Bail Review

I strongly disagree with The Sun's characterization of the reasons for the defeat of bills requiring representation of indigent defendants by public defenders at bail review hearings and, in particular, of my opposition to these bills ("Equal justice for poor lacking at bail hearing," editorial, April 10) I have long supported the Office of Public Defender. Before this legislative session, I wrote to the governor requesting money for increased salaries for its overworked, underpaid personnel.

Ethel B. Barlow, a former Franklin Square Hospital Center nurse who has been accused of killing a patient by prying apart the elderly woman's locked arms, was denied bail Monday at an extradition hearing in Memphis, Tenn., a Baltimore County police official said yesterday. Barlow, 50, is scheduled to appear in a Towson court today for a bail review hearing, said Cpl. Vickie Warehime, a spokeswoman for the Police Department. Barlow has been charged with one count of manslaughter in the death of Ruth F. Bowen, 81, who was admitted to Franklin Square on Oct. 30 for a swallowing disorder.

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.

Two of Maryland's top judges made a show of support yesterday for a bill that would require the state to provide lawyers for poor people when they appear for bail hearings. Neither, however, got a chance to speak. It is a tradition in the General Assembly at this late date to restrict testimony to the legislator who sponsored a bill. That tradition was evident yesterday as Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals and Judge Martha F. Rasin, chief of the state's District Court, flanked Sen. Leo E. Green at the witness table before the House Judiciary Committee.

A city judge ruled yesterday that video bail reviews deny the rights of inmates and ordered that defendants be transported to a Northwest Baltimore courthouse every day for in-person hearings - a decision jail officials say they will immediately appeal because it is costly and cumbersome. In his ruling, Judge Keith E. Matthews, administrative judge for the city's District Court, scolded the state's department of public safety, saying that it has been "on notice" for at least three years that the closed-circuit television system raised problems.

A District Court judge will decide Monday whether the use of video bail reviews for Baltimore inmates violates their rights and could suspend use of the poorly performing closed-circuit television system. If Judge Keith E. Matthews rules as the state public defender's office has asked, officials could find themselves cramming dozens of cases daily onto the docket at the jail's single courtroom - or busing defendants to city district courthouses for in-person bail reviews. As another alternative, the public defender's office has asked the judge to release all defendants on their own recognizance.

IT WASN'T a good day at the District Court on Wabash Avenue. A lawyer argued that a defendant's bail should be lowered because "insufficient nexus" existed between the suspect and the narcotics he was alleged to have possessed. That's not what the judge heard. "Your lawyer says that you drive a Lexus, you can afford the bail as set; no change in bail," the judge told the defendant. This incident was cited last week in the Maryland public defender's request that remote bail reviews be discontinued because the poor sound quality and out-of-focus video picture render deliberations incomprehensible.

DON'T BE surprised if the population at the city's detention center balloons in the months ahead. Because of neglect from Annapolis, judges could be keeping defendants accused of minor crimes in jail far longer than necessary. It's not the judges' fault this time. The blame belongs to the Glendening administration and the Maryland General Assembly. For the past 17 months, an impressive experiment, Lawyers at Bail (funded by the Abell Foundation), has shown that giving defendants legal counsel at their bail reviews lets most return to their homes, families and jobs instead of wasting away in jail for months before trial.

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.

A bail review hearing in District Court was set today for a man who was shot by an off-duty Baltimore police officer Friday night.Dwight D. Allen, 28, of the 4300 block of Sheldon Ave. in Northeast Baltimore was shot by Officer Stuart Parker, a 14-year veteran, near East Preston and St. Paul streets during an altercation.Allen, who was charged with assaulting the officer, and Parker had exchanged angry words while driving through downtown. Both got out of their cars, and Allen approached Parker, who identified himself as a police officer, according to police.