January 3

The County's first murder was the fatal stabbing of 48-year old Arthur G. Brown Jr. in Landsdowne.

Got a babydaddy in jail and want to show off his mug shot? There's a place on the "Prison Talk" forum.

And ANOTHER shooting: a juvenile shot in the head on Belnord Avenue near Patterson Park in the southeastern has died (homicde number four).
1. Leon Nelson, 17, China Garden
2. Man, early 20's at Windsor Forest apt. complex, 4900 Challedon Road
3. Woman in 2000 W. North Avenue Rowhouse (see link above)
4. Another 17-year-old on Belnord, SE

A man shot in April who died in November became 2006's homicide #275 (and police still haven't called his family).
Two-seventy-five for the City, 350 for the Metro Area in '06-- such tidy numbers!

Dick Irwin reports on the juvenile shot in the head and also an unID'd man in the Eastern shot in the chest. And a carjacking in the Central, and lots of theft.

The 20-year-old man found shot dead in the Edgewood flowerbed was ID'd as Walter Antonio Overton.

Hamm: let's spend state $ treating cracky.

Your tax $ at work: An ongoing ACLU lawsuit against the city and the federal government on behalf of black public-housing residents has cost the city $6.6 million so far.

Harold Singfield Jr., 22, got a new trial when a judge ruled another judge should have asked potential jurors if they could be fair. Why this warrants a whole story is beyond me. I guess procedural slip-ups like that are usually frosted over, but this time an appeals judge put his foot down?
Update: Wrote someone from Luke Broadwater's mailbox,

There's a growing amount of case law that says judges must ask jurors direct questions about certain types of cases to determine whether the very nature of those cases elicit strong feelings, thereby resulting in bias.

Maybe it's only an interesting story to me -- I don't know. But, at least to some degree, I think it illustrates the difficulty prosecutors face in successfully convicting accused murderers.

Gregory Kane reveals that his cousin, Uncle George Floyd's boy Louis, was a bit of a black sheep; advocates "good" prisoners beating down the "dangerous" ones.
Er, wouldn't that make the good prisoners into dangerous ones by definition?

Hate those hit-and-run drivers! Eg. Jason Dehn, 24, who drunkenly killed two dialysis patients.

Phony $20s are showing up in Somerset County (sub req.).

"Meet the New Boss"-- CP has a Q & A with Ms. Dixon.
On Crime:

"I'm not making any bold promises as relates to a number [of murders] and reducing crime. What I want to see is that the State's Attorney's office and the police department have a better working relationship."

About as modest a goal as it gets, as it's all uphill from here!

A hypothetical question to Mrs. J and the BPD:

"Are we all in the business for reducing crime? ... what is it going to take from your department and what is it going to take from the police department? We need to have a frank, honest conversation, because there are weaknesses on both sides."

On fingers:

"Instead of pointing the fingers, recognizing that and really asking--like at the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council I asked that question, as City Council president. I ask that every time I go to the meeting, to the judges and parole and probation office, the governor's office, etc. I ask: Are we really in this to reduce crime or are we just here because of your titles and it's a job? Because that's kind of the sense I have from some of the individuals who serve."

But she's not pointing any fingers!
Meet the New Old Status Quo!
(Wonder whappened to that Urban Blight project of hers?)

Dan Rodricks' column reminds me of a lady I saw wailing on her kid at the mall, screaming, "you know better than to hit your brother!"
Like it would help anything to try to have a parenting discussion with a bitch crazy enough to take toddlers to the mall!
(How should a concerned citizen handle the public-child-abuse spectacle? WWJM*D?
(*Judith Martin)

January 2 Afternoon

A body was found behind an apartment complex near Leakin Park (2).

Two-thousand-seven rang in with the shooting death of 17-year-old Leon Nelson, who died about three hours after he was shot at the China Garden.

Op Ed du jour: "Where's the outrage over black-on-black killings?"
DeWayne Wickham, USA Today
"The number of blacks killed in 2005 [by a single black assailant] alone approaches the total of all the blacks lynched in this country from 1882 to 1968, according to records maintained by Tuskegee University."

Bédard's lawyer to Mounties: come get my client out of MD!

Can this relationship be saved? Stephen Mujerm, 40, of Lanham proposed to his woman, Victorine Taboh of Laurel. An hour later, he knocked her out with a steering-wheel lock and found himself in a PA jail.

What's old is new again dept: Is policing by private security firms the wave of the future?

January 2 - The Party's Over

A man's body was found squashing daisies on Meadowood Drive in Edgewood, HafCo.

An 18-year-old was shot, a 20-year-old was stabbed, a 15-year-old had bleach thrown in his face and an 18-year-old raped at a party in the Blotter.

Three people were shot at the China Garden restaurant between Dru Hill and Leakin Parks.

The Amber-Alert kids and their murder-suspect dad were found unhurt by an eagle-eyed motorist in Olney.

A Baltimore church has a service annually for the city's youngest homicide victims.

Care to define "metro area," Luke Broadwater? Is AAC in it? Harford County?

The Post Office is closed for Gerald Ford's funeral.

The Holidays are officially over ... good news to the 7 readers who contemplated suicide, the 13 who drank too much, and the two with no shoes on their feet (at the airport).
And no one had terducken for Xmas-- though five readers enjoyed the charms of Chinese.
Ps. The Chinese Delight on 41st and Falls has the best dumplings in town, plus they take Amex -- and that corner attracts the most interesting of Hampden's Falls Rd. ho's.

Chief Judge John Prevas will preside over a brief ceremony this morning at 8:30 a.m. as State's Attorney Patricia C Jessamy begins her third elected term and receives the Oath of Office. Following the Installation Ceremony, many of the 200 Assistant State's Attorneys who serve in the District and Circuit Courts, at Central Booking and in the Juvenile Courts Division will also receive the Oath of Office. Dockets will be called at 10 a.m. following the ceremony, juice and cookies.

Year in Review continued

April
The year's most lurid political scandal broke: that would be Charles Boutin, chief sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act, using his state-issued computer to find a hooker specializing in domination ... then issuing a press release blaming "ED" for his behavior.

Pat Jessamy was livid at what she called a "rouge database" of inaccurate data.
She was also featured on the CBS national news, calling Baltimore the "epicenter of witness intimidation."

Hobbit-like Judge John Glynn was in a peppery mood, calling Jessamy a "liar" (regarding Amanda Johnson's plea) in the Daily Record and opining to the Sun that city police have a "sloppy and unprofessional" approch to search warrants.

Jayne Miller uncovered a story in which a man's death was re-classified by the ME at the behest of the police from 'homicide' to death by 'natural causes'-- even though a homicide trial was pending.

Oprah came to town to pay a visit to her old colleague Richard Sher and raise funds for Beth Tfiloh, and told WBAL, "I think the state of education in Baltimore is an atrocity, an atrocity. What is going on is a crime to the children of the city. It's a crime that people can't figure it out."

Our first link to the Examiner: a story about police helping convicts find jobs.

...to be continued...

January 1

Gus Sentementes puts 2006's homicide total at 274-- actually one fewer than the city's 2005 number as per the Medical Examiner's office.
Meanwhile, murder is down 15 percent in the District.

AMBER ALERT!
Police are looking for black dad Kelechi Charles Emeruwa and his three kids.
Their mother Chidiebere Omenihu Ochulo was found murdered in Burtonsville, MoCo, and Emeruwa and the children, (left to right) Antinnoe, 6, (a girl), Elijah, 4, and Jachi, an 8-year-old boy, are missing, as is their blue Honda Civic, plate MKZ-237.

Is the burning body found in a house near Greenmount Cemetery* number 27-something? We'll never know for sure...

What the?!-- someone removed a dead woman's gravestone and put it on her father's Glen Burnie lawn.

*This weekend took the husband on a Creepy Drive through the Northern and Eastern on the way to Canton-- from Greenmount and 33rd, South on Greenmount (check the nauseating flashy blue lights!), left (East) on E. North Avenue, view the Big Weird building (shown left), go South on Patterson Park Ave. to get out... or keep going East to see all the streets you read about in the blotter!
Hey Burg, I'll bet you have some good suggestions for Scenic drives through town...!

Year in Review

January
The first posts of '06 were made by Chuck.
Said a non, "damn my boi ronny aka butch was killed new years day butch we love u and we here holdin it down r.i.p"

Soon after the ball dropped, police had begun to look for Graham Buckmaster's GMC after he killed his live-in partner Lisa Moore.

The Northwest was outraged at the murder of Warren Fleming by 21-year-old career criminal Brian Keith Rose.

O'Malley's Catholic father died, causing the future governor to miss a Planned Parenthood event.

By Jan 21 there had been 18 murders. The "Flex Squad" scandal blew up, and Warren Brown called Jemini Jones' accuser a "big fat liar."
A redacted report suggested fixes to Central Booking.. and was promptly sent to the "round" file by the MD Dept of Public Safety and Correctional Services -- the very agency that commissioned it.
And you can't forget that Keith Mills story!

February
The Feds began to hand out hefty sentences in the McAbier firebombing case.

The strange murder of Natasha Bacchus Magee was recollected for a jury in HoCo.

"Big thick" John C. Gaumer admitted to killing Hampden's Josie Brown in Arbutus (and a reader was outraged that I wrote "poor thing" about Brown: "she was a person, not a thing!").

Vernon Evans Jr. was scheduled to die on the 5th, but didn't.

WBAL noted that the ME's office had 275 homicides down for '06, even with the justifieds and whatnot taken out. The police reported 269.
Commented a reader Feb. 23,

"the police xagerate details, ricky wilkins a.k.a Noodles is not a cold blooded killer...and hopefully at his trial in june that will show! we just went 2 south beach right b4 the murder.....look up the murdered guys backround Terrance j. williams, he is no saint! shout out to noodles hold it down in city jail and if u get off we gone back 2 florida! holla murdaland records all day every day!"

Before the white couple was arrested for asking directions in Cherry Hill, David Ervin, 57, was arrested after reporting being carjacked.

March
After we got our paws on the city homicide book, we tried to do math. Remarkable: 47 of '05's homicides were John Does.

Stories of police-on-police activity ....Dan Ostrovsky of the Daily Record described a lawsuit in which Baltimore Detective Cassidy Kampfhammer and her partner, an officer Donato, falsely claimed to have bought drugs at an address, not realizing the house belonged to two police officers. When she realized her mistake she called her husband, Lt. Sean Kampfhammer, and the couple cooked up a scheme...

And another [auxiliary] officer, Winnie Gibson Watts, claimed police barged into her home and arrested her and her children, claiming to be looking for a suspect.

Lax coach Greg Raymond (left) didn't get charged with vehicular manslaughter after his choice to drink (a ton) and drive ended with his friend's skull impaled on a pole.

Anonymous said...
As someone who knew Matt why don't you all consider this: Raymond was Matt's best friend. He isn't being charged with anything because Matt's parents did not want to prosecute him. Did you know he was driving because Matt asked him too? Do you think accidently taking the life of your best friend in accident isn't punishment? So, why don't all rid yourself of your holier than thou attitude. Ever heard of the saying, "But for the grace of God there go I..." People make mistakes and this was a mistake with horrible consequnces. But before you say the prosecution has "no balls" know the facts. What's more important: someone being prosecuted so you can feel like justice is being done or the wishes of a family who just lost their youngest son being honored?

Police officer Dante Hemingway was shot multiple times. Jobrea Lodge was arrested and went on to throw pee on an officer in Central Booking in the heat of August.

Hamm gave a two-part interview to WYPR.

"Let me tell you about Leonard Hamm. Leonard Hamm don't need to be police commissioner. Leonard Hamm was doing very well as a retired citizen of Baltimore. And could very easily go back and do that again, if, in fact, I had that kind of interference that everybody was talking about. Secondly, the mayor and I have a relationship where he is my boss. He's in charge of the city. And what the mayor wants is a safe city; he don't tell me how to go about doing it and making it safe. He just wants results. All he wants to know is, 'What happened with this thing? How're we doing with this? What's coming along with that?' So that, when reporters, such as yourself, come and stick a microphone in his face, he'll be prepared."

..to be continued...

December 30

Says NPR's Laura Sullivan in, "New Crime Data Has Experts Concerned," the federal budget for crime fighting is now a little more than one-third of what it was 10 years ago, and violent crime is up 4 percent nationwide.
Thanks, Republicans!

Three correctional officers were stabbed at Jessup.

Kenneth Megginson, wanted for murdering a Baltimorean in October,* was arrested in Berks County, PA. (Like the site's typo disclaimer!)

The Sun's Gregory Kane celebrates Festivus late, enumerating the (rather surprising) people who disappointed him most this year, including Rod J. Rosenstein and the Court of Special Appeals.
(No word yet on who gets '06's "Negro, Please")

Burglary, robbery, assault, etc. in the Blotter.

* Searching the archive for this guy, I found a comment I hadn't read! Good stuff!

Anonymous said...
If you've ever investigated a murder in the city, or talked to people in some of the f-ed neigbhorhoods where they occur, you'll soon realize how, in many cases, few want to talk to police or reporters about the gangbanger/drug dealer who just got his brains blown out. Please, I implore some bloggers/posters here to pick a murder in, say, the heart of the eastern district, and just show up at the address and start talking to people. don't just plot it out on your makeshift computer map and think you got some real handle or insight into city crime. Next, while you're out in the 'hood, imagine you're a homicide detective: you need to get people to cooperate, first by persuasion or by appealing to whatever compassion for their fellow man that they might have. Sometimes, there just isn't much compassion, so detectives break out the good cop/bad cop routine and act like pricks. Or if you're a reporter, you need to come back to your editor with on-the-record interviews from people who knew this dead gangbanger/drug dealer, or it's hard to put them on TV or quote anonymous sources. Try to get people in this neighborhood, who knew the victim, to give you their real, full name so you can quote them on how this dead gangbanger/drug dealer had some problems, but he was, at heart, "a good man." sure, right, of course he was... but even if he wasn't a good man, he still deserves justice for his murder. it's incredible to see how many, many cops doggedly pursue that justice, for someone who they knew nothing about, and who did little with their life except to cause a lot of problems in other peoples' lives and neighborhoods. talk about thankless work.

In many neighborhoods, residents, neighbors and obvious witnesses won't even acknowledge your presence or your questions; they'll just turn around and walk away. Like you have the plague. I shit you not. They don't want to talk to you, nor do they want to be seen talking to you. Of course, when someone does talk, they are thinking, or asking you: "will i be subpoenad? you gonna make me go down to homicide now? will i be quoted? will you show my face on tv? do you have to? i have young children who live here...please don't quote me."

Don't just imagine doing this while sitting at your computer and clickety clacking away in cyber/blog land, with your cop/media critic hat on. Unless you've tried to do it, you have no idea. So, go out and do it for a day. Give yourself a deadline later that day, and when that deadline comes, figure out how much you can really say about the life and death of someone, when virtually NO ONE wants to talk about him or her. And you'll get just a taste of what the police, prosecutors, The Sun, The CityPaper, The Examiner, and WMAR, WBAL, WJZ and WBFF/Fox get when they try to report on the "average" homicide in B-more. You can blame that general dearth of information, in no particular order, on: witness intimidation, general callousness, revenge motives, and the sad and pervasive belief that police, prosecutors, and the city, state and Feds can't be trusted to protect witnesses who cooperate. This blog might be kinda new, but this climate -- this landscape that police and local media operate in -- is not new. It's been around for years in charming Charm City. The murders have thrived in this twisted conspiracy of silence.

If people in certain neighborhoods are angry about the murders, or how they don't get covered in the media, then they need to pick up the phone and call the police and help them solve them. Start Snitching. DROP A DIME. Also, pick up the phone and call the media and cry and lament about the gangbanger/drug dealer who was just killed on the corner, who was wanted for murder or attempted murder or robbery.

TESTIFY. TALK ON THE RECORD.

But ya know something? most people don't call about the murders of such people. They don't call police. They don't call the media. They don't talk. They just endure it. And that's the general shittiness of Baltimore Crime, circa 2006.

Signed,
Anon.

Going outside? Lamenting on the phone? As if!
We have all the "idea" we can handle as it is, thank you!
But thanks for the comment, non! In honor of you I'm going to turn 'non comments back on!

December 29

Ehrlich granted 17 16 pardons (and one medical commutation). Ed Norris' was not one.

morning

If you're into tawk radio between 10 a.m. and noon EST, give a listen to Ed Norris today and Monday... Troy Johnson is great, John Bou-shay is ok, Ed comes back Tuesday.

"Three men arrested early Wednesday in a house in the 3300 block of Noble St. have been charged with the fatal shooting Tuesday night of a man whose identity has not been confirmed." [271]
Homicide 272 was 46-year-old Willie Lewis, shot during a home invasion Wednesday.
Also, a 17-year-old shot in the shoulder on Norf Abnue.

The Justice Department says that Domestic Violence is half of what it was in 1993.

"Bricky" Bykowicz covers the Jamaicain-themed double funeral of Roy and Cliffy Holder of Maroon Town.
Said Jablow, a "person connected to the Holders was being protected by officers."

The woman shot by a suicide in Glyndon is Candace Treadway, 44.

The Post's "Being a Black Man" goes bowling.

Kane makes a good point, kind of: "With no death penalty, just how will [murdered prison guard David] McGuinn's murderers be punished?"

Salisbury police are looking for gangbangers Dominic Damar Barkley, 17, and Derrien Brett Douglas, 16, who shot two bystanders at a condo complex.

In PGC, Richard Rose, 26, was charged with child abuse resulting in death and is being held on $1 million bond.
Police say Rose is responsible for the death of six-year-old Tyrell Hannibal of Fayetteville, N.C.

In Pasadena, police say Steven Ray Ellison, 24, died of "excited delirium" which led to a heart attack.

Lock your doors, Joe! A wild police chase in Mt. Airy followed a Wal-Mart shoplifting incident, and a suspect is still on the loose!

Carjacker Rudy Alfredo Carpio-Vasquez, 31, was arrested (he might be Hispanic).

Sheesh, handing off Bédard the Québécoise could take months! Hope the ladies show her a good time at Jessup!

December 28

He used to love her, but Robert Bush Wolfe Jr., 48, is accused of killing and then burying his girlfriend behind her home in Osprey, FL, and he's now at the Sarasota County Jail after being extradited from our fair city, where he was hiding out.

December 28

The city's 272th murder was a 46-year-old man, killed in a home invasion in that neighborhood between 25th street and the Alameda.

Murder 271 was a man shot on the pavement in the first block of North Clinton street.

A man's in shock trauma after being shot in the head in the 2100 Block of W. Fairmount in the Western.
Also an arrest for the murder of 69-year-old Freddie Thornton, found in Leakin Park.

A police chase from a Shell station in the County gets mired in a barricade situation in the City.

Yuck, an attempted murder-suicide in Glyndon in the County.

The seven homicides of the apocalypse? Annapolis has had seven murders in '06, as has HarfCo.

A man died after struggling with police in AAC.

See, it does happen! A woman in a Chevy Malibu with a red light on the dashboard pulled a man over, took $15.

Another Baltimore Show?

Slate adds fuel to rumors there will be a Season Six of The Wire, focused on the Central American population.
David Simon, meet the other Simon!
I'm sure he could help you write a great script-- cheap!

December 27

The Ink is brief and goes to 267.
The Un-ID'd woman was Annette Bradney, 31, 800 block of North Stricker Street.
That's reassuring: "Bradney is the 26th woman murdered this year in Baltimore City."
Wonder how many white women?

How do you find the fruit-flush, Mr. Sherman?
WBAL reviews the "Top Stories of '06".

Dr. Nelson Hendler, accused of trading pain pills for sex at the Mensana clinic, is now being sued for $50k.

AAC: "Man Punches Officer, Yells 'You'll Never Catch Me'"

Retiring County SA Sandy O'Connor talks to Dave Durian.

Dec 26 nite

In Leonardtown, an army reservist named James E. Dean who served in Afghanistan and didn't want to go to Iraq was fatally shot by police after a standoff which began yesterday.

The Court of Special Appeals upheld the search and seizure of a van containing evidence used against Sonya M. Daniels, (left, William J. Hennessy Jr. for The Post) sentenced to life in 2005 for the double murder of 16-year-old Deanna Marie Prichard and her 5-week-old daughter Makayla Ann Frost in Frederick County in 2002. Daniels was, police say, jealous of Prichard's relationship with the baby's father, Tracy Frost, 32.

Fascinating Visitors from the North: AP QT Brian Witte says Olympic-champ Québécoise and alleged abductress Myriam Bédard will have a hearing on Friday ... and that her current husband is a low-level art thief. Interesting footnote: two years ago Bédard blew the whistle on a big Canadian government no-show-job scam.

JZ Headline Writers Playing it Safe: "Baltimore's Murder Rate is Not Decreasing."

Like stories about ammo? NPR's Elsa Heidorn reports on the Springfield thirty-aught-six cartridge, which turns 100 today.

morning

"The city has recorded 270 homicides, one more than in 2005 ... The most recent victim was Stephen Brunson, 37, whose body was found shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday ... Yesterday, police announced they had identified a body found in Leakin Park on Saturday as Freddie Thornton, a 69-year-old city resident. He had been stabbed repeatedly..."

A article on Christmas in confinement: "The Single Hardest Day Of the Year: Inmates Mark the Yuletide With Reflection and Regret"

File under human trafficking, prostitution: Jair Francis, age 33, of Wheaton, Maryland was convicted of conspiracy to transport hundreds of women for prostitution purposes to Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.
Elsy and Eliazor Aparicio and their mother, Olinda Aparicio (age 65), Dorinalda Aparicio, Manuel and Rosibel Jandres have pled guilty to their involvement in the prostitution ring.

Eight weapons indictments from the feds.

Racketeering conspirator and ex-Sen. Bromwell is stepping down as head of IWIF. Update: What the?! IWIF agreed "to pay former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell $400,000 to step down in advance of his trial on federal corruption charges." Crazy!!

Gift horse dept.:
Mrs. J's theory on her $83k pay raise (as told to Laura Vozzella) is that Kitty wants the job in 2010!

December 25

National: Tempe, AZ: COP WHO MADE BLACK MEN RAP CLEARED

morning

A man was found stabbed to death in Leakin Park.

And, "The body of a missing 74-year-old Dundalk man was found late Saturday in a stream less than a half-mile from where his partially submerged rental car was discovered that morning."

Wow, some schools have taken my advice and added Mandarin! (nothing to do with crime, we know)

RIP, Grandma Ginny. You'd be sorry to hear that the estate tax probably won't be repealed [<-MD TDR sub.]-- though of course you already knew that was never going to happen! You were right all along-- as usual. And yes, Christmas is a good time to remember to rack up deductions.

Merry Christmas, galt, eeb, Snay, Cynic, hocoJoe burger and all my invisible friends!

December 24

"For the first time in decades, Congress is poised to pass a bill that aims to make the lives of prisoners and ex-prisoners easier, not more difficult."

Radio Jamaica: Matt Jablow "tightlipped" on Holder brothers' murder.

It's Christmas in the HoHoHoCo Hotel and Boxing Day extradition for Quebecoise Olympian, child-custody-order violator Myriam Bedard, caught by local police in conjunction with the Mounties at the behest of babydaddy Jean Paquet.

MD in the National spotlight: first the gays, then the jail sex, now today's most-exported story is Executions and the "broad shift in dynamics that has sprung from a narrow ruling."

• A group you don't think about very often: relatives of the executed.
• A mini-profile of the chief of Vernon Evans Jr.'s defense team, Stephen Hut.
• "The worst physical pain being the prick of a needle." A history of executions in MD from the DPSCS.

In Being a Black Man, the Post profiles one of the FBI's top-ranking Negro agents.

A "bandit shot" on Perring Parkway and Hillen right over the County line in the NE.

Hagtown prison is going to start raising drug dogs.

If you think the city's young offenders have it bad, what with being forced to attend classes and all... check out African juvie.

Prosecutors in the Duke lax case had DNA proof back in April-- six months ago-- that the boys (including MD's David Evans, right) could not have been involved.

December 23

How did it get to that? Dept
Former Olympic biathlon gold-medalist and Canada's sweetheart Myriam Bedard was held in Jessup on child abduction charges after U.S. marshals found her and her daughter on the girl's 12th birthday at a hotel.

Andrew Cawthorne, wanted for the County SuperFresh robbery, was arrested.

A man was shot Tuesday afternoon in the leg in the hallway of an apartment building in the 800 block of N. Fulton Avenue, theft and a White Marsh purse-snatching in the blotter.

Samuel Acquah of Bowie got 3 1/2 years in the federal pen for operating a "marriage fraud mill" for Ghanaian immigrants.

Now it's getting interesting!
No doubt inspired by her good showing in the BCrime poll, Del. Jill Carter is jumping in the Mayor's race!
Here's a Jill story from April (with a much better picture). Jill's a nice half-decade above (the royal) us, and we've been shopping for a new Role Model, so Merry Xmas, Jill, you're it! You could not have come at a better time, what with the Britney clam, the Dixon scandals, the arrests, etc. Thanks for stepping up. We suggest Carter rag-doll kits fox X-mas, with pretzel MOM-bashing pintata snack bags...

Hey, Mfume might run, so let's reset and repost the Mayor Poll... that's right, you can vote again!

Dec. 22 nite

Tiffany Gwen Weaver of Resiterstown has become "News of the Weird" fodder in 111 papers worldwide so far, including the NYT, IHTrib and papers in Australia and India, for faking her way into prison with documents using the name of a lawyer out on maternity leave ... all to have full-on relations in front of guards with one Jason Moody, the first-degree murderer (02/03/1975), baby momma to one LaToyrea Thompson, and more (search him on this site or offender search, bookmarked right...)

NIH researcher "Trey" Sunderland III "was ordered to forfeit $300,000 and perform 400 hours of community service but will not have to pay a fine for failing to disclose lucrative consulting work with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer."

Rape charges have been dropped against three Duke Lax players, including David Evans of Annapolis and Bethesda (right). Here's more...

Family Recovery, Part V: "Parents Surmount Temptations in Bid to Get Clean for Keyona"

December 22

Underdog Blog has lots of background links for the Vernon Evans case.
(The Public Defender Blog Guide has a total directory of blogs by, for and about you-can-guess-what).

What the?! Crime is at the lowest level in forty years in the District.
(Though they, too, have an uptick in juvenile crime)

Dirty, dirty: environmental groups allege the Chlalk Point power plant has violated the clean air act thousands of times.

More on murdered Jamaican* immigrants the Holder brothers.

County police are looking for Andrew Cawthorne, left, a third suspect in the Bel Air Super-Fresh shootout that put officer David Garner in the hospital.

Git down bitch!! Git da cigarettes! Hurry UP! A woman in a giant, goofy hat was caught robbing a grocery store eight blocks West of Raven stadium.
(Macy Grey, how far you've fallen...)

PGC: A man's body was thrown out of a car near the intersection of 495 and Indian Head Highway.

A feel-good story about Deputy State's Attorney Laura J. Gwinn, who worked on the racketeering case against MS-13 down South.

James Lubbers, 36, of Olney, got a year for negligent homicide in HoCo. Lubbers killed his co-worker and friend, Carmen White, in a drunk-driving accident on Route 108 with his BMW.

Allegany: In Cumberland, "Operation Community Involvement" and some entity called the C3I Narcotics Unit capped off a year of detective work with a methamphetamine, crack heroin and MJ bust that netted thirteen 'collars.'
Though the headline says 20.

*I'm sure this will confirm Jamaicans' worst suspicions about Baltimore, which has a terrible rep there thanks to The Wire on satellite.

Dec. 21 evening...

The murdered Holder brothers apparently had a running dispute with another pair of brothers, the Minors.

Another fabulous Washington Post series, "Baby in the Balance," about a couple of addicts trying (sometimes) to get custody of their daughter back. There are four chapters out so far.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Donavon Troy White, 15, of Edenton, North Carolina in the beating death of Joel Bradley, 39. Court documents allege on October 22, 2006 White was seen on close circuit television at the corner of Calhoun and Cumberland Streets assaulting Bradley as he sat on a park bench. Bradley later died of his injuries. An arraignment is scheduled January 25, 2007, Judge Gale Rasin, room 509 Courthouse East.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Darrell Barnes, 42, of the 5600 block of Leiden Road in connection with the death of Shannon Nanette Jackson, 36. Court documents allege on November 9, 2003 Barnes was the last person seen with Jackson as she left her residence accompanied by Barnes. Ms. Jackson was later found dead in the 5500 block in Moores Run Drive near a stream. An arraignment is scheduled January 26, 2007, Judge Gale Rasin, room 509 Courthouse East.

Horrible child-abuse death of two-year-old Kyla Edwards in Salisbury.

Remember Greg Doda, 18, of Crownsville, who killed Heather Donahue, 29, in a snowboarding accident in Jackson Hole?
He'll spend six months in jail ... and has to write a magazine article (cruel torture!).

December 21

"Two brothers who ran an East Baltimore garage were gunned down execution-style yesterday three hours apart in different city neighborhoods, and police scrambled to protect their families as detectives searched for suspects in the attacks..." Ralson and Everton Holder were partners in a towing business.

A man was shot in the leg in the Western.

"I don’t know what to make of it," said top prosecutor Mrs. J of her 83k raise. The Sun takes a more cynical 'tude, opining that MOM wants to encourage someone to run against his venerable foe.

Ooh, a gang database.
Wonder if it'll be as effective as the domestic-violence database.

Headline of the day: "Investigators: Woman fakes attorney pass for inmate sex"

HoCo police arrested Ronnie Gordon Smoth Jr. for a couple of home invasions after checking pawn shop records.

AAC police are looking for Lamal Lamonte Wise, 17, wanted for killing Marvin Timothy Wilson, 20, of West Baltimore Nov. 15.

In AAC a cold-case rape was solved-- by accident.

Norris for Mayor?

Wow, we were sort of joking putting former Police Commissioner, soap salesman, actor, talk show host and convicted felon Ed Norris on the poll for who should be our next Mayor. After all, BCrime readers are against felons even voting, and anyway, a convict can't run for office without approval of the Governor (or in Ed's case, as it was a Federal conviction, the President himself).

But if Marion Barry could be Mayor of DC, why not Ed, here? It would be a great PR move (we've always felt BMore should embrace its edgy, shocking image), he's certainly one of the most beloved guys in town, and if we're going to live in a police state, we might as well have someone in charge who's seen something of crime and punishment.

And, the campaign would make a great reality show!

Coming in second place in the poll was an even bigger impossibility, Mary Pat Clarke. The inside word is Clarke is ready and psyched to retire and has zero interest in the job.
Smart lady.

So that leaves Keiffer Mitchell Jr., left, as the only viable candidate, with an underwhelming 16 percent of the vote.
We don't know anything about him, other than he looks a lot like Jamie aka "16-piece chicken McNugget Head" from She's Gotta Have It, so we'd better do our civic duty here ...
Looks like he reps the 11th, went to BL (and we hear, taught there briefly), comes from an old well-to-do Baltimore policial family (as in, "Mitchell Courthouse;" see John Sarbanes), lives in Bolton Hill and has two preschool kids and his wife doesn't work.
And he's really young and into education.

YAWN!

Run, Eddie, RUN!
Run like your pants is on fire!

December 20

Hell of a Week in the Ink: "For the fourth time this year there were 10 murders in one week, putting this year's homicide total one above last year's at this time. The city is on pace to match or exceed last year's final total of 269 murders."
No wonder we kept losing count...

• Theodore Caldwell, 29; intersection of West North Avenue and North Mount Street
• Steven Richey, 41; 3400 block of Cliftmont Avenue;
• Joseph Simms, 41; 3900 block of Bonner Road
• Keith Barney, 30; 4400 block of Haddon Avenue
• Ronald Stewart, 29; 4000 block of West Belvedere Avenue
• Christopher Whitfield, 22; 3800 block of Hanover Street
• Kevin West, 39; 2800 block of Virginia Avenue
• Kurt Malone, 19; 1300 block of McCulloh Street
• James Williams, 44; 3700 block of Fairhaven Avenue
• Kenneth Worrell, 28; 800 block of Bethune Road.

The BPB crime lab is now accredited.
Nice news: "In 2001, Koch said, the backlog of cases with evidence awaiting DNA testing stood at 5,100. The backlog now is about 400"

"Mildred E. Boyer, a minority subcontractor with ties to City Council President Sheila Dixon, was charged yesterday with theft, lying on loan documents and filing false tax returns, according to a city grand jury indictment..."
Boyer's company had once employed Dixon's sister.
Doesn't sound like the Dixons did anything illegal, though:
"The indictment mentions a payroll statement as part of Boyer's application for a 2004 car loan that was 'purportedly signed' by Dixon's sister, Janice. But Janice Dixon never prepared or signed the statement."

The newborn was strangled, say prosecutors in the Princess Anne/ Baby Olivera death. The baby was found at Custom Pak, a tomato packaging plant in Westover (20 miles south of Salisbury).

December 19

The Court of Appeals has rejected halting executions on protocol or racial-and-geographic-disparity grounds-- but halted them because the procedures were never approved. The legislature or the gov. will have to approve them now. WW the new gov do?

Tim Evers is 37

"The NAACP* said in court Monday that the Baltimore police department is guilty of a 'larger pattern' of illegally arresting residents."
"Baltimore lawyers said ... that arrests for "quality of life" crimes are not illegal; that the City State's Attorney decision not to prosecute some crimes does not mean those arrests were unlawful; and that using a performance-evaluation system for police officers based on the number of arrests is not unlawful."

"The ACLU also is suing the city and state over what the organizations call a 'gross violation of rights.' The groups say city police officers make 'illegal arrests' and then state jail officials mistreat people taken into custody at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Facility.

The lawsuit accuses the jail of conducting illegal strip searches and holding suspects beyond the statutory time limit of 24 hours."
--
Weekend murder victims Christopher Whitfield 22, and William James, 44, were ID'd.
Keith Worrell, 28, was with the 15-year-old shot in Cherry Hill and has died of gunshot wounds.

Carjacker Keith Ray escaped from the courthouse and onto St. Paul Street, forcing Joe Sviatko to lock his office door.

Psycho in Reist-o
Former Medical Student Mujtaba R. Jabbar, 25, was charged in the County with shooting salesman and aspiring ice skater Paul Schrum at that Owings Mills movie theater near the TJ Maxx.

A "fatal stabbing in Reisterstown and the subsequent police shooting of a man armed with a knife..."

--
Another one of those dead-baby stories. 24-year-old Florentine Olivera was charged with 2nd-degree murder.

--
A man named Carroll and his son Carroll are charged with "animal cruelty, selling contaminated meat and feeding garbage to swine" in (where else?) Carroll County.

--
*Meanwhile, NAACP HQ to GTF out of town!
Wonder if they're going to take Dorothy Parker with them?
We should give them that statue in front of the Train Station as a going-away present...!

December 18

Kevin West, 39; Kirk Malone, 19; and an unID'd man in South Baltimore were all murdered over the weekend.

Marquel Smith, 32, was shot to death in Essex.

In addition to the 15-year-old boy shot over the weekend, two men were shot in the Western (both were sent to Shock Trauma) and a man was shot in the Southeastern. And, in Pikesville, there was a Hannukah double-stabbing in the 4600 block of Old Court Road.

FBI: Crime's up everywhere in America by 4 percent.

Fun! The FBI and local banks are launching an online "Bandit Gallery." Where it doesn't say, somewhere around here we assume?

"Quality is much more important than quantity," Commissioner Hamm opines on the E Letters page.

"A man who was shot by a Harford County sheriff's deputy for holding his pregnant wife hostage and threatening to set her on fire during a 1995 standoff with police was arrested yesterday in York County, Pa., after threatening to set fire to a trailer..."

"Police: Teen Stabbed, Others Struck With Bat During Party" in Crofton.

The perv du jour is, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Michael Malloy, 35, charged with sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography.

WBAL's Chip Franklin: Children "aren't always the victms" in the child welfare system.

December 17 Nite

Executions have been put on hold in California and Florida, as Maryland's top court hears various challenges to the gruesome practice.

Chesterstown police shot toddler-threatening lunatic Clifton Blanchfield, but didn't kill him.

A County officer is in Shock Trauma after an accident on Spooks Hill Road in Hereford.

"... the best ideas become clear through the utterance of weaker ones."
Good Op-Ed about the JHU Party Mess.

December 17

... and Just another terrible day in Murderland!

jeziz. A 15-year-old was shot and is in serious condition in the 800 block of Bethune Road in Cherry Hill.

A hostage situation in West Baltimore ended in suicide.

Horrible: "Lawrence Banks cut a violent path through Maryland on Nov. 19, 1991, shooting an acquaintance in Pasadena after a night of drinking and then killing his own teenage son in Baltimore."
Banks spent less than 10 years in prison, then killed young mother Lisa Brown and her nine-month-old baby in Laurel last Tuesday.

Davon Temple probably got away with double murder, and now he's gotten away with trespassing, too.

HarfCo police arrested one bloody Eveline Bergman, 46, for stabbing her husband to death in Joppatowne.

A drug raid at 2900 West Coldspring Lane (between Wabash and Reisterstown Rds.) unearthed six-figures' worth of various substances.

Under new Federal legislaton, doctors will be able to prescribe "bupe" to 100 city harewin addicts (there's currently a 30 patient limit.)

Baltimore police ID'd the killer of a two-decades-cold murder of 26-year-old nurse Beverly Louise Feight. The DNA of Orrell Youmans, 50, matched when Sgt. Roger Nolan of the cold-case squad ran a sample through the FBI database.

The Post continues the series Being a Black Man.

Stories on the "news" that schoolkids are in gangs were so dumb-n-obvious they weren't worth linking to ... but this high-larious thread of pissy trash talk about it on the Sun forum is!

Some Hampden neighborhood gossip:
When I went to court about the kid who stole my bike last week, the police officer gave me a piece of news about one of my former neighbors on Elm Avenue, a blind guy named Charles (whose house was once set on fire after he let police use it to stake out drug dealers). Anyway, Charles told officer Basil how he came to be blind-- one day he was high on heroin and PCP and gouged out his own eyes!
Wild!

Thanks for the links Simon!

December 16

"... three people were shot Saturday afternoon inside a car in Northwest Baltimore, and one was killed (<259). The car was in front of Booker T. Washington Middle School."

"A 22-year-old man fatally shot in South Baltimore early yesterday (25?) was found by a patrol officer who was close enough to see muzzle flashes and hear gunshots..."

"In a highly unusual acknowledgement of dysfunction in [MD]'s prisons, the administrator in charge of security operations said vulnerable inmates -- especially jailhouse informants -- are routinely attacked even after officials move them to special cells for their protection."

Nine more plaintiffs are suing the police-- specifically regarding the Southeast "SET" team.

Parents of a Cockeysville 10-year-old are a little skeeved that they were only informed that their daughter had an armed, 54-year-old stalker after Stephen Stauffer was arrested. School police say they didnt want to compromise an ongoing investigation.

December 15

Judge Roger W. Brown sentenced Stephanie Madariaga, 27, of the 3300 block of Clarks Lane, to a five-year suspended prison term and three years probation. Madariaga pled guilty August 27, 2004 to accessory after the fact to a homicide in connection to the murder of Kevin Shields, 26. On July 12, 2003 Jason Moody killed Madariaga's ex-husband, Kevin Shields following an argument in the parking lot of Mr. Shields' apartment complex in the 3300 block of Clarks Lane. Madariaga was present at the time of this incident and fled with Moody out of the country. Authorities at Newark International Airport eventually arrested Moody and Madariaga September 10, 2003 as they were returning to the United States from the Dominican Republic. A Baltimore City jury convicted Moody September 8, 2006 of manslaughter and weapons counts and he is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence.

As part of her plea agreement, Madariaga was to cooperate as a State's witness in Moody's trial. Madariaga did testify at that trial, but the State argued at the hearing that she did not testify in accordance to the plea agreement and therefore should receive the maximum penalty, five years in prison. The state introduced into evidence records of more than 400 telephone calls Moody placed to Magariaga since Moody's arrest including a transcript in which they discussed what specific information she would testify to in her plea agreement.

Ronald N. Stewart, 29, of the 4000 block of W. Belvedere Ave. died Wednesday night. Homicide #258, says Gus (who is scheduled to be on Ed Norris this morning at 10:30 with Julie Bike-o-wits for the Friday "round" table).

In the 3700 block of Woodbine Ave. NW a woman was shot in the thigh about 8:20 p.m. yesterday.

The County PO wounded yesterday in the arm and abdomen was German-sheperd handler David T. Garner.

Police are seeking John R. Ridgley IV, 20, of Eldersburg, who stabbed a 21-year-old Kevin Mason in the neck with a knife.

The funeral yesterday for three-year-old Elija Cozart, killed by hit-and-run driver Lazara Arellano de Hogue.

Freezin hell: Jean Marbella has a piece (on Judge Rasin releasing Walter Lomax after 39 years) that only mentions herself once! (...and is even readable, in a disjointed kind of way.)

Like a dog with a bone, E just can't quit the Timothy Gounaris story.
Today's installment, in which The Goun is hired by the same principal twice.
But did the so-called former Principal of the Year knew Mr. Tim's little secret all along?
And isn't eyeliner on a bald man kind of its own flag?
Stay tuned...

Kiss-off lunches of '06:
Vozzella: "Bob Ehrlich gave a farewell luncheon-interview the other day, but only invited reporters from papers that had endorsed him in last month's election. The outgoing Gov didn't just shut out reporters from The Sun ... [but] also excluded scribes from the Associated Press and the Frederick News-Post, news organizations that don't, as a matter of policy, endorse candidates." (Last item)

'06's final Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting was yesterday, but (we hear) Rod J. Rosenstein, Sviatko, old Conaway and old "Old Jerve" (left) were the only Big Names ... Hamm, Dixon, Mrs. J, and, of course, O'Malley were all no-shows ... the soup was Creamy potato and a report on gangs was released.

December 14

Examiner: As of 12 days ago, shootings are up 18 percent, robberies up 9 percent, but a 24 percent decrease in minor sex offenses equals total crime down 3 percent from last year.

ANOTHER, third (as-yet-unnamed) police officer has been shot, this time in Perry Hall in the County, and now that officer is in Shock Trauma and the suspect who shot him is holed up in a shed!

An arrest in the shooting of officer Momodu Gondo, 23. "Collin Hawkins, 24, has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and two handgun violations." No word on Gondo's condition.
But
Sloe-eyed hot cop Tfc. Eric D. Workman, shot in the lung, can sit up in bed.

Wowee, after 39 years in Jail, Walter Lomax is free.

Frederick Jones, 54, of Columbia, HoCo got life for attacking his ex, Natalyn Tart-Jones, with a machete, cutting off her fingers. Natalyn had a protective order, which Jones violated. A criminal case from two years before had been dropped by the court.

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony is giving back after his appearance in "Stop Snitching"-- he'll be in East Baltimore today to open a "youth center" at 1100 East Fayette.

Speaking of black youths... there's a stat: "For every four black men in college, there are three behind bars."
An interesting idea...
"The report ... endorses the use of more single-sex classes inside regular schools, saying research points to a rise in academic achievement among boys segregated by gender."
...And, the most alarming use of "maybe" in a sentence: "Maybe it is counterintuitive to put children and ex-offenders together. And maybe it's exactly what each one needs." YIEKS!!

Pick up the January issue of Essence magazine, featuring Mrs. J in "The Streets are Watching," an article about witness intimidation in the City.

December 13 Nite

The City Council was supposed to talk about re-opening the Clay case today... wonder what happened with that?

December 13 Evening

Joseph C. Simms, 41, was shot to death in the 3900 block of Bonner Road about 2 p.m. yesterday (256). No motive, no suspects.

Ellis Lee Hickman Jr. of Overlea will be in jail for the rest of his life without parole for the murder of Rakiyya States.

A grand jury indictment yesterday against 15 (alleged) coke dealers has Rod J. Rosenstein worried that the state won't be able to house so many defendants.

Blotter: Robert B. Wolfe, 48, charged with stabbing and beating Lauri B. Moore to death and burying her in their back yard; Marijuana in White Marsh.

I just found out, 20 hours prior, that I must (under threat of arrest- TG I don't have a Real Job) appear at the "Victim Room" of the 3rd floor of Juvie Hall tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. prepared to testify about how one Sherrod N. Lloyd yanked on my garage door and stole my bike back in June! There was a "mutual postponement, charges held in abeyance" while Sherrod was supposed to go to school and do community service or something, but apparently he didn't. So I and officer Basile of the Northern, who allegedly caught Sherrod with my "Trek 3500," get to spend some time on Gay Street trying to compel Sherrod to do right.

December 13

Theodore D. Caldwell, 29, of the 2600 block of Madison Ave., shot Monday night, and Steven Richey, 41, shot outside his home in the 3400 block of Cliftmont Ave Tuesday morning, bring the homicides YTD to 255.

Very odd story: details on the indictment of Miquel Johnson, aka Michael Jackson, accused of killing a minister with the 10,000-member Empowerment Temple, Michael Herrington Griffin, in Northwest Baltimore.

The trial of Baltimore police officer William Darrell Welch, 40, of Timonium, Maryland, is scheduled for 9:30 this morning before Judge Allen L. Schwait. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Welch August 23 with one count of second-degree rape and three counts of misconduct in office. If convicted of the count of rape, Welch could be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding 20 years. Misconduct in office is a common law offense that carries a period of incarceration in whatever amount a court deems is fair and reasonable. The indictment alleges that on July 16 of this year in the Southeastern District Station Welch had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl after she had been taken into custody by another officer. Welch has been out on $50k bail. Assistant State's Attorney Temmi Rollock of the Sex Offense Division will prosecute this case.
Update: Judge Allen L Schwait issued a bench warrant this morning for William Darrell Welch for failing to appear.
Correction from Mrs. J's office: The rape trial of William Welch, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed at the request of the defense until March 13, 2007. The bench warrant issued for Welch's arrest earlier today was recalled by Judge Schwait.

Ponytail and Broadwater: "Crime goes down, and so does the number of people behind bars. That's what is occurring in New York City — but not Baltimore City."

Tough trooper Eric Workman is still alive after two surgeries.

Ink: A murder previously unmentioned by the papers-- Jarmal Dailey, 19, in the 3700 block of Flowerton Road in Edmondson Village-- and the June killing of Demone Jackson was ruled as self-defense, making the YTD homicide total 253
(and the BCrime number right for being wrong).

The Baltimore City Grand Jury has indicted Jermaine Sanders, 15, of the 2100 block of E. Biddle Street for first-degree murder in connection with the December 1, 2006 fatal stabbing of his 17 year-old brother, Jason Sanders. Jermaine followed Jason Sanders from their home and stabbed the elder brother following a verbal dispute then fled the area on foot. Jason died later at Johns Hopkins Hospital. An arraignment has been scheduled January 7, 2007, Judge Gale Rasin.

"Neither side is happy" with the Dameon Woods/Smoot 2nd-degree murder verdict. Says the E of Smoot's death: it "highlighted overcrowded conditions at Central Booking, which was built to process up to 45,000 people annually, but has been used to process more than double that number."

Unfortunately, "being an asshole" is not techincally a crime.

Bob Kaufman needs kidney, stays upbeat, wants to start youth movement.
(In one version of the story he was hit with a brick by a tenant named Stephen, here it's a random idler. Wonder which is correct?)

Not your sexy kind of story, but sill important:
MD. state Ethics Commission staff auditors have "reviewed just 2,600 of the 11,800 financial disclosure statements they received for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2004."

The Gov's father-in-law Joe Curran is still at it a month before retirement, helping bust 22 work-at-home scams in Project Fal$se Hope$.

Nat'l:
Tough times for a woman at a Lavonia, GA motel who mistook a pistol for a lighter. (My, my, those crackers sure can get ugly down that way!

Dec 12 afternoon

Judge John M. Glynn sentenced Dameon Woods to 20 years in prison today. On October 12, a Baltimore City jury convicted Woods of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault for the May 2005 murder of Raymond Smoot, who was in custody in his cell at Central Booking and Intake.

WTF? A woman and a baby were shot to death in Laurel, PGC.

Two home-invasion robberies, one involving sexual assault, in Columbia apartments.

Dennis James Wallace, 54, of the 3400 block of Leverton Avenue, pled guilty to second-degree murder. Under terms of the plea agreement, Judge Martin P. Welch will sentence Wallace to 17 years in prison on January 30, 2007 following a pre-sentence investigation. On July 31, 1983, police discovered William Gibson's decomposed body in a trash can which was placed in a wooden clothes locker outside a rear basement apartment located at 2221 Pratt Street. The landlord had complained of a strong foul odor coming from the apartment. Police identified Wallace as a potential suspect but 10 days after the incident he was no longer seen and his whereabouts were unknown until he was located on July 28, 2005. Wallace remains held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

A professor at Frostburg State University, MacGregor O'Brien, 57, was arrested Saturday on nine counts of possessing child pornography.

Survivors Against Violence Everywhere and the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office Family Bereavement Center will sponsor "an evening of Joy, Peace, Laughter, Sharing, and Healing" at 6 tonight at the Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse, 110 N. Calvert Street, room 410 (Lexington Street entrance). There will be a presentation on "Dealing with Grief during the Holidays."

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that spectators at a murder trial were free to wear buttons bearing a picture of the victim in front of the jury that convicted the defendant.

December 12

A state trooper in Woodlawn shot a suspect dead last night and the Trooper, First Class Eric D. Workman, was hit in the left shoulder and is critically ill and on full life support.

A suspect is on the loose after a fatal shooting of a man at W. North Avenue and Pennsylvania (254).

Seventeen-year-old murder victim Guiliano Santos (253) had "had some trouble with fighting at Harbor City High School recently and had been suspended. On Sunday night, Santos received a call from a friend to go to the area where he was shot."

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job:
Baltimore city's is the only regional jail that can't get defendants to court on time, wreaking havoc on the whole system.
Benjamin Brown, assistant commissioner of the state Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, says that no one has filed an official complaint.

WYPR covers the gay-union oral arguments with both verbiage and streaming audio.

The County and Beyond:
Donovan Cunningham, 38, of Randallstown, was sentenced to 110 months in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

RIP Mabel E. Hubbard, the first brown woman to serve as a judge of the District Court of Maryland. Hubbard genuiely enjoyed law school and was fond of sayings like "If that is true there is not a dog in Georgia" and "I wouldn't entertain my husband in his underwear in my courtroom" and "I've got to stop coming to court with my neon sign on my forehead saying 'Fool. Fool. Fool.' That way you'll be [less] inclined to spit in my face and tell me it's raining."

A County judge sentenced David F. Bias Jr., 21, and Rodney E. Gibson, 24, yesterday to 40 years in prison each in the death of 20-year-old Linton A. Wittock Jr,. who suffered a heart attack during an attempted armed robbery last year in Lansdowne.

More on suffocated child murderer Richard Spicknall II. Said his ex-wife Lisa, "a weight has been lifted from our shoulders."

Civil in Anne Arundel:
Former payroll tax supervisor Kimberly Ann Whitacre, 35, pled guilty to stealing more than $50k from her staffing-company employer in Hanover.

A federal judge has ordered the Westboro Baptist Church to pay "31-hundred-and-50 dollars" for costs and fees associated with a complaint filed by the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed.

Da*nit, what is with these nasty old white men?! Seriously, enough!:
Perv of the day is prison guard Daniel Trader, 57, of Pocomoke City, who pled guilty to sending child pornography to an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl.

MORE on Timothy Gounaris ... a former Fallston High grad says she knew he was doing an underage girl and told her parents who told the school system ... this has got to be the longest story the E has ever published!

Be True to Your School: Jada Pinkett Smith, left, donated $1 million to her alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts. The money will go to a new theatre named for her late classmate, Tupac.

December 11

A 17-year-old boy, Guiliano M. Santos, died after being shot last night in East Baltimore (253).

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Lataye Shyreise King, 16, of the 1900 block of E. 31st Street with first-degree murder and other counts. Court documents allege on November 7, 2006 Lataye King and three other persons approached Nicole Edmonds and her brother as they exited the MTA Light Rail Train at the W. North Avenue station. Nicole's brother was thrown to the ground and a jacket was pulled over his head and that as Nicole ran away, she was chased, caught and fatally stabbed. An arraignment is scheduled for January 16, 2007 before Judge Gale E. Rasin, 509 Courthouse East. Assistant State's Attorney Paul O'Connor will prosecute the case.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Miquel Johnson, 25, of the 1700 block of Laurens Street on first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of Michael Griffin, 43. Court documents allege the stabbing occurred on November 26 in the 3900 block of Groveland Avenue following a disagreement with Johnson. An arraignment is scheduled for January 18, 2007 before Judge Rasin, 509 Courthouse East. Assistant State's Attorney Mark Cohen will prosecute this case.


City police are looking for Richard Cardell Jones, right, wanted for the assault of his 10-month-old daughter.

Child-killer Richard Spicknall, 34, left (from the AP) died after being "found unresponsive in the shower around 8 p.m. Saturday night at the Jessup Correction Institution." Spicknall murdered his two young children outside Cambridge, Md. in 1999.
The murders initiatied a state-wide outcry to merge the state's <55 domestic-violence offender databases (which still hasn't happened).

Stephen Janis has a real 'thing' for the story of Rey Rivera.
But come on now, though it's all very sad, if you were going to try to kill a 6-foot man, would you toss him off a roof?

File under Maryland News, Stop Snitching, Witness Intimidation, Iraq:
The Army Reservist who blew the whistle on Abu Ghraib, Joe Darby, is from Cumberland. He told CNN's Anderson Cooper on CBS' 60 Minutes that his accidental discovery of the naked-pyramid pics ruined his life, but he'd do it again.
He should move to the City!

Merle W. Unger Jr., convicted of shooting Officer Donald Kline in Hagtown in 1975, wants a new trial.

Int'l:
Pinochet's dead and the Chileans are freaking.