Appeals

Maryland's highest court has upheld a law allowing police to listen in on cell phone calls that suspects make outside the state, a tool that authorities say is key to fighting the drug trade. The 5-2 Court of Appeals ruling is a victory for law enforcement, said Brian Kleinbord, chief of criminal appeals division for the Maryland Attorney General's Office. "It means that drug dealers can't evade a wiretap by driving their cars across the state line. " But dissenters argued that multi-state wiretaps are the latest example of police using advances in technology to chip away at privacy rights.

A former head of the state's public defender office has lost a challenge to her 2009 firing, as Maryland's highest court ruled against her Tuesday. Nancy S. Forster was fired in a dispute with the agency's governing board over operation of the office that represents poor people facing criminal charges. The Court of Appeals did not rule on her contention that she was wrongly fired because the changes the board sought were illegal and would harm clients. A seven-judge majority ruled against her for procedural reasons.

It's a confrontation few people would want to face: The former security guard sat across the table from the employer who had pink-slipped him as they rehashed his firing. At stake was the payout of unemployment benefits. Jobless workers are entitled to benefits if they lost a job through no fault of their own. In this case, the employer claimed that the man was discharged for absenteeism, while the guard admitted that he had missed work partly because of a drinking problem that he has been treated for since he was let go. Maryland had denied unemployment benefits, and the former employee appealed the case last week to a state hearing examiner.

How ironic that a divorce will be remembered for strengthening the rights of all Marylanders to be married regardless of sexual orientation. With its slam-dunk 7-0 opinion issued Friday in the matter of two women seeking a divorce, the Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that Maryland must recognize same-sex marriages legally certified elsewhere. It's a huge victory for the ongoing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland and adds a whole new dimension to this fall's referendum.

Brendon Ayanbadejo has appealed the $15,000 fine the NFL assessed him for a horse-collar tackle in the Ravens' victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the inside linebacker said he's not optimistic because of the league's emphasis on eliminating horse-collar tackles, which entail a player grabbing and pulling down a ball barrier by either the collar of that player's jersey or shoulder pads. “I'm not [optimistic] because it's a horse-collar [tackle] and however you slice it or dice it, it's a horse-collar [tackle]

No doubt that making sure only the guilty are executed must be done 100 percent of the time. And as The Sun's editorial ("Double Victims," Feb. 27) opines by quoting Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger saying, "we're as close to infallible as you can be in Maryland now," we should have confidence that the death penalty is meeting the 100 percent standard. Mr. Shellenberger is referring to the revised law passed just two years ago that only allows a death penalty when there is physical evidence, such as DNA, or a videotaped confession.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the oil company found responsible for a 26,000-gallon gasoline leak into the groundwater of a northern Baltimore County neighborhood in 2006, filed an appeal Friday of a trial verdict that awarded $150 million to a group of residents affected by the spill. "We agree with the jury's finding that this incident was an unfortunate accident and not a fraudulent or intentional act," said Kevin M. Allexon, a spokesman for the company. "We believe, however, that compensation should be limited to actual harm caused by the spill, and the jury's verdict goes well beyond reasonable compensation.

In his column, "Pit bulls: Own them at your own risk," Dan Rodricks quotes a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision that says the Albuquerque Humane Society has stopped accepting and adopting out pit bulls "because of their potential for attacks on other animals and people. " That is doubly incorrect. First, the "Albuquerque Humane Society" does not exist. Second, Animal Humane - New Mexico, a 47-year old private animal shelter based in Albuquerque, N.M. (often mistkenly called the Albuquerque Humane Society)

Dan Rodricks ' May 1st column ("Pit bulls: Own at your risk") effectively condemns all pit bulls to death. It demonstrates how fear combined with ignorance can lead to prejudice. It's too bad that Mr. Rodricks, who has spent years trying to counteract this phenomenon among others, does not recognize it in himself. Jeanne Bilanin, Baltimore

The state's highest court has refused to entertain an appeal by City Councilwoman Helen Holton, clearing the way for the case against her to be heard by a Baltimore City jury in October. Holton was indicted on charges of bribery and a campaign finance violation in the City Hall corruption probe that ultimately led to the resignation of Sheila Dixon as mayor in February. Holton had appealed the decision of a Circuit Court judge who declined to dismiss the campaign finance charge, but the Court of Appeals announced this week that it would not hear her appeal.

Maryland's highest court rejected a request to reconsider an April ruling that blocks state law enforcement from collecting DNA samples when a suspect is arrested, court officials said Friday. The decision puts the case on track for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. States and federal courts are split over whether taking a DNA sample before a suspect is convicted violates a person's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Law enforcement agencies announced last month that they would halt the practice for the time being.

Rick Dutrow knows there's a difference coming into Preakness with a horse that has won the Kentucky Derby and one that didn't even make it to the starting gate at Churchill Downs. If anything, it might be a little easier for Dutrow coming to Pimlico for Saturday's race with Zetterholm than it was four years ago with Big Brown. "When you win the Derby, you have to ship to Baltimore and have to get ready to run in two weeks," Dutrow said by cell phone from New York earlier this week.

ON THE SITE... Baltimore home sale prices jump in April thanks to fewer foreclosures :  The increase was the most in six years - driven by a shrunken supply of cheap foreclosures rather than by homes seeing a rapid resurgence in value. Howard County police seize 341 marijuana plants in Laurel : M arijuana growing operation could yield 170 pounds of pot worth more than a half million dollars, according to authorities. Maryland ranks high for seriously delinquent homeowners :  The state ties with New York as the fifth-highest ranking state in the nation for the number of homes with payments that are more than three months late.

Maryland's top court agreed Wednesday to hear appeals of two multimillion verdicts affecting hundreds of Jacksonville-area residents who sued ExxonMobil Corp. over 2006 underground gasoline leak. The Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in October in the two cases. Last year, a Baltimore County jury returned a $1.5 billion verdict against the oil giant. ExxonMobil appealed, and attorneys for residents asked the top court to bypass the intermediate appeals court. In March, in the second case, the state's second-highest court rejected much of a $147 million verdict, and both ExxonMobil and the residents appealed.

The Maryland attorney general's office argued in a lengthy legal brief, filed in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that a convicted child rapist serving four life terms should not be offered a second chance to take a plea deal years after the fact, despite a U.S. district court ruling demanding just that. "The district court erred," Assistant Attorney General Edward Kelley wrote in the 56-page document. He was referring to a finding that the constitutional rights of John Joseph Merzbacher, an English teacher at the South Baltimore Catholic Community middle school in the 1970s, were violated because his attorneys failed to inform him of a plea deal before his 1995 trial on child rape and sexual abuse charges.

Maryland's highest court has upheld a law allowing police to listen in on cell phone calls that suspects make outside the state, a tool that authorities say is key to fighting the drug trade. The 5-2 Court of Appeals ruling is a victory for law enforcement, said Brian Kleinbord, chief of criminal appeals division for the Maryland Attorney General's Office. "It means that drug dealers can't evade a wiretap by driving their cars across the state line. " But dissenters argued that multi-state wiretaps are the latest example of police using advances in technology to chip away at privacy rights.

Maryland's highest court has cleared the way for the city to move forward with its plans for the long-delayed $152 million Superblock project. The Maryland Court of Appeals dismissed Friday a lawsuit by Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos that challenged the project. In a 4-3 decision, the court said Angelos did not have standing to sue, affirming a Baltimore Circuit Court ruling to dismiss the complaint. Long stymied by legal challenges, the project involves construction of a 269-unit apartment building, a 650-space underground parking garage and shops called Lexington Square near Lexington and Howard streets.

By a 3-1 vote, Marc Norman lost his latest appeal of plans for a shopping center and supermarket at Turf Valley. The Howard County Board of Appeals discussed Turf Valley residents' fears about the potential for added traffic on the narrow residential road within the 809-acre Ellicott City development for nearly two hours Tuesday night at the George Howard Building. Board member Henry Eigles championed their cause by arguing that the case should be sent back to the Planning Board for more traffic reviews.

The Washington Redskins urged Maryland's highest court Thursday not to force the team to pay workers' compensation benefits to its former wide receiver Darnerien McCants, arguing that the claim involving his injuries belongs in Virginia, where the NFL team is based. "There's no question that by far, the bulk of his work activities occurred in Virginia," David O. Godwin, a lawyer for the football team told the Court of Appeals, saying that the team offices and training facilities are in Ashburn, Va., and that McCants is "forum-shopping" for benefits.

In his column, "Pit bulls: Own them at your own risk," Dan Rodricks quotes a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision that says the Albuquerque Humane Society has stopped accepting and adopting out pit bulls "because of their potential for attacks on other animals and people. " That is doubly incorrect. First, the "Albuquerque Humane Society" does not exist. Second, Animal Humane - New Mexico, a 47-year old private animal shelter based in Albuquerque, N.M. (often mistkenly called the Albuquerque Humane Society)