Bail Hearing

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the state must provide lawyers to indigent defendants during bail hearings, overturning a long-standing practice under which newly arrested individuals face court commissioners alone — often in private, unrecorded proceedings — to argue for freedom. "Whenever a commissioner determines to set bail, the defendant stands a good chance of losing his or her liberty, even if only for a brief time," the judges wrote. "Furthermore, the likelihood that the commissioner will give full and fair consideration to all facts relevant to the bail determination can only be enhanced by the presence of counsel.

State legislators have drafted emergency bills to reverse a Maryland Court of Appeals order forcing public defenders to attend thousands of bail hearings for indigent defendants held in front of district court commissioners each year, after law enforcement officials complained about the cost. The measures, introduced in the Maryland House and Senate, would amend the state's public defender statute to remove the right to counsel at the commissioner stage, before the high court's mandate takes effect next month.

A Manchester man waived a bail review hearing in District Court yesterday on charges of shooting his roommate when a fight erupted during a card game Saturday, court records show.Javier Francisco Ruelas Pliego, 32, of the 4200 block of Hanover Pike was charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and use of a handgun in a crime of violence.He was being held at the Carroll County Detention Center in lieu of $75,000 bail.The shooting victim, Benitez Ramirez, 30, of the 4200 block of Hanover Pike was taken by ambulance after the 2: 30 a.m. incident to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was in serious but stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.

A Baltimore man who was granted bail by a District Court judge after being charged in a 1989 homicide has once again been indicted by a grand jury, this time for allegedly shooting a man 10 times last October while free pending trial on the murder charge.This month's indictment of 26-year-old Dwight "Knight" Gilmore marks yet another instance in which a district judge's decision to grant bail in a drug-related murder has frustrated city prosecutors and police detectives, who say they are accustomed to seeing most homicide defendants held without bond.

A man and his girlfriend were scheduled for bail review hearings today in District Court after each was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of an elderly Sparks man, Baltimore County police said.Harold Leon Webb, 75, was shot and killed Friday when he and his wife opened their rural home to two strangers who said their car had broken down, police said.Charged by police in connection with Webb's slaying are:* Thomas Everett Crawford, 31, an unemployed dry wall installer, of the 5100 block of Ardmore Way in Baltimore.

One after another, 13 of the defendants charged in last week's East Baltimore drug sweep tried yesterday to persuade a judge to reduce their bail. Most failed, a few succeeded -- and one talked himself into a higher bail.It was the first court date for some of the 35 people arrested Thursday in Operation Mid-East, the second major drug raid by city police this year. The 35 are charged with selling cocaine, heroin and imitation drugs in the area near the 1800 block of E. Eager St. All had been charged before the raid, and bail had been set ahead of time -- ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.

A 27-year-old East Baltimore man was to appear today at a bail review hearing in District Court following first-degree murder charges in connection with the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend over the weekend, police said.Charged also with possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony is Duane A. Price, of the 2800 block of Harford Road.Mr. Price, according to police, is charged with killing Stacey Platt, 26, of the 2700 block of E. Preston St., during an argument Saturday night in the victim's home.

A bail review hearing today in District Court was set for a man charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing and strangling of his children's mother, Anne Arundel County police said.Gary Paul Stephens, 41, of the 1000 block of Fairway Ave. in Glen Burnie, turned himself in shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday at the State Police barracks in Glen Burnie, county police said. He was accompanied by his minister, the Rev. Woods Culpepper, pastor of the Glen Burnie Baptist Church in the 7500 block of Old Stage Road.

WESTMINSTER -- A bail review hearing was set today in District Court for a suspect charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a Carroll County hardware store owner gunned down as he tended his store 13 days ago.Michael C. Bryson, 25, was arrested about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and charged in the slaying of Charles W. Therit Jr., 51, state police announced last night.Mr. Bryson, who has no fixed address but has relatives in the area, was taken into custody at a house on East Deep Run Road, a short distance from the hardware store where Mr. Therit was killed, said State Police spokesman Chuck Jackson.

DNA evidence links at least one of the two men charged with murder in the stabbing death of Long Reach teen-ager Ashley Nicole Mason to the crime, a prosecutor said yesterday. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Michael Rexroad revealed the link yesterday during a bail hearing for one of the men, Frederick James Moore, 21, in Howard County Circuit Court. Judge Dennis Sweeney denied Moore bond during the hearing. DNA believed to be Moore's was found on evidence recovered 2 or 3 feet from Ashley's body, Rexroad said.