Cases

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.

Smart meter opponents asked state regulators at a hearing Tuesday to allow ratepayers to say "no" to new digital, wireless devices because of safety, privacy and security concerns. The Maryland Public Service Commission is considering whether utilities should permit customers to reject smart meters and keep their existing devices. The state's three largest utilities — Baltimore Gas and Electric, Pepco and Delmarva — are replacing millions of old electric and gas meters with new devices providing real-time data to consumers and utilities.

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

Two men are being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital after they were shot in East Baltimore early Saturday, according to city police. Officers responded to a call about 1:25 a.m. to East Preston and North Aisquith Avenue, but Det. Donny Moses, a police spokesman, said the victims were not there. A few minutes later, police were notified that two men with gunshot wounds walked into the Hopkins emergency room. Moses said that each man, ages 28 and 35, had been shot several times in the legs.

Etan Patz, Madeleine McCann, Phylicia Barnes, Jaycee Dugard: four children who were declared missing and whose cases have had different outcomes so far. What knits their families together is that they all experienced loss, though of different types. Etan Patz, missing since 1979, was 6 when he vanished and was declared dead in 2001. A recent search for his remains was started and stopped. Madeleine McCann, presumably abducted at age 3 while on vacation with her parents in Portugal in 2007, may still be alive, according to new police reports.

When Timothy Scott Sherman shot and killed his mother and adoptive father while they slept, the case disturbed the normally quiet life in the small Harford County hamlet of Hickory. A quarter-century later, another family murder has rocked the county, in neighboring Bel Air. In that case, Robert C. Richardson III has confessed to killing his father, according to authorities. The state's attorney for Harford County, Joseph I. Cassilly, a gruff no-nonsense lawman, prosecuted the 1987 Sherman case in the beginning of his career and now takes the lead on the Richardson case, which has once again cast a pall over his community.

When a high court ruling came down this week limiting the use of DNA evidence, police in the state were investigating 20 cases based on DNA  collected after they arrested suspects charged with committing a violent crime or burglary. Now, it's unclear whether any of  those cases will lead to prosecutions. The Court of Appeals decision puts in question the constitutionality of collecting the samples before a conviction, and the state is considering whether to appeal the matter to theU.S.

Baltimore homicide detectives have made an arrest in one of the open murder cases cited in an internal Police Department memo that accused prosecutors of holding up cases. The killing had been among five cases that the acting commander of the city homicide unit cited in a memo to top commanders in which he said prosecutors were "stalling and hindering" detectives' ability to close cases. He concluded that the strategies of police and prosecutors were "not marrying up cohesively," The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

I keep reading that one detective of the 50 who handle reports of rape is responsible for one-fifth of the reports labeled "unfounded." I'd like to know how he comes to be involved in so many cases, and just how many cases he handled. Less than 200 reports spread over a 50-man unit would be four cases per detective. We're told this one detective labeled 14 cases "unfounded." How many cases did he work? Is more than one detective involved in each report? Is a small set of detectives responsible for all rape reports?

THE ANGRY AND anguished criticism of a U.S. District Court judge has sharpened the focus on an appalling lack of professionalism in the Baltimore Police Department. Judge Andre M. Davis says sloppy investigations are dooming important cases, undermining confidence in law enforcement and endangering city residents. The denunciation came last week as Judge Davis was granting a defense motion to suppress evidence seized in the case of a 29-year-old defendant who, police said, had $200,000 worth of heroin.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge on Thursday set bail at $50,000, cash only, for two operators of the Healthy Life Medical Group, on York Road, in Lutherville, who were arrested Tuesday evening. Gerald Wiseberg, 78, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Michael Jacob Reznikov, 51, of Brooklyn, N.Y., have been indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury on charges of conspiracy to distribute "schedule II" narcotics after a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into alleged distribution and sale of Oxycodone and other prescription drugs.

Maryland's highest court handed a victory to same-sex couples Friday in a ruling that the governor and other advocates hailed as an endorsement of administration policies recognizing gay marriages performed in other states. "To treat families differently under the law because they happen to be led by gay or lesbian couples is not right or just," Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement. "Today's decision is another step forward in our efforts to ensure that every child is protected equally under the law. " However, the ruling, in a case over whether Maryland courts could grant divorces to same-sex spouses, met with skepticism from groups fighting a recently passed state law legalizing gay nuptials.

A Parkville couple accused of treating a 15-year-old girl from North Carolina as their personal sex "slave" and filming and distributing videos online of their sexual interactions with her have each been indicted on more than a dozen state and federal sex abuse charges. The federal indictment, made this month, includes charges of producing and distributing child pornography, and transporting the girl across state lines for sexual reasons. John Andrew Blaes, 48, and Margaret Ellen Jones, 36, met online in 2010 and "became involved in a sexual relationship involving bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism," according to the federal indictment, filed May 9. Shortly after, Jones moved into Blaes' home in the 8600 block of Wendell Ave. in Parkville.

Regarding the Werdesheim case, it's time to talk about who is responsible for what ("Werdesheim case lessons," May 6). We now know that Corey Ausby, the teenager whom the Werdesheim brothers confronted, was suspended from school. Why weren't his parents or guardians called to the school to determine the problem, escort the child home and take responsibility for his behavior? Why was he allowed to leave school in search of mischief in the neighboring area? How come the school and the parents aren't on trial for neglecting their responsibilities?

I'm writing in response to the decision of Baltimore prosecutors to reduce charges in the St. Patrick's beating ("Half of the charges are dropped in taped beating," May 10). I believe that the government should take this case more seriously. They have evidence due to this videotaping that four people beat and robbed a tourist. Is that not enough? Why are the charges being dropped? If you cannot walk down a Baltimore street without being attacked, obviously the government officials are not doing their jobs.

A 78-year-old Annapolis man who said he was duped into getting unsuitable mortgages — sending the home he had owned for decades into foreclosure — was awarded $342,000 by an Anne Arundel County jury this week. The jury found that Dennis Hollidayoke's mortgage broker violated state and federal law when arranging a "payment option" adjustable-rate mortgage for him in 2006 and then refinancing it into another payment option loan seven months later. The mortgages are also known as negative amortization loans because the lowest payment option adds to what's owed on the mortgage rather than subtracting from it. Hollidayoke said no one mentioned this aspect of the loan to him upfront, and his attorney said it never was made clear in the paperwork.

Prosecutors dropped dozens of drug charges yesterday from the Maryland State Police raid of seedy bars on The Block because the cases were tainted by improperly obtained evidence and sexual misconduct claims against undercover troopers.It took the state police four months and more than $360,000 to investigate and raid the nude dance clubs. It took prosecutors in a crowded Baltimore courtroom about an hour to dismiss half of the 74 cases set for hearings yesterday.Prosecutors dropped nearly every drug possession case troopers developed during the highly publicized January raid.

Many Baltimoreans were outraged when a city jury recently acquitted Davon A. Neverdon in connection with the 1993 street robbery and slaying of Joel E. Lee, a Towson State University student.The verdict sparked outrage from the victim's Korean-born parents, who blamed racism for the "not guilty" verdict.Mr. Neverdon is black, and a predominantly black jury rejected the testimony of four eyewitnesses who claimed to have watched Mr. Neverdon shoot Mr. Lee. Two other witnesses also linked Mr. Neverdon to the slaying.

After about eight hours of deliberations Thursday, the Baltimore Circuit Court jury considering the fate of political consultant Julius Henson went home for a second day without reaching a verdict. Henson, 63, of East Baltimore, faces charges of election fraud, conspiracy and failure to include a campaign authority line on an automated call he orchestrated on Election Day 2010. Prosecutors say Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s campaign used the call in an attempt to suppress black votes.

The hit men of the tea party can carve another notch in their collective gun belts this week with the ouster of Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Senate. Whatever mojo the conservative firebrands had in the 2010 GOP primaries, when they ousted party moderates right and left, is apparently still working for them. Longtime incumbents are not easily toppled, but Mr. Lugar's vulnerabilities were well-documented prior to Tuesday's Indiana primary: The six-term senator is 80 years old, has lived in Northern Virginia for decades (despite using a 1970s-era address for voting purposes)