Bail

Bail for Carl William Morris Jr., a suspended Baltimore police officer charged with murder and child abuse in the Jan. 20 death of his 19-month-old son, Christopher, was set at $100,000 yesterday by a Howard County judge.Prosecutor W. William Cookson wanted Officer Morris held without bail and filed a motion after yesterday's hearing asking District Judge James N. Vaughan to reconsider his decision. Mr. Cookson said he was concerned about three other children living at the Morris residence in the 6400 block of Barchink Place in Columbia.

A judge denied bail yesterday to Tonya Lucas, whose trial on charges of killing six of her children by setting her East Baltimore rowhouse on fire ended in a hung jury.Ms. Lucas, 29, held without bail since her arrest a week after the July 7, 1992, fire, appeared in Baltimore Circuit Court, where her lawyer, Mark Van Bavel, asked Judge Paul Smith to set bail at $100,000.Judge Smith denied the request, saying the lengthy prison term facing the woman may make her a threat to flee and the nature of the charges makes her a possible danger to the community and herself.

Bail was denied yesterday for a fourth man charged with killing an employee and robbing several patrons at a Sizzler restaurant in Cockeysville last month.Wayne Alphonzo Brooks, 22, of the 3700 block of W. Coldspring Lane, surrendered to Baltimore County police Monday night and gave up his right to a bail review yesterday, said Assistant State's Attorney Jason G. League. He is being held at the countyjail,. Mr. Brooks had been convicted of a narcotics violation and was on parole.Police acting on an informant's tip in the Dec. 26 murder obtained arrest warrants Friday for Mr. Brooks and three other city men: William Francis Tyler, 44, of the 3800 block of Belle Ave.; Robert Lee Berry, 26, of the 3100 block of Sequoia Ave.; and Aaron Delano Evans, 21, of the 1500 block of Lochwood Road.

A Charles County man accused of conspiring in the shooting of a Crofton woman who believed he was the father of her unborn child can be freed from jail until his trial, in a bail ruling Monday that was a blow to Anne Arundel County prosecutors but was praised by his lawyer. Bail for Charles Brandon Martin, 32, was returned to $500,000 by Circuit Judge Michele D. Jaklitsch, the amount set when Martin was initially charged in March in the Oct. 27 shooting of a pregnant hairdresser. But when the married father was indicted last month, Circuit Judge William Mulford II ordered him held without bail, siding with prosecutors who said they feared for the victim's safety.

A 41-year-old man was ordered held without bail yesterday after being charged with Thursday's robbery and shooting of a West Baltimore liquor store owner, city police reported.Alfred Eldridge of the 100 block of N. Aisquith St. was charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, a felony handgun charge, maiming, burglary and possession of a shotgun with an altered serial number, said Agent Doug Price, a police spokesman.Mr. Eldridge appeared before a District Court commissioner, who ordered him held without bail.

A man accused of sexually abusing two boys was released from the Anne Arundel County jail yesterday after his bail was reduced from $150,000 to $40,000.In lowering the bail, District Court Judge Martha F. Rasin ordered James Earl Shinaberry, 34, of the 7600 block of Benesch Court to avoid any contact with people under age 18.Mr. Shinaberry is charged with sodomy, unnatural and perverted sex practices, a second-degree sex offense, a third-degree sex offense and battery.The accuser in that case was 10 years old when the alleged abuse started in 1978, and 18 years old when it ended in 1986, according to court papers.

Derwin Johnson, a 25-year-old convicted crack dealer shot dead in a phone booth near his Northeast Baltimore home Dec. 8, was a murder suspect himself -- out on bail despite a rap sheet that included two drug convictions, an attack on a police officer and at least six probation violations.Prosecutors and homicide detectives, as well as Mr. Johnson's neighbors, wondered last week what he was doing out on bail to begin with. Police had no idea he had been freed until witnesses in his upcoming trial for murder reported seeing him in their neighborhood.

A Harford County judge denied bail yesterday to a 36-year-old Pylesville man charged with first-degree murder. Kevin J. Sorrick is accused in the fatal shooting Sunday of Christopher Lee Fritsche, 34, of Havre de Grace. Fritsche died of a single gunshot wound to the head while attending a birthday party for his young daughter at Sorrick's home, authorities said. According to charging documents, the two men argued throughout the evening at the Harkins Road home that Sorrick shares with Fritsche's ex-wife, Yvonne Fritsche, 28. The arguing grew more intense as the party began to wind down with Fritsche, who was unarmed, yelling threats at Sorrick, police said.

A 56-year-old Mount Airy contractor accused of fatally beating a Taylorsville psychologist was released from jail last night, hours after a Circuit Court judge reduced his bail from $1 million to $150,000. Randall Henry Gerlach of the 13000 block of Manor Drive in Frederick County was arrested June 5 and had been held at the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster. He is charged in the killing of Rodney R. Cocking, 59, a researcher and program director at the National Science Foundation whose remains were found in a wooded area of Frederick County four months after his disappearance.

A 31-year-old Westminster man, charged with robbing an 83-year-old woman earlier this month, was being held last night at the Carroll County Detention Center on $10,000 bail.Anthony Darnell Oram of the first block of Chase St. was arrested at his home Friday by Westminster police and was charged with robbery, assault, battery and misdemeanor theft.According to District Court records, a woman who lives on Park Avenue was walking up to her door on the evening of Oct. 13 when she was accosted by a man who grabbed her purse and nearly pushed her to the ground.