May 5

The two Sudbrook Middle School wannabe-bomber girls are being detained until their trials start. The order came despite compelling statements by their attorneys like, "As you can see, this child is not a danger to anyone."

Ernest Harris Jr. was found not guilty for the 1984 murder of his neighbor, Arden Shirley Epps. The defense claims there were multiple leads that the police failed to pursue, including witness testimony and a person being caught with a gun that belonged to the victim.

A jury rejected Marshall Adams' self-defense claim and convicted him of first-degree murder, despite Adams' claim that he "only stabbed {Leo Morris) seven times."

Coke dealer Nigel Humphrey John Baptiste was sentenced to 25 years yesterday.

"Career criminal" Timothy Dwight Cornwell got 15.5 years for possession of a gun, which he tried to hide in a house's mail slot.

Snow cone stand sex offender Kenneth Barnes was arrested yesterday at his home.

Lots of women were fighting each other this week.

Hey, President Stephanie: If you ever want to be mayor, you should probably stop hiring staffers who try to beat up former Ravens.

Damon Holmes pleads guilty

15-year-old Damon Holmes pleaded guilty today to Second Degree Murder, Use of Handgun of Crime of Violence, and Robbery with a Deadly Weapon. He faces a maximum of 40 years.

On May 31, 2006, Damon Holmes shot and killed Oumar Bah, 28, in the 7100 block of McClean Blvd. Bah was a cab operator who had picked up Holmes on Northern Parkway. said Josie Kennedy After shooting Bah, Holmes took money from Bah’s cab.

May 4

An unidentified man was fatally shot in the 100 block of S. Mount St, in the Southern neighborhood of Union Square. Richard Irwin and Gus G. Sentementes report that this brings the official toll for 2007 to 95, compared with 88 at this time last year.

Luke Broadwater does a recap of April's murders, including some particularly gruesome details on 16-year-old Brent Flanagan's death.

Devon Richardson got 10 years for murdering 67-year-old Janice Letmate as she walked home from work. Julie Bykowicz' story quotes a partner at the lawfirm where Ms. Letmate worked as saying, "She never said an unkind word about anyone. She never harmed a soul." Apparently, Ms. Letmate was one of those innocent bystanders who our politicians like to say are unaffected by Baltimore's culture of crime.

Police finally found David Robinson, the suspected getaway driver for last month's botched robbery at Fantasies Night Club.

Tivon Wright, Sean Taylor, and Matthew Evans face charges related to last year's jailhouse murder of Anthony Conaway.

A bunch of arrests and burglaries in the Blotter.

It's been a rough week for school kids in the area:

Two Sudbrook Middle School girls tried to blow up their school. The girls have been charged with felony possession of explosive materials, though presumably not for the bottle of water that school officials thought contained material for making a bomb.

A 13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted at her Baltimore County school bus stop by a white man with braces and a faint moustache.

Danielle Talbot, a teacher at William H. Lemmel Middle School in the city, was arrested after allegedly buying methadone on her way to class.

Sex offender Kenneth Barnes has been spotted lurking among snow cone stands in Roland Park. In 1996, Barnes was convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl.

A jackass on a school bus in Rosedale threw something out the bus window that shattered a passing car's windshield, which got glass in the driver's eye.

47-year-old Joseph Ballmann, a former English teacher at Robert Frost Middle School in MoCo, was charged with inappropriate sexual contact with a 15-year-old boy. (I originally had the former teacher's name misspelled. Interestingly, the original post has been removed by WBAL. Their mistake or mine? Not sure. I try to be very careful about spelling on this site, though, so I apologize if the mistake was mine.)

Two of the four sex offense charges against a 17-year-old Fredneck have been moved from adult court to juvenile court. Michael Thomas Smith is charged with sexually assaulting four female classmates last year.

Sex offender Kenneth Barnes is out of jail and has been spotted at the snowball stand on Falls Road by the County line.

Judge John Prevas sentenced Antwan Smith, 23, of the 6800 block of Lenbern Road to 30 years in prison today for multiple counts of robbery. Details:

On October 23, 2005, the defendants (Smith and Charles Patterson, 26, of the 600 block of Woodington Road) robbed or attempted to rob Lamar Davis, James Anderson, Charlotte Johnson, and Tycara Johnson in the area of 4100 block of Cleve Court of the Brooklyn Homes in South Baltimore, Maryland. During this robbery spree, Anthony Heck came upon the defendants and shot at them from a distance. Antwan Smith allegedly returned fire, hitting and causing the death of Heck. On March 21, 2007, a Baltimore City jury convicted of three counts of Robbery with a Dangerous or Deadly Weapon and one count of Attempted Robbery with a Dangerous or Deadly Weapon. They were acquitted of the murder of Anthony Heck. Patterson will be sentenced May 23, 2007.

May 3

The body of an unidentified man was found in a run-down rowhouse in Barclay last night. It appears that the man was shot.

Marciana Ringo's mother testified yesterday in the trial of Jamaal K. Abeokuto. May 2 would have been Marciana's 13th birthday.

Maurice Mouzon got 20+ years on federal gun and drug charges yesterday, after nearly 12 years of getting slapped on the wrist for his naughty behavior.

A 60-year-old woman is in serious condition at Hopkins after a suspected arson in the 900 block of E. Chase St.

Some kids threw a rock at a Loyola student on Sunday night and hit him in the head.

The Blotter has been much deeper than usual this week, with today's report (three pages!) detailing a rape, several stabbings, and some very bizarre homicide arrests.

An 11-year-old girl who hears gunshots every week and a ninth-grade boy who can't get to school without walking through gang territory were on-hand when the City Council unveiled its new report on tackling gang violence. There was no mention as to whether a report was prepared to report on the effectiveness of previously commissioned reports on gang-violence.

Sheila D. is a fan of drug treatment, but she won't state her opinions on decriminalizing the use of illegal drugs.

Terrance Washington, the inmate who escaped from HarCo officers while he was being taken to the hospital, was caught in Tennessee after stealing a Ryder truck and a Lexus.

Wow. People in HoCo actually have, like, community meetings and stuff when people get a person gets murdered. What a weird concept.

Two officers are appealing a decision in a suit against the BPD regarding libelous search warrants.

Crime tip #1: Don't speed when you're transporting 180 pounds of high-quality wacky tabaccy from Atlanta to New York.

Crime tip #2: When you're fleeing police at 1:00am, crashing into a telephone pole is not the best escape plan.

A wedding photographer is scamming couples in Frederick.

An employee at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources lost a thumb drive with the Social Security numbers of about 1,400 employees, but it's probably just between some bus seats or something.

Afternoon

Fugitive suspect and El DeBarge lookalike Arnaldo Lopes was nabbed for a 1995 Boston murder when he deplaned at BWI.
Oooooooo ... and I like it!

May 2

Larry Brockington, 31, was shot to death in the 900 block of N. Rosedale Street in the Franklintown Road neighborhood on the West Side. Notes Gus G. Sentementes, "It was the second fatal shooting on the street in less than a week. On Friday, 25-year-old Dewitt Smith was killed in the 1600 block of N. Rosedale St."

Three suspicious deaths have been added to our tally (but not the Police's), bringing the count to 98: Phillp Hines, 36, and Dontrelle Nesmith, 29, found 3200 block of Normount Avenue in the Southwestern, and Duane Allen, 42, found "partially submerged in a marshy area in Westport" near the 2000 block of Annapolis Road and Clare Street.

Several homicide victims have been ID'd: 21-year-old Deshaun White was killed on Monday in the 3600 block of Reisterstown Rd.; 24-year-old Eric Queen was killed Monday in the 1900 block of E. Lafayette St.; and 36-year-old Lonnie Plateo was killed Sunday afternoon in the 4600 block of Old Frederick Rd. Also in the Blotter: a 25-year-old man was shot on W. Cold Spring Lane and is in critical condition; a 31-year-old woman was shot while sitting on a neighbor's porch on N. Ellwood St. and is in critical condition; a 34-year-old man was cut on the face when he didn't have any money to give robbers on Eastern Ave.; and a man and woman were robbed of $24 at gunpoint on Baltimore St. Oh, and that's just what happened in the Northern and the Southeastern.

This week's "Murder Ink" covers seven homicides -- including the police-related death of Damion Baker -- and provides updates on four other murder cases.

No shit, Sherlock: "City residents want to see more police walking streets."

In response to yesterday's Examiner stories on unsolved murders, Sheila D. says we have to trust our police. She did not mention whether or not she is forming a committee to examine if, in addition to trusting the police, we should stop killing each other.

The good mayor is also pulling for a data analysis system to help track gun crimes. There have been 204 shootings so far this year, compared to 162 at the same time last year.

Ann Barone was forced out of her house by the city's nuisance laws. One neighbor said, "There was drugs going on, drug dealers living in the house, drugs being sold in the house."

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in Baltimore County for alleged MySpace killer John Gaumer.

There may be a breakthrough in the case against Nancy Jean Siegel, who is accused of killing her 76-year-old boyfriend 11 years ago.

Perv du jour: Cmdr. Kevin Ronan has been accused of making video recordings of midshipmen having sex with their girlfriends.

Convicted murderer George Robert Chaney was indicted for robbing a Provident Bank on E. Monument St. in April.

Denise Rosado got 6 months for stealing $33,000 from her job at the state. Donna and Wilson Lam, however, defrauded the state of $1.7 million, but no criminal charges have been filed yet.

Urban adventurer Michael Arndt broke into the wrong Columbia warehouse.

Leon Loved Crabcakes

Dear Charles, did drop by the cookbook party for the Family Bereavement center this afternoon. Included was a a submission for crab and salmon cakes from the family of the first victim of 2007, Leon Nelson, left, shot to death at the China Garden. If you didn't already, thought you'd like to know what he looked like.

May 1 Afternoon

A woman's body was found amidst the trash outside a vacant house in the 2900 block of Ellicott Drive. June 17 of last year, a 28-year-old African-American man, identified by police as Blackburn John, was found lying facedown in the 2800 block of the same street.

A group of University of Maryland law students are working to bring positive change to Cherry Hill, a city neighborhood that contains the largest concentration of public housing this side of Chicago. (The article actually says "west of Chicago," but I'm assuming nobody moved Cherry Hill to the other side of the Ol' Mississip while we weren't looking.) The article's claim that no murders occurred in Cherry Hill since December 2006 was destroyed on April 19, when Christopher Wayman was shot to death on Seabury Rd.

Shanda Harris' reckless endangerment trial has been postponed at the request of the defense. Harris allegedly knew that her babysitter, Melvin Lorenzo Jones Jr., was a registered sex offender when she allowed Jones to babysit her 11-year-old son Irvin. Irvin was stabbed to death last summer, and Jones was arrested and charged with the killing.

Bobby Collins of Brooklyn, NY, allegedly called Baltimore 911 more than 250 times within one month.

May 1

Two more people were murdered in our fine city last night, bringing the year's official death toll to 91* and the death toll since Friday to eight**. An unidentified man was shot to death in the 1900 block of E. Lafayette St. last night at about 10:00, and another man was shot and left in a parked car in the 500 block of Half Mile Ct. at about 7:00 last night. Meanwhile, the man who was killed on Sunday in the 300 block of S. Payson St. was identified as 22-year-old Leroy Sanders.

The Examiner published five stories on cold-case murders this morning. Apparently, 43% of murderers in the city are never caught, and 75% of those who are sent to prison are out again within 10 years. Profiled are the cases of Juan McMahan, who was murdered at a birthday party in July of 2004; Georgio Washington, who was killed on Kenwood Ave. on Dec. 20, 2001; Robert Russell, who was killed on Garrett Ave. in November of 2004; and Cameron Curtis, who was killed in South Baltimore in October of 2004. Curtis' mother, a teacher at Bentalou Elementary, said her son was a married father of three with no criminal record, and she asked, "How can I teach the children I have [at Bentalou] that if you get a job and be productive, you’ll be OK? I can’t teach them that, because that’s not what happened for my son."

The two men who were killed at the Arbutus birthday party shootout have been ID'd as Edward Wayne Johnson of Cherry Hill and Michael Johnson of Windsor Mill. BaCo police spokesman Bill Toohey is still frustrated that out of 100 possible witnesses, none have spoken up.

Shocking news, Sheila: people who live in blighted neighborhoods want a safe city! "I can't even bring my kids outside. I'm scared to bring them outside because of the drugs."

A HoCo General Hospital forensic nurse says most sexual assaults are not reported.

James McCoy Turner got 15 years for guns and drugs.

Sixty families who have been helped by Kim Holmes and the staff at the Family Bereavement Center -- the city organization that assists families of murder victims -- contributed recipes to "Tasty Treasures," a cookbook and an "elegy to a city in pain." If you'd like a copy, call Kim at 410-396-7351.

It looks like the cheerleader didn't do it.

A fight over a boy in Westminster led to second-degree assault charges against a 15-year-old.

* The Baltimore Crime murder toll sits at 93, due to bodies that were found in Leakin Park and near Cherry Hill earlier this year.

** The city's homicide count since Friday is four times greater than Howard County's murder count so far this year, and is twice the total annual number of homicides in HoCo last year.

April 30 Afternoon

Her Honor has announced the strategy to fight crime that so "many in the public and the media has been wanting me to share and express," and it's some seriously radical stuff! State troopers walking the beat, full staffing of the police force by the end of the year, Ed Norris will be restored as commissioner ... oh just kidding, it's the same old soporific crap!

The Supremes are some busy codgers: they heard a police-chase case and will hear a death-penalty case, but won't get involved with a married-lesbian-child-custody thing.

Fredneck police say Deysi Benitez, 25, the mother of four children who were slain by their father in March is "probably alive."

April 30

A birthday party at a hall in Arbutus ended in a shooting that left two dead and three wounded. The precinct commander said, "nothing like this in Arbutus before." In a surprise turn of events, witnesses are being "less than fully cooperative."

It's been a busy weekend in the city: six homicides and nine non-fatal shootings since Sunday. Early Monday morning, an unidentified man was fatally shot in the 3600 block of Reisterstown Rd. On Sunday, an un-ID'd man in the 300 block of S. Payson St. was repeatedly shot and died at Shock Trauma; an un-ID'd man was found in the condemned Updand Apartments in the 4600 block of Old Frederick Rd. with gunshot wounds; Azerwoine Walker was fatally shot in the 6200 block of Elliott St. in O'Donnell Heights; and Ronald Daniels was fatally shot in the head outside the Cameo Lounge in the 4700 block of Harford Rd, marking the first time in just over a year that anyone has been murdered at the notoriously violent bar. (Nehemiah Johnson was killed there on April 3, 2006, and the Sun reports there were multiple shootings in 2002.) On Friday night, Dewitt Smith was repeatedly shot and was found lying in the street (the article doesn't say which street) in the Southwestern.

Damion Baker was the man killed by police early Saturday morning. The 25-year-old suspected gang member had a well-developed criminal record.

A pharmacist at a Frederick CVS was shot during an attempted drug robbery.

Three UMES students were shot or stabbed in two incidents on Friday.

An elderly man in Cockeysville pretended to have a heart attack and fell to the floor during an ATM robbery, but the robber assaulted him anyway and stole all his money.

In news that the human race is not complete and utter slime, support from strangers is keeping Payton Potochney's family's spirits high.

An Anne Arundel cheerleader made death threats against other students on the cheerleading squad.

April 29

Annie Linskey explains how Joseph Ensey, who was shot in 1991 in passed last November, got added to '07's grim tally, though the shooter will never be charged.

News from the Left Coast:
Annals of Correction: California's pay-to-stay jails offer privacy and extra privileges for $70-$100 extra per night.
Still, the cells are "roughly the size of a custodial closet, and share its smell and ambience."

Web finds: the homicide blog of the LA Times, describled as "a weekly listing of all homicide victims reported by the Los Angeles County coroner, combined with updates every few days from law enforcement agencies of new homicides not yet listed" which "seeks to reverse an age-old paradox of big-city crime reporting, which dictates that only the most unusual and statistically marginal homicide cases receive press coverage, while those cases at the very eye of the storm -- those which best expose the true statistical dimensions of the problem of deadly violence -- remain hidden."
Word.

April 28

An 11-year veteran Baltimore City officer shot and killed a suspect on West North Avenue after the man fled and then allegedly drew a weapon, the third fatal police shooting so far this year (thanks Burg!).

Police are still looking for a third suspect, one David Robinson, left, after the "wild, strip-club shootout" at Fantasies. He may be driving an Audi with the MD tag 2CFR05.

Police have arrested Korey Harris, 17, for the murder of Christopher Wayman on April 19.

After all these years, will we ever cease to be offended at the way the Blotter marginalizes (literally) horrible violent crimes? Tuesday and Wednesday, by the way and p. fucking s., a 17-year-old was shot in the leg, a 25-year-old was shot in the back, and three people were stabbed in two different incidents.

A missing 18-year-old from Dundalk, Raymond Zubrowski Jr., was found in a shallow grave in Dorchester County.

April 27

HoCo's second murder of the year -- 40-year-old Alevtina Y. Zhilina, a clerk at a 7-11 store -- is making Columbia residents nervous. Running Brook Elementary was on lockdown yesterday due to the killing.

Kirk Fonseca and Lewis Edward Rich are in custody for fatally stabbing 18-year-old Ernest Buchanan in a downtown McDonald's yesterday. The killing is making Baltimore workers nervous. In breaking news, the city of Baltimore will be put on indefinite lockdown. (Only kidding. Sorry. Not funny.)

Sintia Mesa's family is upset because there has been no justice for her murder. Welcome to Baltimore, hon.

Two women and a man were shot on the corner of N. Luzerne and E. Preston in East Baltimore yesterday, and an officer was injured in an accident while on the way to the scene. A neighbor was quoted as saying, "We’ve lived here one year, and we’ve already seen three or four shootings... This is no way to live." In yesterday's comments, Supreme gives his take on the getaway: "the shooters probably headed right up the street to a liquor store on N. Milton or Orleans and then walked directly back to the crime scene and laughed about it!!!"

The 14-year-old boy who brought papa's 9mm to school earlier this week was trying to protect himself after he was jumped when he got off the bus on his way home from school. In addition to regular beatdowns, he is now facing expulsion.

A juror in the sentencing trial of Jamaal Abeokuto, the convicted murderer of 8-year-old Marciana Ringo in 2002, "just can't do this."

Three Molotov cocktails were thrown at a house in the 2000 block of Ellsworth Ave early Wednesday morning.

Some victims and convicted criminals are meeting face-to-face.

Perv du jour: MoCo middle school math teacher Charles Robert Bouma allegedly pulled down his pants while driving a convertible and showed his goods to a school bus full of Catholic schoolgirls.

Stat of the Day

The unbeLIEvable manpower shortage downtown has sunk the city to a new state of anarchy!
The director of the Crime Lab, Ed Koch(!) says the city has about 900 900 guns "stacked up in carts" awaiting ballistics examinations.

The good news: in as few as three to seven years of training, you too could be making more than six figures as a gun examiner!
(Thanks Galt!)

April 26

A man was stabbed to death at 11 a.m. this morning at the McDonald's on 31 S. Calvert Street (about two blocks from the courthouse).

Yesterday, I forgot to add a link to this week's "Murder Ink." Joseph Ensey Sr. died on April 20 from complications related to a gunshot wound he received in 1991; his death is considered one of 2007's homicides. Also covered this week are the deaths of Kevin Randall, Johnnie James, Christopher Wayman, Van Johnson, and Damon Dubose.

43-year-old mother, grandmother, and 28-time arrestee Uywanda Peterson died behind a bar on Belair Rd. after being shot with a stun gun by police. Surprisingly, witnesses and police have completely different stories to tell.

Three teenage boys were shot last night while sitting on one of the boys' front porch.

Sierra Anderson turned herself in to police after being missing for 10 days.

Suspected Blood Nicholas Brunson was arrested on Monday for the murder of Brent Flanagan.

Counties
HoCo:A 40-year-old woman was shot to death by a masked man at a 7-11 store in Columbia early this morning.

MoCo police officer Luke Hoffman died after another officer hit him with a police car while chasing a drunk driver.

AACo: Edward Spiker was arrested in Pasadena after pushing an elementary school girl, attacking another with a rock and spitting on her, and threatening one of the girls' mothers with a knife.

A 14-year-old student from Milford Mill Academy was caught with his father's 9mm. The boy allegedly told police he was packing heat because he felt intimidated at school.

Tiffany Weaver pleaded guilty to stealing a lawyer's identity so she could get it on with her incarcerated boyfriend.

29-year-old Anitra Fonte Jones is missing, and left messages that she was going to hurt herself. She's a black woman, 5'5", 170 pounds, possibly driving a gray Toyota Camry with Maryland plates "NITA-BOO."

Two automatic weapons and several other guns are missing, according to a Baltimore County police inventory audit.

A cute little dog named Millie was attacked and killed by two pit bulls in Woodlawn.

Note to aspiring authors: Don't make jokes alluding to strippers and groupies when asked to sign a 10-year-old girl's forehead.

Sun self-reflects: we're fucked

Right off the plane to hear that 15 men and women from the Sun's news department are out of a job as of today, no idea who(m).
More from the LA Times.

Victim impact statement

Johnny Johnson's victim impact statement in the trial of Phillip Carter is incredibly powerful. It was quoted in Julie Bykowicz' piece on Carter's sentencing, along with the fact that Mr. Johnson wouldn't testify at the trial because he was afraid to leave his house. The simplicity and sadness of his statement says a great deal about our city.

My name is Johnny Johnson. I am a resident of Baltimore City and was a victim of assault by one Mr. Phillip Carter on February 26, 2006 on Fulton Avenue and Baltimore Street. I would like to take a minute to explain to you how this has affected my daily life. As a result of this crime I currently cannot find peaceful sleep and am afraid to walk the streets of our fair city.