Friday, March 4, 2005

March 4

Way to go, Kima and McNulty ... Easy, Boobie, Hawkeye and a whole lot of other guys and girls (30 in total) were indicted for participating in a heroin distribution ring in Park Heights. The indictments were sealed until law enforcement officers executed arrest warrants on the defendants this week. Search warrants were executed in Baltimore City and Baltimore County that netted raw heroin, 32 guns, approximately 1400 gel capsules of heroin packaged for street-level sale and more than $200,000 in cash. The indictments are the result of an eight-month joint investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement partners, including the DEA, Baltimore Police Department Organized Crime Division, Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office and the Baltimore County Police Department. Notes the State's Attorney's Office, "Many of the defendants are facing significant, mandatory, state sentencing penalties." PoPos 30, Garrett Bailey, Shawn Barnes, Tim Bates, Marlon G. Bell, Boobie, Danbrell T. Brown, Randolph H. Carter, Harry Cokley, Paul Cooper, Marc Crandell aka Hawkeye, Easy, Kenneth Farrington, Lenny Hess, Lamont Johnson, Taavaon C. Johnson, Delandies Lilly, Jr., Louie Livingston, Austin Mabbott, William M. Manns, Antoine K. Rich, Sean A. Smith, Anett J. Snyder, Bill St. John, Kevin K. Thompson, Hassan R. Tucker, Germaine V. Wallace, Bryant A. Warren, Sharma Williams, and Terry L. Williams, zero.

Traquan Johnson, 25, got 10 years for robbing banks in Owings Mills and PA.

Anthony A. Brown got life without parole yesterday for killing city police detective Thomas Newman. His accomplices also got life. The motive for the killing, says prosectuers, was revenge for testifying against Saunders' half-brother, Andre Travers, who was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

A 26-year-old man was shot at 3:30 a.m. on the 1st in PG County, and police apparently have no leads whatsoever.

Stolen baby food, a rammed cop car and a 14-year-old JC Penney's shoplifter in the blotter.

China's Human Rights Report on the U.S., Baltimore's rising murder rate deprives its citizens of basic life, liberty and security of person.

Thursday, March 3, 2005

March 3

snitching
The cameraman of the infamous "Stop Snitching" video is doing his part for the cause ... his work on the DVD was apparently so compelling, witnesses woud be a waste of time. Not only did he list his name in the credits, he appeared on screen threatening people who might consider interfering with his drug business and then mocked people who don't sell drugs for a living. And then there's his house full of white stuff and the gel-cap-making machine. Ah, sweet irony, the snitch es tu.

Ehrlich BFF Al Redmer revealed during a subcommittee meeting that pro-rumermonger Joe Steffan's computer is currently under lock and key at the mayor's father-in-law's office on St. Paul Street.

Tie down your lawn chairs, kids... meth is spreading east.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs...
Dundalk murder mom Denise M. Lechner's parenting skills were well known to social services, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Hours after Jessup's month-long lockdown was lifted, an inmate got shanked by a piece of a light fixture.

White Marsh gets this month's Wes Craven award for the most seemingly bucolic suburb where horrible things happen (sorry, Anne Arundel County): A Nigerian immigrant was found shot to death in a suburban subdivision close to the mall.

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

March 1-2

The conditions at Central Booking are being investigated by the state, and snow delayed Jessamy's scheduled appearance ata hearing on witness intimidation.

The drug kingpin trial of William Nicholson, 27, of the 100 block of Boxthorn Road, is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday before Judge Albert Matricciani, 330 Courthouse East, 111 North Calvert St. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Nicholson on July 31, 2003 on kingpin and conspiracy narcotic counts. A "kingpin" is defined as a person who allegedly was part of a drug conspiracy in which he/she was the manager, organizer, supervisor, or financier of narcotics distribution. Court documents allege Nicholson supplied at least three high-volume dealers in the Baltimore City metro area with large quantities of cocaine. He faces a maximum prison term of 40 years if convicted.

It's been a year since the murder of Hopkins student and SC native Chris Elser, and police have filed the case under "cold."

The trial of Desmond Dickey is also scheduled to begin tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at the Mitchell Courthouse on Calvert. Dickey is charged with two seprate murders committed while he was on parole. A Baltimore City Grand jury indicted Dickey December 2001 for the August 12, 2001 murder of Anthony Carlest in the 400 block of North Pulaski Street, and he was indicted on June 7, 2002 for separate first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy charges in connection with the murder of Alexander Samuel Logan, 26, whose body was found on November 27, 2001, in the 2200 block of Roslyn Avenue.

And speaking of 2001 murders, 34-year-old Timothy Hawkins just got 30 years for one after DNA linked him to a cold case.

Good lord, it's another 3-year-old murdered by his mom, a beaten 12-year-old, a dead body in White Marsh, and a nieghbor who knew about the imprisoned Easton wife all on lurid-ass WJZ.

A Baltimore radio talk show host was surprised to get a letter of apology from a former aide to Jim Jones (Jones was the cult leader who, with his wife Marcie, compelled 908 cultists in Guyana in 1978 to drink cyanide-laced Kool Aid).

How are things in Annapolis? Well, one lucky murderer got his drug charges dropped, and a teenager is being charged with assault for chucking a snowball.

This councilman seems well-intentioned, but do we really need cameras at every mall?

Monday, February 28, 2005

February 26-28

Lots of nastiness in southern Maryland: a man stabbed in the torso at the Cancun Cantina, a man shot during a mugging that started with the bumming of a cigarette, drug busts and a lady mugged in the parking lot of the Dollar store.

Assault and robbery with a side order of mysterious shootings in the blotter.

"Couldn't they have shot his leg or something?" asks a mom whose 20-year-old son was killed by police last December.

How is Toon Towne Center planning to improve security? Plans are "under review" and things are "being considered." Says the mall VP of security, "the point is that people see enhancements being made and feel comfortable with what we're doing." You have to respect the honesty, I suppose.

What do baby formula, a snowplow and a church safe have in common? Items sniped in Carroll County this weekend, of course.

Horrifyingly depressing story of the week: A transgendered inmate, Dee Harmer, whose rape behind bars led to a new liability standard for prison officials is now blind and bedridden and has been sent home to die of AIDS.

Wait, I spoke too soon, a man is charged with imprisoning his wife for six years and starving her to death in Elkton.

A Maryland snowboarding teenager has been charged with reckless endangerment in Jackson Hole, WY after colliding with a skiier and killing her.

Another story of a hit-and-run driver... what are they thinking?

A woman in Silver Spring got 17 years for enslaving and abusing the help.

The trial of a Rockville (alledged) killer nurse, charged in the deaths of five patients at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, was delayed due to weather.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

February 25

In White Marsh, a 15-year-old did $900,000 worth of damage when he set an apartment building on fire.

Also in White Marsh, a man got 21 3/4 years for party powder.

A death warrant has been signed for a guy who murdered a Pikesville couple in a motel 23 years ago.

Sixteen-year-old William Alson, shot in Landsdowne, has been released from the hospital. His 14-year-old friend is still there.

Muggings and cafeteria fights in Annapolis.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

February 24

From the State's Attorney's Office: Just before jury selection was to begin in the murder trial of Darren Johnson, 22, of the 2800 block of Plainfield Road, Johnson pled guilty to second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. On April 4, 2004 Johnson and Calvin McCrea, 20, shot Robert Jenkins, Jr., 29, to death in the 1800 block of Dover Street. McCrea was involved in an altercation with a female on Dover Street and Jenkins attempted to intervene. Judge Kaye Allison sentenced Johnson to a total of 50 years in prison: 30 years for the murder count and 20 years for the handgun count with the terms to run consecutively. McCrea pled guilty Tuesday, February 22 to two counts of first-degree assault. Judge John M. Glynn sentenced McCrea to 15 years in prison,with all but six years in prison.

Yesterday afternoon Fatrina Malika Holloway, 16, of Park Heights Avenue, pled guilty to manslaughter. Judge John M. Glynn sentenced Holloway to ten years in prison will all but four years suspended. On October 15, 2003 Holloway and the victim, Natalie Trent, 24, were involved in a fight in which Trent was hitting Holloway with a stick. Holloway stabbed Trent to death following that altercation in the 3000 block of Thorndale Avenue.

Criminal profiling is apprently not the forte of the Towson cops: a second rape in a week has Towson coeds on the alert for a medium-sized white man, or maybe a black man, or pssibly a Hispanic man, who may be college-aged or not.

Camille Bivins got six years for beating her toddler to death. Her boyfriend, Timothy Horne, saw his charges dismissed on a technicality.

In better news, yesterday's Amber Alert that had drivers looking for one Joseph Warren with a nine-month-old baby in his pickup truck turned out to be the result of a false statement by the babymomma (who's now under arrest).

Bullet-catching boy bugger Maurice Blackwell wants a new trial. And by the way Michael Jackson now has a jury, mostly women.

Drunken diver Micahel Phelps will ahve to talk to students in Wicomico County about the error of his beer-swilling, Escalade-driving ways.

State of the News

I wonder if crime reporting in this town has changed, or if I'm just starting to pay more attention. Probably a little bit of both. The bext source of in-depth reporting is anything in-depth by the City Paper, particularly by Anna Ditkoff. The problem is that the CP only does those types of stories about once a month (understandably). If you want to know crime dirt while it's fresh, WJZ definately dishes it out the best. Mary Bubala did a great report last night about the pant-stealing mall murderers, and in the most fabulous orange coat. The local papers like the Messenger and Towson Times can be good for the robberies and burglaries, but finding out that stuff a week after it happened is not particularly useful. The Sun earns about a C-, not doing much more but making a few calls after getting a press release from the State's Attorney. They can't even seem someone at the courthouse regularly. Worst source of news: channel 11, (WBAL), which will actually, literally, during the news, report on television shows. Fox is in its own little world, namely Timonium, and hustles through local news to get to the national "theme" stories like feeding tubes, taxes and the president talking somewhere to somebody. Then the second half of the show is sports and editorials by that preening Ralph-Reedish Mark Hyman guy, who seems scarred for life from being teased about his last name on the playground.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Turns out that the brother of one of the gunmen, as well as the second gunman, in the Towson Mall shooting had been involved in a robbery the previous day in Overlea.

So, let's get this straight: Lavar Clark and two of his best buds go to Overlea, and at gunpoint, steal 97 bucks and a CD player from some guy.... and then demand his PANTS. The next day, Javon Clark and John Kennedy (!!) decide "Hey, that went pretty well! Now let's go shoot some old guy at the mall!"

Boy, I'd love to meet their parents.

In legal news, a judge rejected gunshot residue evidence from the city's only gunshot analyst. This ruling, if it stands, will open up hundreds of trials for appeal. A quick Google search for cases where Harant's testimony figured importantly include the 2002 murder of Det. Thomas Newman by Jovan House, a capital case, and the conviction and life imprisonment of Jermaine Blackwell for the shooting of James Randolph in 2003.

February 23

Two murders last week bring this year's death toll to 44.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

February 22nd

Courts are back from vacation so suddenly there's a ton of news..

A-hole child abuser of the week (so far) is 24-year old Scott Cromwell, who was sentenced to to 25 years in prison, with all but nine years suspended, for the assault of a three-year old child. On March 14, 2003, while Cromwell was caring for a three year-old at a home in the 6600 block of Snowberry Court when medics responded to an unresponsive child call. The child was found to be suffering from severe brain injury-- his brain was swollen with internal bleeding and there was a giant bruise on his forehead. The child suffered permanent paralysis as a result of the incident.

A second man has been arrested in the murder of Robert Gail of New Carrolton.

A judge's ruling on the definition of gunshot residue evidence has the potential to derail hundreds of cases in Baltimore city.

Thefts and a murder arrest in the blotter.

On Friday a Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Antoine Adams, 32, of Patterson Park Avenue, and Richard A. Damon, Jr., 35, of the 500 block of Force Road, on 32 counts realted to their robbery-and-murder spree last month. Court documents allege that Adams and Damon shot and killed Theresa Moore, 51, and Michael Mick, 40, inside a house in the 800 Block of Bradford Street on January 20. Adams and Damon were also indicted for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy for the shooting death of Justin Michael Gaglione, 29, January 14 in the 300 block of East 20th Street. Both defendants are being held on a no bail status. An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22.

A Hagerstown man has been arrested for raping two teenagers.

A pair of guys who were stopped for speeding on 95 who had the body of a man they'd beaten to death stuffed in the trunk got some mighty light-sounding sentences at a hearing today. Alberto Sanchez, 29, and Armando Rosales, 35, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and accessory to murder, respectively. Sanchez got 4 1/2 years in prison and Rosales got three.

Two boys were shot in Landsdowne this morning. The gunman remains at large.

A bail hearing is set for today for Teon Hall, the Annapolis man charged in the Ritz Cabaret shooting. According to WBAL (which seems to dish dirt way better than WJZ):

The club's former owner was convicted in 2002 of laundering money and hiring illegal immigrants, mostly Hungarians, as dancers. The club now advertises as "The New Ritz Cabaret" and bills itself as an "upscale gentlemen's club."

Personally, I always liked the Ritz. And I never saw any Hungarians there. I can recognize a Hungarian from a mile away, especially naked.

[UPDATE: Hall was given "no bail" status.]

And lucky for all of us consumerist bastards, Towson Town Center is "reviewing its security." They offer no specifics, of course. I guess they have to look like they're doing something.

And just for shits and grins, check out O'Malley's 2000 plan to drastically reduce crime in Baltimore. Ed Norris, we hardly knew ye. But man, did you have a hairy back.

A choirboy-loving perv who was apparently unsucessfully treated at Hopkins for his predilictions is dead at age 87.

Another arrest has been made in the Annaoplis Noah Jamal Jones murder case.

The City Paper covers the muder of jazz musician Lydell Honeyblue.

Still more about the prison bus murder. Newsfuckingflash, the prisoners shouldn't have been seated next to each other.

Baltimore city is trying to set up cameras to nab illegal dumpers... who for some reason think it's easier to haul a sofa to the park than call 311 or the Salvation Army.

If you're a cop looking for drugs, knocking and immediately barging your ass in is perfectly fine in Hagerstown.

Monday, February 21, 2005

February 19-21

A man was fatally shot last night in Southeast Baltimore.

An employee of the Dundalk In And Out store is in shock trauma after being shot by robbers.

Elsewhere,
Two 18-year-olds from Middle River have been arrested for murdering St. Paul's Dean of Faculty in the parking lot of Towsontown Center.

Two armed robbers stole cell phones and an office safe at Comcast.

The FBI says that the rate of bank robberies in Maryland has hit a new high, more than double the rate of the second most bank-robbed city, L.A.

Friday, February 18, 2005

February 18

A man is under arrest for murder after a double shooting early this morning in front of the Ritz Cabaret (a strip club famous for being the office of fictional kingpin Avon Barksdale in season one of The Wire)

Police are waiting for the results of lab tests before making an arrest in the Linda Trinh murder case.

A circuit court hearing is attempting to determine if a man who stabbed an elderly couple in Rosedale for heroin money in 1998 should have his death sentence overturned on the basis of incompetent counsel.

Elsewhere,
PG county police Corporal Brian Addis (aka Cuffy McNutkick) was aquitted of assaulting a suspect. The jury decided that the officer's actions were "clearly within his rights."

I just discovered the Towson University crime log.

A Chevy Chase woman who killed her landlord has been declared incompetent to stand trial. However, the guy who helped her hide the body in a barn faces five years.

Pregnant private and penal über-sadist Lynndie England's charges have been reduced for unknown reasons.

And back to the city...
Shooting, burglary, robbery etc. in the blotter.
(this makes about the 4th time this month someone's gotten assaulted on East Fayette street).

StokesNews of the in the Blackwell guilty verdict has been reported as far away as India. Says the director of a support group for abuse survivors, "Dontee could have tried to run from this, bury this, deny this and let Blackwell abuse again. He courageously chose to face this. That's why we consider him heroic." (Sun photo by Doug Kapustin, left.)

WBAL can't congratulate themselves enough for using their SkyTeam™ helicopter to help police catch a guy who was driving his minivan "like a maniac."

Good news, Chillagers... off-duty cops are now walking the beat around JHU's Homewood campus.

Elsewhere,
Another deadly domestic in Baltimore County. Twenty-four-year-old Deneen Smith is dead and her 23-year-old "boyfriend" is being held without bail. (How dare they call her his 'girlfriend'? Friends don't shoot friends with shotguns!)

Police have arrested a murder suspect in Riverdale (no, not Jughead). Lawrence Irving Green, 22, of Lanham, is suspected of being the psycho jughead who on Monday robbed three people, stole their SUV, wrecked the SUV into another car and then shot the driver of the other car, 41-year-old Robert Gail.

In Ellicott City, a man has to pay local Republicans $328.04 after hacking up pro-Bush signs.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Thursday February 17

State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced today that the Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Bryant Thompson, 20, of the 300 Block of East 29th Street yesterday in connection with the shooting death of Damon Lamont Brooks, 34. Court documents allege that Thompson shot and killed Damon Lamont Brooks on September 26, 2004 in Brooks’ apartment. Thompson is currently being held on a no bail status. An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 before the Honorable Lynn K. Stewart, 215 Clarence Mitchell Courthouse, 110 North Calvert Street.

First-degree murder charges were dropped against Timothy Horne because prosecutors failed to give him a speedy trial and delayed his case nine times. Horne and his girlfriend, Camille Marie Bivins, were charged in April 2003 with the beating death of Messiah Wright, Bivins’ 20-month-old son. (You'd think this would garner a lot of media shock and outrage, but apparently not). The boy's mother pled guilty in September and is still awaiting a disposition hearing, which was originally scheduled for February 14 but was then postponed indefinitely for unknown reasons.

The Blackwell jury is apparently having a tough time reaching a verdict. BC prediction, not guilty. The jury will think, even though he probably did it, getting shot was punishment enough. Stay tuned...
Well color me wrong! A jury has convicted Maurice Blackwell on three of four child sexual abuse charges. Prosecutor Jo Anne Stanton will be available to speak with members of the media in room 134 of the Mitchell Courthouse at approximately 11:30 a.m. (as in, right now).

A murder victim was named, a pizza deliveryman was robbed an assualted, and a 16-year old was arrested for shooting a 32-year-old man in the blotter.

The suspects in the murder 19-year old of Reshawn Myers were arrested in a HoCo motel. Myers was shot in the forehead on Chinquapin parkway January 20.

Elsewhere,
In Annapolis, grand jury testimony continues regarding the murder of Noah Jones at a party. The case is being investigated for possible federal civil rights violations (aka as a potential “hate crime”).

Also in Annapolis, an 89-year-old woman was raped, beaten and robbed. According to the Sun, her assailant was on probation at the time. (Anyone else noticed that the worst stuff seems to come from Anne Arundel county? What's with that? Has it always been a cesspool of violence or is this a new thing?)

A 21-year-old Towson U student was raped and assaulted off campus in the towers formerly known as Glenmont.

Yesterday's gang-rape story (see below) has turned out to be another case of a 15-year old filing a false report.

An officer responding to a robbery call in Dundalk crashed his cruiser into a tree.

A PG county officer is on administrative leave after a domestic call turned deadly.

Another PG county officer is on trial for assaulting a handcuffed carjacking suspect with a metal baton and kicking him in the 'nads. It was all caught on tape by the camera mounted in his cruiser, and the jury got to watch it all on video yesterday. Oy vay.

A Frederick man's in the can after stealing a charity jar at WaWa.

A 15-year-old is on the way to the Hickey School for stabbing a man in the shoulder on New Year's. The youth had also previously robbed a handicapped person.

A 40-year old cleaning lady in carroll county got a suspended sentence for flashing her ta-tas at a 17-year-old while drunk on the job. She'd also been accused of activities with a 15-year-old boy. And a lady had her purse snatched at the mall.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Wednesday February 16

The City Paper has an in-depth feature on the men who were murdered in January at the Remington halfway house.

Five murders this week and we're up to 42 for the year, including six white guys, says the Murder Ink.

Detectives making references to 'other victims' in the Maurice Blackwell case may get them charged with contempt. Closing statements will begin today.

A pedestrian was killed when he was run over by a suspect fleeing police.

Homicide and robbery in the blotter.

Elsewhere,
Four stabbings in as many days has Jessup on lockdown, and wardens searching cells for weapons.

Police are looking for four men who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old in Millersville.

In Ellicott City, a man got 11 years for stabbing his girlfriend in the parking lot of Howard Community College.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Tuesday February 15

A Baltimore City jury convicted Harold Singfield, 20, of the 1200 block of Ensor Street of second-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and a handgun violation for the death of Wayne Fisher, 30. The verdict was returned late Friday, February 11 following three days of testimony and one day of deliberation.

In the morning hours of May 13, 2003, in the 1500 block of Argyle Avenue, Singfield, Jr. was approached by the victim concerning a drug debt owed to the victim by Singfield, Jr. An argument ensued during which Singfield, Jr. withdrew a .380 caliber handgun and shot Fisher one time. Fisher then attempted to flee but fell to the ground. Singfield, Jr. then proceeded to straddle Fisher’s prone body and shoot him five more times resulting in Fisher’s death. Singfield, Jr. then ran from the scene. Witnesses positively identified Singfield, Jr. as the shooter. Additionally, during the course of his flight from the crime scene, Singfield, Jr. disposed of certain items of clothing in close proximity to the crime scene. These items were subsequently positively matched to Singfield, Jr. by way of DNA analysis. Singfield, Jr. fled Baltimore and was ultimately apprehended in Rock Hill, South Carolina, approximately one month after the murder.

Did you read about that in the Sun? I didn't think so. Maybe tomorrow or the day after. On to more exclusives...

Tanea Bullock and Laurence Watson, charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in connection with the death of their one-month old son Joshua Watson, were arraigned this morning and pled not guilty. A jury trial was scheduled for May 13 before Judge John M. Glynn.

Shooting, robbery, burglary in the blotter.

Two men have pled guilty to federal gun crimes related to the murder of 17-year-old Shawn Elkins during the course of a robbery.

Elsewhere,
An officer in PG county is charged with assaulting a carjacking suspect.

A man in PG county stole an SUV, shot the car's owner, then proceeded to get into an accident, then shot and killed the driver of the other car. This is PG county's 21st murder this year.

A 22-year-old in Annapolis got 10 years for fatally shooting a man in the neck at a birthday party.

There's underage hookers animal cruelty and canine cannbalism in the Post's Northern Virginia Crime and Justice pages.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Monday February 14

State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced today that the Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Samuel McFarlin, 24, of the 4700 block of Dunncannon Road, for first-degree murder and auto theft. Court documents allege that on June 6, 2004 McFarlin ran over Dwight Allen Chase, 53, with a stolen automobile. On November 10, 2004, Mr. Chase died from the injuries he received at the time of incident. The defendant is currently being held on a no bail status. An arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 10, 2005 before Judge John M. Glynn at the Mitchell Courthouse on 110 North Calvert Street.

Timothy Horne, 32, of Daywalt Avenue, is scheduled for trial 9:00 a.m. tomorrow before Judge David Mitchell at the Mitchell Courthouse on counts of first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, reckless endangerment and assault. The maximum penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison. The maximum penalty for child abuse resulting in death is 30 years. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Horne on May 8, of 2003. The indictment alleges that on October 10, 2002 Horne killed 20-month old Messiah Kahil Wright in his Daywalt Avenue apartment. A second defendant, Camille M. Bivins, the boy’s mother, pled guilty to child abuse resulting in death. Her disposition hearing, originally scheduled for yesterday, was postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date.

Another horrifying child-murder case will kick off tomorrow at 9:30 a.m, with the arraignment of Tanea Bullock, 20, and Laurence Watson, 25, also at the Mitchell Courthouse. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Bullock and Watson January 20 for first-degree murder and child abuse for the death of their one-month old infant son, Joshua Watson. Court documents allege that Bullock and Watson killed their baby on January 1, 2005 at their residence on the 4800 block of Liberty Heights Avenue.

Also at the Mitchell Courthouse, the murder trial of Darren Johnson, 22, of the 2800 block of Plainfield Road in Dundalk and Calvin McCrea, 20, of 1800 block Dover Street, is scheduled to begin 9:30 a.m. tomorrow before Judge Kaye Allison. The Baltimore City Grand jury indicted Johnson and McCrea May 5, 2004 for first-degree murder for the death of Robert Jenkins, Jr., 29. Court documents allege the defendants shot Mr. Jenkins to death on April 4, 2004 in the 1800 block of Dover Street.

Bail has ben denied for the guys who shot a physical therapist and then led police on a car chase through the northwestern 'burbs. (at left Leon Dentis drawing of suspect Leon Dent).

Trial continues in the Maurice Blackwell case, and news sources from Philly to Oregon have picked up the AP story. A detective's testimony that Blackwell had molested others prompted the defense to call for a mistrial.

Theft, robbery, attempted murder, etc. in the blotter.

Police officer Gregory Mussmacher was convicted of assault on Friday for beating a handcuffed teenager and spraying him with pepper spray.

Elsewhere,
Keith Clark, 48, of Baltimore was indicted for two counts of robbery in Monroe Township, New Jersey.

And it isn't a victory party in College Park unless some jackasses start fires and damage public property and get pepper-sprayed and/or arrested.

An Eastern Shore man got 22 years in the can for peddling nose candy.

A fight broke out at the civic center in Salisbury.

Hopkins reps are planning to visit the University of Pennsylvania to get tips on making the campus safer. Can you believe Hopkins contributes a paltry $85k a year to the Charles Village benefits district? The rest of the district's $750,000 operating budget comes from citizens. As a nonprofit, the university doesn't pay taxes.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Saturday Feb. 12 and Sunday Feb. 13

Some guy in Ohio has been e-mailing death threats to football player Ray Lewis.

A house owned by Baltimore School for the Arts alum Jada Pinkett has been seized by federal authorities as part of a drug-trafficking investigation.

Even more about the prison-bus stabbing.

Elsewhere,
A car chase in BoCo makes the digest. WJZ has the video.

Judges everywhere are confused by new Supreme Court sentening guidelines.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Friday February 11

Hizzoner's hijinks have made him a Republican threat and an AP story.

The States Attorney's office reports that the sentencing hearing for Camille Marie Bivins, 23, of the 5900 block of Daywalt Avenue, is scheduled for 2:00P p.m. Monday (aka Valentine's day) before Judge Roger W. Brown, 339 Courthouse East, 111 North Calvert Street. Bivins pled guilty to child abuse resulting in death September 29, 2004. She faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. On October 10, 2002 Bivins killed her 20-month old son Messiah Kahil Wright in her Daywalt Avenue apartment. A second defendant, Timothy Horne, is also charged in this death and is scheduled for trial February 15, 2005.

Stabbing, robbery, etc., in today's blotter.

Judge Allen L. Schwait today convicted Baltimore City police officer Gregory M. Mussmacher, 29, of Hanover, PA, of second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Testimony in this court trial concluded February 7, 2005 and Judge Schwait announced his verdict today and scheduled sentencing for March 29, 2005.

Pugalistic cop Gregory M. Mussmacher could receive a maximum prison sentence of ten years in prison for the second-degree assault count. Misconduct in Office is a common law offense, which means that Mussmacher could be sentenced to whatever period of incarceration a judge deems fair and reasonable. The conviction stems from an investigation by the Baltimore Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office of the events surrounding the arrest of a 17-year old juvenile on April 27, 2004. Mussmacher assaulted the teen by striking him in the face and with his expandable baton at the Northwest District Station on Reisterstown Road while the teen was handcuffed and shackled. The teen was treated at Sinai Hospital for a laceration to the left cheek and two nondisplaced fractures of the left sinus.

John Sachs III of Dundalk got 15 years for scamming women by pretending to be "Bmores-hottestcop."

More about the men charged in the Harwood firebombing.

More on the prison bus strangling... apparently broken interior lights on the prison bus kept corrections officers from seeing a prisoner being strangled a few feet away. Yikes.

Another Hopkins student is dead, this time it's a suicide, and there's robbery arrests in the Sun's City/County Digest.

Elsewhere,

A seven-year-old stabbing case has been reopened in Hagerstown.

A death-row inmate who wrote the governor asking to die has now changed his mind.

A Middle River man, already in the can, is now accused of trying to get his witnesses killed.

DNA evidence has implicated a serial rapist and robber in cases from the 80's.

Mob-supported car theft is the scourge of MoCo.

The Owings Mills Times' Linda Stowbridge reports that Baltimore County police have charged two men in the burglary of two Smith-Greenspring apartments and are investigating a possible link to a series of burglaries in the area.

A pedophile priest from St. Mary's Seminary has died of natural causes in Boston.

A touching essay about the journalism skills of the late and former News American reporter Lou Linley.

The NYT story about Baltimore's bittersweet streets has hit the newsstands in China and India (also see yesterday).

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Thursday February 10

An assaulted officer and a shot robbery suspect in the blotter.

Jury selection has begun in the Maurice Blackwell case. "On Wednesday, Blackwell spoke publicly for the first time ... he compared himself to the biblical figure Job."

More about Ehrlich's personal rumormonger Joe Steffan.

Elsewhere,
The Big Black rapist has struck again, this time in Rosedale. Watch out for cars with tazmanian devil stickers, suburbanites.

A Baltimorean gal's dad has stolen her identity and savings and vanished.

A woman is under arrest for trying to smuggle smack into the Cumberland jail.

There's a lot of drunk drivers in Laurel.

Seven teenagers are in jail for throwing rocks, concrete and other debris at cars from an overpass.

And what does the penis pump judge have to do with Baltimore crime? Not a damn thing.

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Wednesday February 9

Four murders this week, 37 so far this year, a spike that reflects two men who were beaten last year but died in January, reports Anna Ditkoff in this week's CP Murder Ink.

Owing in large part to MD's limp-dick intimidation laws, the McAbier firebombing case has gone federal.

At a hearing yesterday morning, Robert Lee Fox, Sr., 65, pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Judge John C. Themelis sentenced Fox to 10 years in prison, suspending all but four years, with two years' probation and ordered Fox to stay away from the victim’s family. On December 7, 1963 Fox murdered 3-year old Howard January by pushing him down a stairwell.

Shot three times, then defrocked, and now Maurice Blackwell is going on trial for boy-fondling. Dontee Stokes gave an interview to the Sun's Julie Bykowicz.

An inmate waltzed out of booking by switching IDs.

For some reason the Big Papers are both covering on B-more's shooty ways today. The L.A. Times published a piece today about Baltimore's "Bleak Math of Killings" (Login "fortheloveofbug", password "menot.com"). The New York Times has an excellent report on our "meaner" streets (but Charles and Pratt is "tony"?). If you're not registered at the NYT use login "downwiththis" password "holahola". And the Sun published a positive editorial about the mayor's Operation Safe Kids program.

And were the O'Malley extramarital-affair rumors started by a player-hater in the Ehrlich administration? Wouldn't surprise me a bit. But I digress...

Elsewhere...

The Rev. James J. Behan, 61, an Oblate priest who lives in Childs, Md., has pled guilty to repeatedly smoking the pole of a high-school boy.

A gun-toting 15-year-old and a mysterious death in Milford Mill in the digest.

Pistol-whipping, road rage and and sword swinging in the Annapolis police digest.