Cases

A longtime Baltimore County police detective is under investigation for theft, prompting prosecutors to strike him from the witness lists of cases in which he was expected to testify. Detective Charles W. Allan, a 34-year veteran of the county Police Department who is assigned to the unit that investigates sex crimes, was suspended from duty last week pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to a department spokesman and the officer's lawyer. Soon afterward, prosecutors in the county state's attorney's office began mailing letters to lawyers representing defendants in cases that Allan had investigated, informing them of the allegations and that the detective would not be called as a witness at those trials.

WASHINGTON -- In recent years, the Bush administration has recast the federal government's role in civil rights by aggressively pursuing religion-oriented cases while significantly diminishing its involvement in the traditional area of race. Paralleling concerns of many conservative groups, the Justice Department has argued successfully in a number of cases that government agencies, employers or private organizations have improperly suppressed religious expression in situations that the Constitution's drafters did not mean to restrict.

When Connie Bailey drove to the office of attorney Joel Katz, she had little hope he would be able to help her. She had already visited several attorneys, and they all had given her the same lawyer's verdict: Her case was hopeless, not something they'd take on.Bailey's liver had bloated from 3 1/2 pounds to about 65 pounds. Her waist had expanded from 27 inches to 63 inches. And she blamed it on birth control pills from the company G. D. Searle & Co.Katz took a look at Bailey and then took on the drug company.

In Baltimore's halls of justice, punishment often comes before a trial.Suspects wait behind bars for months, sometimes years, for their cases to reach juries. Indigent defendants have been denied the right to lawyers. One man openly pleaded for a trial, only to be told by judges he had to stay in jail and wait some more.In the past year, a series of people suspected of commiting serious crimes, even murder, have been released because of bungling by court officials and prosecutors who were simply unable to get together and try them.

In a little more than four months, Rose M. Casazza's part-time role as a mediator in the state's attorney's office has mushroomed into full-time work , with about 80 cases -- ranging from barking dogs to boundary disputes -- awaiting her attention.As a mediator, Casazza acts as a buffer between disputing parties, helping them reach resolutions before court dockets become jammed with frivolous, time-consuming cases.On the surface, many disputes are "very trivial, but they have been brewing for months, even years, and the potential for violence is great," Casazza said.

Georges Debeir was exactly the kind of cyber stalker the FBI wanted to catch: He had solicited more than 50 children from around the world on the Internet, went to malls to meet children he contacted by computer and regularly spoke online about his wish to molest minors.But instead of a victory for Innocent Images, the FBI's premier undercover Internet operation based in Baltimore, Debeir's case turned out to be a bust.He was sentenced to six months of home detention, despite a federal prosecutor's insistence that he was a predator intent on "trolling for young girls."

After seven days of testimony from a parade of prosecution witnesses, Larry Young's defense team had a key decision to make: Put on a defense to the state's case against the former state senator, or give the case to the jury without saying a word.Young wanted to take the witness stand. But his lead defense lawyer, Gregg L. Bernstein, told him that the state had not made its case. "Larry, I'm telling you, don't say a word," Bernstein told him.On Thursday, Bernstein surprised the courtroom, telling the judge: "The defense rests, your honor."

Baltimore lawyers for out-of-state victims of alleged asbestos-related illnesses are trying to bring their court cases here, a move that defense attorneys say would open the door for a flood of litigation that could further overwhelm the city's crippled courts.Scores of plaintiffs from Virginia and North Carolina, allegedly exposed to asbestos at Virginia shipyards, have filed suit in Baltimore Circuit Court, according to court records. Two of those cases landed in Maryland's Court of Appeals yesterday.

Maryland's highest court has reinstated murder charges against four men whose cases were dismissed in January because of chronic trial delays in Baltimore's beleaguered courts.The dismissal of the cases in the winter symbolized the near collapse of the city's criminal justice system, where cases had been postponed for as long as four years, and has prompted wide-scale reforms.Now the cases against Dontae Spivey, Stacey Wilson, Jay Anderson and William Harrison are returning to the circuit courthouse.

For a second time this year, a 10th judge has joined Anne Arundel County's Circuit Court bench, bringing one of Maryland's busiest courts up to full strength.Juvenile and Domestic Master Philip T. Caroom was sworn in yesterday afternoon as the newest circuit judge as his wife, Ilene, and his son, Eliot, looked on. He said the event, which packed the large ceremonial courtroom, was like a wedding -- and more."I do want to keep my name: Phil," he said, adding that he hoped people would not view him differently outside the courtroom because he took a new post.

JoAnn C. Woodson-Branche said she came to the Baltimore Police Department to work on internal disciplinary cases and hold officers accountable. But the former official and career prosecutor said it quickly became apparent that the system was broken. Backroom deals were struck, recommendations for punishment were not followed and some who were set for termination escaped punishment, Woodson-Branche said. She said she had little autonomy, with many decisions dictated by one of the department's deputy commissioners.

Internal misconduct charges in a dozen cases against Baltimore police officers have been thrown out - the first of what union officials say could be a wave of cases dropped on technical grounds, putting accused officers back on the streets. One of the cases involves a much-publicized incident in which a black homicide detective said he was forced to review a racist Web site. Michael Davey, an attorney who represents the Fraternal Order of Police, said he has been notified about eight cases, one related to domestic violence and several centered around failure to take police action, such as not writing reports.

It seemed like a slam-dunk case. Within hours of a car break-in downtown in February, a city police officer was shown a surveillance tape and recognized the suspect. Alexander Lawrence, who had seven previous theft convictions, was arrested with stolen jewelry and broken glass from the car window in his jacket pocket, according to the police report filed that night. The two University of Virginia students whose Toyota was the target of the theft drove up the day before the case went to trial to observe justice firsthand.

The state's top public defender is calling on Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy to review closed homicide cases handled by one of her former prosecutors after it was discovered that evidence favorable to the defense was withheld or not turned over in two murder cases in 2001. State Public Defender Nancy S. Forster said that she also has asked lawyers on her staff to search for any of Cassandra Costley's cases that are on appeal or before a judge for "post-conviction relief" - a last-ditch effort by defendants to have guilty findings overturned.

When juvenile offenders under the supervision of the state show up dead in Baltimore or are charged with murder, something's got to give. Somebody has to start asking questions about the teenagers, their daily lives and the system overseeing them. Those questions have been asked and provoked a more comprehensive review of hundreds of Baltimore cases, and the results so far are damning. A lax system of supervision, overwhelmed caseworkers and poor administrative oversight, all of which suggest a system that needs a comprehensive overhaul.

A Baltimore circuit judge ruled yesterday that attorneys handling tax-sale foreclosure cases in the city can charge only flat fees instead of billing by the hour, a move aimed at reducing the amount of money homeowners have to pay to keep their homes. The ruling by Evelyn Omega Cannon, the judge in charge of the Baltimore Circuit Court civil docket, capped a yearlong review that she began after realizing that many requests for fees and expense reimbursement in tax-sale cases were not documented.

Congress is closer than ever to passing a federal shield law to protect reporters from being compelled to testify concerning their confidential sources and information. We could use some good investigative reporting to examine the dubious claims made by those backing the law. One such claim is that the media today face a crisis, with journalists being subpoenaed at an unprecedented rate. In a typical characterization, a witness before the House Judiciary Committee described the number of subpoenas as a "deluge."

The strategy sounds almost illogical: Detectives in New Jersey are being urged to build criminal cases with as few witnesses as possible. Or, if feasible, with none at all. In cities struggling with gang-related crimes, such as Trenton and Newark, detectives said that even on those infrequent occasions when they have found witnesses who might be willing to testify, investigators were wary about pressuring them to appear in open court. That reluctance is based on a fear that the authorities might not be able to protect witnesses from retaliation.

A judge has called a hearing to examine whether homeowners are being charged excessive legal fees and expenses in tax-sale foreclosure cases in Baltimore, where an estimated 3,500 such cases are pending. Evelyn O. Cannon, the judge in charge of the Baltimore Circuit Court civil docket, has asked an attorney with the Public Justice Center to study the matter and suggest guidelines before the hearing Oct. 18. She also has invited responses from attorneys who handle tax-sale cases. "It's a pending case, and I don't feel it's appropriate to discuss it," Cannon said when asked about the hearing.

In his 18 years on the federal bench, Judge Michael B. Mukasey has issued more than 1,500 decisions concerning matters as cataclysmic as the Holocaust and as mundane as milk, beer and cigarettes. In his opinions, Mukasey comes across as intelligent, prickly, impatient, practical and suspicious of abstractions. He was quick to chastise and impose sanctions on lawyers who tested his patience or, worse, lied to him. He did not hesitate to rule against the powerful, including President Bush's uncle, or people with sympathetic cases but no claim to legal relief.