 7400 block of Barkers Court, today of first degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge David Ross sentenced Taylor to life in prison for the murder and a consecutive 20 years for the handgun count. On June 2, 2005 at approximately 2:30 a.m. Samuel David Richardson (right) and his girlfriend were walking home from their jobs at the Rendez-Vous Bar on 26th street. As they walked along the 400 block of West 26th Street Taylor drove past them, stopped his car, backed up to them, said something to Richardson and fired two fatal shots, striking him twice in the head.
The conviction is surely a relief to Liz and the Richardson family.

Murder Ink recounts last week's victims Vernon Carter, Vic Finner, Thomas Terry [our 48], and Anthony Brown, notes arrests for muders of David Savage, Stephanie Stevens, Harold Robinson and Marcus McDowell.

Bodyguards for teachers?
An Art teacher at Waverly middle school was assaulted by students and quit in fear for her safety, now the state is seeking to suspend her certification for breaking her contract.

The Justice Department acknowledged yesterday that Thomas DiBiagio was forced from office, but an employee says it was the "front-page indictment" memo that did in his career.

"The governor, attorney general, state's attorneys, police chiefs and three-quarters of the House of Delegates all are gung-ho to pass legislation expanding the ability to prosecute" alleged gang members for "participating in a criminal gang knowing that the other members engage in crime" but the definition of "gang" sounds awfully vague: "to be a gang, it must have some kind of identifying sign, symbol, name, leader or purpose."
So if call up your friends and plan to meet them somewhere to do something, you're a gang.


Edgy new billboards invoke Itchy Man.

March 2

Starting Monday at the courthouse: "Reception Court."
Explains an insider: "The goal of reception court is to have all the cases for trials appear before two judges, one in each building. They will personally review all these cases then send them off to other judges who presumably will not have dockets since all the cases will be before the so called reception courts. Determinations will be made as to what cases should go forward, etc, based on how old they are, how many times they have been postponed, etc."
Fascinating!

Marc Steiner spent two hours talking about Baltimore crime, and in the modern fashion both shows are available as a two-part podcast: Hour one, hour two.

The trial of Ameer Taylor, accused of killing Samuel Richardson June 2 of 2005 behind the Rendez-Vous is scheduled begin Monday. The trial's start date has been postponed three times. The word from the office of Mrs. J:

The murder trial of Ameer Taylor, 32, of the 7400 block of Barkers Court, is scheduled for trial 9:30A a.m. Monday, March 5, 2007 before Judge David Ross, 203 Mitchell Courthouse ... A Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Taylor February 15, 2006 for first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony crime of violence, and handgun on person in connection with the fatal shooting of Samuel Richardson. Court documents allege that in the early morning hours of June 2, 2005 Taylor pulled up to Richardson, who was walking in the 400 block of West 26th Street, pulled a handgun and shot Richardson several times. Richardson was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

As if your girl-crush wasn't already heavy, ♥Jayne Miller♥ digs into the clusterfuck that is the bail-bonds business, and hounded the guy who posted bail for Brandon Grimes down Calvert Street.

What the?! Twenty-year-old dad Kenneth George Ryan huffed keyboard cleaner (?!), beat his 15-month-old-son Julian Woody to death.

Sign of the times: WBAL reported that three people were shot at a birthday party on the East side... and in spite of the crime scene tape, the party kept on.

Again?! Another officer has was attacked at Jessup, and the suspect is a 38-year-old convicted murderer serving a life sentence.

In the Eastern, a man shot two guys sitting in a parked car.

The man found dead in the area of Max Blobs Park Road in Jessup was ID'd as Leonard Richard Prahl, 55.

"A trooper found $300,000 in powder cocaine in a minivan with New York license plates on Interstate 95 in Cecil County during a traffic stop."