Justice Delayed

It has been more than five years after the murder of CO David McGuinn at the Maryland House of Correction. Jury selection in the trial of the first of his two alleged killers begins Tuesday* in Anne Arundel County.

'I don’t think there’s anything about whichI will ever be more grateful'

Have you seen these two, wanted for attempted armed robbery on the Light Rail? (Left, via WBAL)

Robberies galore in the southeast and coats for the homeless stolen in the southern, reports the Baltimore Guide

Last week's four murders recapped in the Ink. Says O'Malley of the drop in the murder toll this year, "I don’t think there’s anything about which I will ever be more grateful in public service."

The WaPo follows up on the case following the killing of U of MD student Justin DeSha-Overcash

Police backtrack on the whole "prosecutors are stalling and hindering our cases" thing

Two "doctors" (can you call them doctors if they lost their licenses to practice?) are facing murder charges under Maryland's "viable fetus" law after two botched abortions. The women lived.

Nathan A. Chapman Jr., once a prominent man about town, is now a man about a halfway house*

Hellz yes, tax giveaways need more scrutiny

The FBI says gun sales are up

The Tribune Co. bankruptcy case will lurch on until at least this summer with hearings not starting until May. In better news, the judge has reversed himself, deciding that Zell won't be in line for a bankruptcy payout after all.

Drugs are bad for you

Three suspected heroin overdose deaths in two days in Harford County.

Extra jury duty hazard

Looks like Mitchell courthouse is lacking some basic fire safety equipment.

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Tweets Fenton, "Shooting at 2800 W Garrison is a homicide."

UPDATE: Fenton says the 31-year-old victim was killed when he fought back during the course of a home-invasion robbery*.

a friend of mine was also burgled yesterday in Endor Gadrens-- had her door kicked in in the middle of the day; thieves took her kids' Christmas presents. Sigh.

Have you seen...

this guy? He's wanted for questioning in reference to the December 9th triple-shooting near Club Envy in the 1800 block of Maryland Ave.

The year in crime, torts and general bad behavior

It's the end of the year, which means it's a fine time to recap some of the most notable civil- and criminal-law stories of the past 12 months:

10. Conaways in the crossfire: Frank Conaway Senior kept his position as clerk of the court again, but there was still bad news aplenty for the family: Belinda lost her city council seat to Nick Mosby after Adam Meister revealed she was claiming a tax credit illegally, TDR revealed a laundry list of problems at the Clerk's office, and Frank Senior got in hot water for brandishing a firearm with an expired permit in front of his house. And Frank Conaway Jr.'s book's sales rank slipped to #4,104,807th on Amazon.

9. Tow-mageddon: 17 officers charged with extortion in a dirty towing scheme. As Jayne Miller's source said, "it's not the crime of the century, but it's not pretty."

8. It got a little harder to rape somebody. The Sun's Justin Fenton uncovered the unsavory fact that the city has the nation's highest level of rape cases deemed "unfounded"*. And, finally, the FBI changed the definition of "rape" to include male victims, penetrations sans penis and non-forcible rapes.

7. For whatever reason, this was the year an exceptionlly high number of dirty political chickens came home to roost in MD: Paul Shurick, Jack Johnson, Tiffany Alston, Richard Stewart of the redistricting committee and Belinda C. all felt karma's bitter sting.

6. The Brew attacks! Rapacious newsroom cuts by the Sun's evil gnomish overlord left the local paper of record with scant resources to do the time-consuming, ass-pain investigative pieces necessary to uncover pork, malfeasance and sketchy government dealings. Stephen Janis' defection from Investigate Voice to join the Fox news team left another news hole. But fortunately for us all, the Baltimore Brew stepped into the breach, uncovering the mayor's plan to stealthily privatize rec centers, explaining the little acronyms like TIF and PILOT that let city officials grant breaks to their developer pals, and the high price of settling police misconduct lawsuits. What they cover is just a fraction of what could use delving into, but hey, it's something.

5. It gets better-ish. The arc of the moral universe is long and full of dings, dents, and crack-crazed seagulls, but it eventually, slowly bends towards not sucking as much. So it went this year for the state's gay and transgender citizens. In spite of the Senate passing the gay marriage bill, it died in the House. In March, Tyra Trent was murdered, and in April, Chrissy Polis had the tar beaten out of her at McDonald's. But it is now possible for a baby to have two mommies on a birth certificate (if said mommies married elsewhere), and starting next month, Baltimore county employees who were married in other states can receive same-sex benefits.

4. Phylicia Barnes, a 16-year-old honor student, went missing December 28 of 2010, and a long, pitiful search by police and family ensued-- one so desperate, police were taking tips from Cham. Barnes' beauty, youth, apparent innocence and mysterious disappearance seemed a perfect fit for Natalie-Holloway-level national hysteria and hand-wringing, but Barnes was apparently not blonde enough* for the national media, which ignored her case until Anthony Guglieimi shamed producers into briefly spotlighting her disappearance. Barnes' body was found in April in the Susquehanna, the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, but still, no one's been arrested yet.

3. Mayhem at the Select Lounge. Chaos reigned at West Franklin and N. Paca on January 9: 42 shots fired, Officer William Torbit Jr. and reveler Sean Gamble killed, four citizens hit with bullets. But after an eight-month independent investigation, no charges were filed, no changes were made to BPD procedures, and FHB III concluded that officers "acted reasonably."*

2. Baltimore swore in a new prosecutor, Gregg Bernstein, who was promptly never heard from again. To be fair, press releases have finally started trickling out in the past few months, and as promised, office staffers did get their BlackBerries and the do-not-call list was abolished*. But it's uncertain if the office is actually more functional than Jessamy's was: in August police complained about prosecutors stalling and "hindering"* cases.

1. Murders, shootings and unclassified deaths are down-- way, way down. From 335 murders in 1993, to 223 last year, to possibly under 200 in 2011, which will make the murder rate lower than it's been since the 1960s. The drop in violent crime is not just a local trend, but a nationwide thing (hellz, crime is even down in Detroit!), and theories abound as to why. Cops having better technology? The right people finally going to jail? Have we "bupe" to thank? We may never know for sure, what whatever it is, we'll take it.

... so what did I miss? ... Fenton posted his top 10 in crime* a little while after I posted this one.

Suspicious Food Containers, Merry Merry Shootings

City Hall was shut down for a little while this morning due to a bomb scare. Turned out it was just a food container and a t-shirt, though the BCPD intelligence section is taking over the investigation now.

A 30-year-old man was shot in the face in the 100 block of South Monroe St. on the 23rd.

Another December 23 shooting, this time in the 400 block of North Rose St. Two people, a man and a woman, were non-fatally shot at around 7:30 pm.

Two people, a 20-year-old and a 26-year-old were shot in the leg on the 24th in Poppleton, specifically the 100 block of North Freemont Ave.

If there weren't a lot of Christmastime homicides this year, it wasn't for a lack of effort. Two more people still were shot in West Baltimore, inthe 700 block of West Lexington St.

Finally, an arrest has been made in the Woodlawn stabbing death of Kevin Regusters. Registered sex offender George Robert Evans Jr , 35, was charged with first degree murder on Dec. 22 for his role in the stabbing death.

Aw geeze

A murder Christmas Eve brings the toll to 195. A moment of thanks and appreciation to the dedicated and selfless officers, EMTS, firefighters and medical examiners who work on Christmas.

The Legend of Stanley

Violence in SW Baltimore is related to the shooting of a "legend," says FHB III-- a legend named Stanley, who is apparently as slippery as a greased pig on a Teflon pan*: "Armed robbery and handgun charges were dropped by prosecutors in 2008, and he was found not guilty of attempted murder in 2004. In 2007 he was convicted of drug possession with intent to distribute and sentenced to eight years in prison, but seven years and four months of the sentnece (sic) were suspended."

Towson Town Center shooting victim, Rodney Vest Pridget, was not picked at random and not robbed*, county police say. He was also once convicted of roughing up a guy and stealing an Xbox.

How far we've come: Fenton posted a year-in-crime story from 1993, when by Dec. 14, 335 people had been murdered in the city*.

O'Malley fills the CSA seat left vacant by Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr. with "Bob"

Beatings, Shootings, and Life plus 40

A Baltimore grandmother who was beaten with a hammer by her own 14-year-old grandson in March has died. 67-year-old Shirley Garrett died in the hospital after receiving the fatal injuries from her grandson Hassanhii Garrett, 14. Hassanhii was charged as an adult with attempted murder before his case was juvenile court. This murder replaces the murder of Cristopher Gilliam on the homicide list, after his killing was deemed justified.*

The jury has deliberated in the school bullying case, and returned a verdict in favor of the school.

A 40-year-old man was shot to death on West Pratt Street last night.

A man is dead from apparent stab wounds after a fight in Woodlawn got out of control yesterday night. Kevin Eric Regusters, 23, was killed on Purnell Drive in Woodlawn.

Life plus 40 for the home invasion murder of Shelton Elliott back in 2009. Abron Scott, 44, was given the life term after being convicted on all counts in October.

Another County homicide. The death of a Pikesville woman has been ruled a homicide. Herbert Wesley Johnson Jr. is being held without bail for beating Gwendolyn Jackson to death.

Just another day in Baltimore. An elderly woman was robbed not once but twice over a span of a few minutes.

Finally, a large scale brawl erupted at a basketball game between Lemmel Middle School and a DC school.

Suspects suspected

Phylicia Barnes' father says he's anticipating an arrest in the case, BoCo Popo say that's not so, though note the investigation is still active and progress has been made. Hmm.

Police Tweet "SHOOTING: 700 Belnord (Eastern District, Madison-Eastend Community) 11:58pm, adult female shot. Detectives investigating."

The judge threw out 9/13 counts* in the city bullying lawsuit, the case is to the jury now

Rod Rosenstein: politicians who shove cash in their "under ware" are stupid, greedy dummkopfs (to paraphrase a little)

Blood on Blood Action

Dajuan Marshall , 29, The leader of the Bounty Hunter Bloods has been sentenced to life plus 20 for kidnapping and fatally shooting Kenneth Jones the leader of the Pasadena Denver Lane Bloods.

The Sun has released their top 10 local news stories of 2011. Crime stories making the list were the Select Lounge shooting, the McDonald's assault of a transgendered woman, and the Wire's Felicia "Snoop" Pearson being arrested and later convicted for her role in a drug ring.

Police have released surveillance photos of the two men who shot the owner of Upclose Barbershop during an attempted robbery. The owner is still in critical condition.

Grand Prix officials have until Dec. 31 to pay back the more than 1 million dollars in taxes they owe to the state.

County police are trying their hardest to emphasize that the fatal shooting of Rodney Pridget (Pictured Right) was "absolutely not a random act." Which is good, in the sense that regular citizens aren't being robbed and murdered, but it's still pretty cruddy no matter what.

Finally, a one-alarm fire in Hampden left a man dead.

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Two men were shot last night, leaving one dead. 29-year-old Donte Lamonte Collins was shot and killed at the 1500 block of North Rosedale St. Yet again, there is a bit of confusion with how his name is spelled, with District Court records calling him Donte, while Circuit Court records spell it Dante. Unless someone says otherwise, he will be listed as Donte in the homicide tally.

County Police have id'd the man shot to death at Towson Town Center. Rodney Vest Pridget, 19, was shot in what police are calling a "targeted shooting" although they have not given any reason as to how they have come to this conclusion.

An arrest has been made in the shooting of a city cab driver. Maurice Alvin Turner Jr. has been charged with first degree murder after being identified as one of the two men who robbed the cabbie. The other man has not been identified. According to court records, this is Turner's third arrest for attempted murder after being charged in May of 2007* and June of 2008* respectively. Turner was given a 30 year sentence with all but 5 years suspended for the second attempted murder charge.

Life plus 20 for Kelly Shird, age 28, for murdering Craig Bouie in 2010 during a break-in gone bad.

The man shot by county police during a home invasion in Dundalk has been id'd as Christopher Kane Bernert, 27. Bernert is now facing a bevy of serious charges, including attempted murder and armed robbery.

A 20-year-old man was shot early this morning in the 1300 block of Glyndon Ave.

Police are asking John Q. Public for help finding family members 54-year-old Joseph Allan McCoy who was killed in a motorcycle accident last month.

Finally, Maryland lawmakers are at it again, trying to repeal the death penalty. The last execution in Maryland took place in 2005, when Wesley Baker was put to death.

Man killed at Towson Town Center

A man was shot to death outside of Towson Town Center, Justin Fenton retweeted this photo (cropped by me). Wjz says it was inside the parking garage, the Sun says it was on the road on the East side of the Nordstrom's, Fenton says there are preliminary reports of a suspect being taken in for questioning.

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32-year-old Jeffrey Smith was shot and killed on Belair Rd. No suspects or motive at the moment.

Dayon Barnes, 27, was shot and killed while sitting in a car in the 200 block of N. Smallwood St. Barnes made local headlines last year after being part of a money counterfeiting group with Erik Desmond Stokes and Darryl Bacon. Stokes was shot and killed by County police during apprehension. Barnes and Bacon were arrested without incident. Both men had their cases Nolle Prosequi earlier this year. With Barnes dead Darryl Bacon is the only member of this ring left, although he is currently wanted out of Annapolis for parole violations.

The Sun has id'd the guy shot on Elsinore Ave. as 23-year-old Lawrence Edwards. While every District court charge he has calls him by Lawrence Edwards, all his circuit court charges spell his name Lawrence Edwardes. I'll stick with Edwardes for the moment until I hear otherwise.*

A Baltimore cabby was robbed and shot at the 2700 block of Sisson St.

The shootings keep piling up in the City, with a man in serious condition after being shot earlier today, while two men were shot in the 3000 block of Belmont Ave. Thursday evening.

Lavelva Merritt, the co-conspirator in the Stephen Pitcairn murder was given another 5 years to her sentence.

A home invader in Dundalk was shot by County police after a woman reported a man with a ski mask standing over her as she slept.

21-year-old tattoo fanatic Dalonte S. Dunston was the 5th and final person charged with a robbery murder in little Taneytown, MD.

Finally, proving that your never too young to be mind-bendingly creepy, 21-year-old Scott Seidel was given a two year sentence for impersonating an FBI officer on teen chat-rooms while simultaneously pretending to be a hacker, all in order to convince girls to strip on webcams. Creepier yet, as recently as last year Seidel lived in the Donnybrook Lane apartments, located a few hundred feet from Towson High School, which is full of young women the same age as the girls he targeted online. So to sum it up, what a scuzzbag.

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A man was shot to death at around 9:10 p.m. Friday in the 2200 block of Elsinore Avenue

Media blabber:
Why is this guy waving a sign about bedbugs in front of @Adam Meister's house? (while Meister and Toilet Artist Duane G. Davis -- in an "ass family" shirt-- take pictures?)

In spite of paying its reporters in gum, Patch.com is reportedly losing $100 million a year

Judge to state: shove your SLAPP suit

Judge Althea Handy dismissed the state's $100 million counterclaim against State Center's opponents. Reasoned the Judge, "the Noerr-Pennington doctrine applies and the “sham” exception as defined in Prof’l Real Estate Investors, Inc., et al. v. Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc., et al., 508 U.S. 49 (1993) does not; and it is further ORDERED that because the Noerr-Pennington doctrine is dispositive of the motion in this matter, a decision on the other arguments raised by the parties need not be reached." BLAM! BooYA!

UPDATE: more from TDR

Violators and the violated

Extra time for John Wagner, convicted killer of Stephen Pitcairn, the murderous crackhead will now serve "life" plus seven years, eight months, and six days.

Police are ISO a female serial bank robber who wears leggings and Uggs.

The FBI has (finally!) changed the definition of rape to remove the requirement that the victim is a woman, the weapon is a penis and the "forcible" part. (So what did they call "the Sandusky" before? Plain old sexual assault, I guess?)

Down at Ft Meade, Bradley Manning's trial is underway. Wikileaks' most recent leak: documents from the "mass surveillance industry"

And how about that NDAA? So long habeus corpus, bye bye Bill of Rights. We've arrived at a point where unaccountable persons in the government (or serving corporations that subcontract for the government) can read your email, decide they don't like it, and stuff you into a van, never to be heard from again. Obama is expected to sign NDAA today-- if so it'll be exactly 220 years and a day after the Bill of Rights was ratified. There's a lot out there written about it (too little, too late), the IB Times has a good compilation. Of the Maryland Delegation, three voted for it: Hoyer, Ruppersberger and Bartlett. In the senate, Milkulski and Sarbanes both voted against.

It gets better

Got an email from the Justice Policy Institute expressing aggravation that while prison populations are down nationwide, Maryland's prison population is up. Of course one's first gut reaction is, I don't want to pay $40-60 a day to feed, house and clothe 1.8% more assorted fuckweasels and fudgeclowns. But-- could it be-- dare we imagine-- that the growth in state prison population is a sign that homicides and shootings are down because police are arresting the right people, prosecutors are bringing better cases, rapes are being investigated and prosecuted and the jury pool is sucking slightly less? Note that per Gary Maynard, 40% of MD's prison population is from Baltimore City, 25% is from PGC, 15% from Baltimore County, and the state's other 21 counties make up the rest.