Bail Review

Poor people accused of crimes have a right to an attorney at "all stages in the proceedings," the state's highest court ruled this week."`All' means `all,'" Judge John C. Eldridge wrote for the unanimous Court of Appeals. But lawyers have differing interpretations of what "all" includes. Advocates for extending the right of legal representation for defendants to bail reviews said the 12-page decision means Maryland's top court could be doing what the General Assembly would not do. They interpreted the ruling to say that the Maryland Public Defender Act can be applied to bail review hearings.

ATLANTA -- Today's court hearing is billed as a routine bail review for Ray Lewis, its sole purpose to determine whether the Baltimore Ravens linebacker should remain jailed until his trial on murder charges. But nothing has been routine in this free-wheeling odyssey of a flamboyant young football star who was consorting with two convicted felons when he got caught up in a fracas that led to a double killing after a Super Bowl party. High-priced defense lawyers plan to use the hearing as a referendum on Lewis' proclaimed innocence -- a maneuver that could turn a typically dry court appearance into a show worthy of tabloid television.

Homecoming for a former Finksburg woman accused of abducting her 5-year-old son after losing a 1990 custody battle was worse than even she could have imagined.Yesterday, as Sharon E. Wimperis, 50, was escorted into District Court for a bail review hearing wearing a black-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, handcuffs and shackles, her mother didn't recognize her.Dorothy Quigley of Towson, the defendant's mother, was nearly in tears, describing the first glimpse of her daughter in more than eight years.

A Baltimore man charged with the near fatal beating of a Jessup woman is due a bail review hearing tomorrow in District Court, Anne Arundel County police say.A county jail spokesman said David Lee Stanfield, 21, of the 600 block of E. Patapsco Ave. in the Brooklyn section of the city, is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail after being charged with the attempted first-degree murder of Dawn Marie Gallis, 25.Last Nov. 3, Gallis was found lying behind a...

A Howard County District Court judge ordered two former correctional officers indicted in a Baltimore jail detainee's death each held on $100,000 bail yesterday, while a third suspect is expected to have a bail review today in Harford County. The move by Judge Neil E. Axel caught the city state's attorney's office off guard because prosecutors had attempted to arrange bail reviews for all three men tomorrow in city Circuit Court. The men, who were indicted by a Baltimore City grand jury last week, face second-degree murder and assault charges in the May death of Raymond K. Smoot, 51, who died after a violent confrontation with correctional officers in his cell at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center.

Steven Valltos, 16, of Largo, Fla., one of three teen-agers charged in the armed robbery of the Carrolltown Veterinary Hospital on Feb. 28, has been ordered held on $100,000 bail after a bail review hearing.Jeffrey J. Taylor, 18, of Stevensville, and Adrian Rhyanes, 18, of Centreville also were charged in the robbery.Mr. Rhyanes was arrested at his home in March and released on $100,000 bond.Mr. Taylor remains at the Carroll County Detention Center on $100,000 bail.State police say three youths, one of them armed with an Uzi-type automatic weapon, burst into the veterinary center in the 1800 block of Liberty Road about 2 p.m. Feb. 28 and forced one of four employees to place 15 bottles of Ketamine in a bag.Officers said the drug, known as "Special K," was in liquid form but that it can be converted to a powder form and snorted or smoked.

Baltimore County police say a 22-year-old Edgemere man, charged with the first-degree murder of a Sparrows Point woman over the weekend, was to appear at a bail review hearing today in District Court.Police said Edmund C. Grams, whose street address was not available, was arrested before noon Friday at a home in the 4000 block of Beech Drive in Middle River.Grams, police said, was taken into custody nearly two hours after the discovery of the nearly nude body of Ruth Ann Collinsworth, 21, of the 2600 block of Masseth Ave. The body was found about 10 a.m. Friday in high brush and weeds behind Jerry's Tavern in the 2100 block of Sparrows Point Road.

A 16-year-old East Baltimore boy was arrested yesterday and charged as an adult with the fatal shooting of another teen last October following a dispute over a girl, police said.Edward Tillery, of the 1900 block of E. Chase St., is charged with killing Jermaine L. McMillian, 17, a ninth grade student at Lake Clifton High School who lived in the 2000 block of E. Hoffman St. He is due to appear today at a bail review hearing in District Court.Young Tillery was arrested at his home around 7 a.m. yesterday by homicide detectives and Eastern District police on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder.

A Mount Airy man, who was arrested Monday on charges of raping and sexually assaulting a neighborhood girl, is being held at the Carroll County Detention Center on $25,000 bail, court records show.Alonso Steeve Rodriguez, 21, of the first block of Meadowlark Ave. was charged with second-degree rape and assault, and second- and third-degree sexual offenses.The girl, now 15, is not being named because of her age and to protect her privacy.According to court documents, the alleged sexual assaults began when she was 12 years old and continued to occur at various locations between Jan. 13, 1996, and June 14.At a bail review yesterday, visiting District Judge Alice P. Clark reduced Rodriguez's bail from 100 percent to 10 percent acceptable.

IF YOU WALKED into Courtroom 4 of the District Courton Wabash Avenue yesterday, you likely heard two public defenders chatting about tomorrow's Ravens game. One wondered if the defending Super Bowl champs will be able to take the Denver Broncos. The other said the Ravens aren't playing well these days. The talk shifted to the travails of being public defenders. A third lawyer had come in by this time. She told the other two of a remark she had heard a judge make earlier. "He asked the defendant, `Are you going to get a lawyer or a public defender'?"