Circuit Judge

A Baltimore County judge accused of driving drunk in Harford County in October was acquitted after the judge hearing the case threw out the results of a breath test on technical violations. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Lawrence R. Daniels apologized in court Wednesday for his actions on the evening of his arrest, defense attorney Raphael J. Santini said yesterday. The judge was stopped about 1:30 on a Sunday morning after a sheriff's deputy saw a sedan southbound on Route 152 near Joppa cross the shoulder line several times.

Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed eight Circuit Court judges yesterday, including Angela M. Eaves, the first African-American and first woman to fill the post in Harford County. Eaves, 48, a District Court judge for seven years, will replace retiring Circuit Judge Maurice W. Baldwin Jr. "I do think I've made history and broken barriers, but that depends on a person's perspective," said Eaves, a former assistant attorney general and attorney for the Legal Aid Bureau of Harford County. "The bench should represent [the]

Elizabeth R. Macgill, who did historical botanical research and was the widow of a Maryland Circuit Court judge, died of a stroke Oct. 29 at Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson, where she lived for 13 years. The former Mount Airy resident was 88. Born Elizabeth Rawson in Godalming, England, and raised in Ontario, she studied at Ottawa Ladies College, the University of Toronto, the National School of Dress Design in Chicago and the Folger Institute of Renaissance Studies in Washington.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge faces drunken-driving charges after his arrest this week in Harford County. Lawrence Robert Daniels was stopped about 1:30 a.m. Sunday after a sheriff's deputy saw a sedan southbound on Route 152 near Joppa cross the shoulder line several times, said Sgt. Christina Presberry, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office. After failing a field sobriety test, Daniels was arrested and taken to the Southern Precinct in Edgewood, where a breath test measured his blood-alcohol level at 0.09 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to a police report.

Judge Solomon Baylor, a retired Baltimore Circuit Court judge who earlier had served on the District Court, died Saturday of complications from pneumonia at Oak Crest Village. He was 85. "He was my buddy and my mentor over the years. He was a mentor to a lot of young lawyers and was the kind of guy you could go to for real good advice," said Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals. "He was also very dedicated to the rule of law, and you couldn't sneak anything by him; and if you tried, he didn't hesitate to speak out. He was a strong, character-driven individual," he said.

A serial rapist who was convicted of one attack and pleaded guilty to three others, each during daytime hours and in different neighborhoods of Baltimore, was sentenced yesterday to 50 years in prison. Yesterday, Erskine Jones, 31, of the 400 block of E. Eager St., admitted raping three girls, ages 14, 16 and 17, from December 2003 to August 2004. DNA evidence linked Jones to the attacks long after they occurred. Circuit Judge Lynn K. Stewart accepted the guilty plea to three counts of rape.

James Clement Cawood Jr., a retired Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge and attorney, died of a heart attack Sunday at Evergreen, his West River home. He was 70. Born in Washington, he was a 1954 graduate of St. Anselm's Abbey School and earned a bachelor's degree in history from Georgetown University in 1958. He then attended Georgetown Law School, where he met Katherine Brooke Kelly, whom he married in 1960. In the 1950s, he served as a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant and also covered high school sports for the old Washington Evening Star.

Garrett County: Grantsville Fire damages Catholic church A Roman Catholic church in Grantsville was heavily damaged by a fire two days before Christmas, and federal agents were investigating the cause. The blaze was reported shortly after 6:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Anne's Church on New Germany Road, the state fire marshal's office said. A passing motorist reported the fire, and firefighters, who were on their way back from an unrelated call, were able to extinguish the blaze in about 15 minutes.

By the time Judge Joseph P. McCurdy stepped off the bench and packed up his robe Thursday, the Baltimore Circuit Court had shed 64 years of experience in less than two months. McCurdy, a judge for 15 years, was the third of three prominent senior city judges to retire this fall. Chief Judge Joseph H.H. Kaplan left Oct. 1, taking with him nearly 29 years, and Chief Judge Clifton T. Gordy left Nov. 7 with 21 years. By state law, judges must retire at age 70. These three retired earlier.

Baltimore's elected criminal justice officials in last night's primary appeared to be keeping their jobs, with city State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy holding a comfortable lead over her opponent with more than half of the precincts reporting and the three sitting circuit judges leading their three challengers. Jessamy, 58, who has been the city's top prosecutor since 1995, faced off yesterday against Stephan W. Fogleman, 37, a local attorney and resident of Canton who said he entered the race for state's attorney because no one else did. Both are Democrats, and Jessamy, completing her second elected term, will be unopposed in the general election.