Saturday, February 25, 2006

February 25

Gene Foreman, 16, pled guilty to the murder of Darrell Winston after he was caught by one of those police cameras.

This story is structured so poorly you have to read it more than once to figure out what's going on. But basically, the defense attorney for one of the McAbier firebombers plans to appeal the conviction, arguing that the case should have been brought by the state, not the Feds, because Edna was snitching to local police, not the FBI. Rod Rosenstein says that because drug trafficking was involved and trafficking is a federal crime, the venue was appropriate. Which, let's hope, may be a sign that the U.S. attorney's office is going to start going after more intimidation cases.

Sigh, another murder-suicide, or possibly a double homicide, this time in Glen Burnie.

Friday, February 24, 2006

February 24

There will be another WBAL "unreported crimes" story aired tonight at 11.

In the Western, a man was stabbed in the neck, arm and shoulder with a kitchen knife. A third teenager, 17-year-old Corey Jones, was arrested for the murder of Kwane Walker.

The O'Malley Administration is stepping up its efforts to boost public confidence in the numbers. Hamm released numbers showing that the police's record of gunshot injuries jibes with what local hospitals and EMTs reported in '05.

In the County, Baltimore County Police have arrested and charged Richard Nelson Foltz IV, 16, for the shooting of Angela Holyfield, 15.

Meanwhile, a sexual assault went blatantly unreported by city police in this story by Jayne Miller. Anne Arundel County police notified City police that they had physical evidence of a sexual assault that took place in the city. The city detective replies that police won't be needing that swab, thanks, because no crime took place.

Felon Alonzo Briscoe got 17 years for a gun charge.

Richard Schildtknecht, 30, got one and a half years in jail for downloading child pornography on his office computer.

In Charles County on Wednesday, Marvin Charles Marshall, 24, shot Safiyah Yasmeen Rashid, 25, and then killed himself.

Three men were arrested for Cecil County's first murder of the year, the stabbing of Jose Rodriquez, 25.

Daniel Lanahan, 27, of Woodlawn, is charged with beating his father Frank in the head and face with a metal pole.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

February 23

MTA: outdated police communications equipment failed during the Harbor Tunnel threat last October, leaving emergency responders unable to communicate with law enforcement.

Ricky K. Wilkins, a senior member of the Bloods, was arrested in Elkridge for stabbing and beheading Terrance J. Williams last September.

James Smith, 19, was arrested and charged with the murder of Brian Sampson, 19. Tyrell Fleming and Davon Jones, both 18, were arrested for attemped murder, accused of shooting William Lowe, 43, of Rosedale.

Carlos Davila, 60, was shot in his home near Pikesville Middle School. Police are seeking a 20-something short Hispanic male suspect with a mustache.

A teenage girl was shot in the chest in Reisterstown.

The body burning in Millersville belonged to a 50-year-old man.

Gerald Jordan stole about $300,000 from an old folks' home.

A day after a Navy quarterback was charged with rape, the naval academy is investigating another sexual assault charge. According to a Defense Department study, 94 women have reported a rape at the Naval Academy in the past 10 years, and 142 female cadettes reported a sexual assault.

What the hell, why bother calling the police at all? Crime reports don't actually accomplish anything, paper and ink won't bring your stolen stuff back, un-rape you or remove that bullet from your lung...

Blogger "Huff" tracked down various online incarnations of "big thick" Christopher Gaumer (aka the myspace murderer), and some (disturbingly naïve) coeds who claim that he liked to drop his drawers in front of his webcam.

"It's about 10 p.m. ... young women sprint toward musty corners of the garage to urinate."

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

February 22

Remember Kevin Clark? Commissioner until November 2004 until fired abruptly after it was revealed that his wife had allegedly beat him about the head with a telephone 14 years prior? Now BAL's Jayne Miller's tracked him down in New York, and he's got not only allegations, but numbers from an internal audit in 2002 that pointed to "significant problems" in rape and robbery numbers that led the crimes to be underreported by 15 to 20 percent. Clark says the Mayor was aware of his concerns, but he was told by the O'Malley administration to drop the issue because it made the Mayor look bad. The mayor's press office responded to the story by calling Clark a liar and disgruntled employee. Meanwhile, Hamm's playing chief bulwark of uncomfortable meetings.

Five murders last week brought the 2006 toll to 40. The Sun reported four of the five.

Michael Lynn, 15, was arrested for the murder of Kwane Walker, 16. Three days after Walker's murder, another 16-year old boy was shot in the stomach on the West side of town. In the Northwestern, a 26-year-old was shot in the face. And on the West side Carrington McNutt, 18, was arrested and charged with attempted murder for shooting Eric Baker, 28.

A 15-year-old high school student stabbed a 16-year-old student shortly after the school day ended at W.E.B. Dubois high school in the Northeast.

Last Friday the BCGJ indicted Anthony Miller for the murders of Jason Convertino and Sean Wisniewski. Miller had been arrested repeatedly and was even charged with two murders, but he got away no less than five times because the State's Attorney's office declined to prosecute.

At a hearing today, Judge Edward Hargadon sentenced Lamar Johnson, 22, to life in prison plus 20 years for first-degree murder and the use of a handgun in the commission of a violent crime. On March 26, 2004, Johnson shot Carlos Sawyer, 31, multiple times next to the Tilghman Elementary School and Recreation Center in the 2200 block of McElderry Street as school was being dismissed for the day. After the first shot, while Mr. Sawyer lay in the gutter, and as schoolchildren looked on, Johnson continued shooting.

Kathryn Brown's grinning headshot looks just a little inappropriate next to a story about how a policeman discovered a burning body near Old Mill High School in Millersville, Anne Arundel County.

The grandmother of 17-year-old Jeremiah Brown Hall, accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old boy and forcing him to rob banks says her grandson is no criminal.

Navy football quarterback Lamar Owens Jr. has been charged with rape.

Are ugly teenagers more likely to become criminals, or just more likely to get in trouble?

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

February 21

Kwane Walker, age 16, was shot in the stomach and died on Friday.

The body of Dorine Smith, 67, was found in the basement of her West Baltimore home on Saturday, and her death has been ruled a homicide.

Terrence Smith, leader of the gang that firebombed Edna McAbier's house, got 80 years for the attack.

keenanPolice are looking for convicted child rapist and unregistered sex offender Matthew Patrick Keenan of Dundalk (at left).

What a great idea: DUI plates.

Family law = one depressing mess.

Hung-over editor issues honest headline:
"Death Penalty issue gets confusing."
(If you want anything explained you have to ask somebody else.)

Terrance Hawkins of Upper Marlboro took 70 elderly Oprah fans for a ride.

Slow news day: with government offices and courts closed Monday but reporters at work, local papers filled pages with reader mail and transcibed voice messages, and Cheshire's ex wrote an article about how O'Malley's office broke the law by not responding to her letters in a timely fashion.

Monday, February 20, 2006

February 20

New York Daily News: Baltimore's port is "in the hands of a firm owned by a sheikdom suspected of connections to Al Qaeda terrorists, Iraqi insurgents and Iranian flame-throwers." The storm-in-the-Port story is so hot the Mayor made Al-Jazeerah, and Ehrlich jumped on the bandwagon with Pataki to be one of two GOP governors questioning the sale.

Irwin: A 26-year-old man was shot in the leg, a gaudy SUV was 'jacked and liquor and decorative plates were stolen.

Put ya lighters up for Time Magazine's "Looking For A Few Good Snitches", featuring quotes by Mrs. J, prosecutor Lisa Goldberg and Judge John Glynn and a reference to the Boyd/Meadows/Johnson intimidation case among others (and now Clyde is a free man). (Q: If a witness is killed, are their written or sworn statements still admissible in court?)

Baltimore Police embrace the lastest thing: video-tape-recordings of motion-pictures.

"The Centers for the Dignity of Women"-- how made up is that?... Is that where Elizabeth Krum can go for therapy?

Sunday, February 19, 2006

February 19

JZ: in the Flex Squad trial, will it be possible to seat jurors who can honestly "state under oat that they have formed no opinion on this case"?

Co-conspirator Hugo Arnaldo Aguilar-Mejia, 36, pled guilty in federal court to kidnapping 19-year-old Delmy Rivera in Frederick.

A 13-year-old boy was shot in a police officer's home in PG County.

Should felons be allowed to vote?

O to the M, Milkuski and other big-name Democrats are pig-biting mad over the sale of the Port of Baltimore to the Ay-rabs. Shows what I know-- I thought the Port was like a highway tollbooth where federal and state officials dilligently examined containers and collected taxes on their contents. But no ... less than five percent of containers are inspected.