Court Of Appeals

The Maryland Court of Appeals heard a new argument against the death penalty Thursday, when attorneys for a man convicted of a 1997 murder argued that the state's constitution only allows capital punishment in cases of treason. Public defender Brian Saccenti argued that a clause in the Maryland Declaration of Rights referring to "sanguinary laws" limits the death penalty to crimes that threaten the stability of the state government. "We have ways to fairly incapacitate people that we lacked in 1776," Saccenti told the judges, arguing that the state can be protected without executions.

A Hunt Valley attorney who admitted to having his employees sign his name to foreclosure documents was found by a Baltimore County judge to have violated three of Maryland's rules of professional conduct for lawyers, according to court records. Thomas P. Dore engaged in behavior that was "prejudicial to the administration of justice" by "routinely and repeatedly" filing "with the courts affidavits purportedly signed by him and attested to by notaries" he employed, according to court documents.

The lawyer for an Anne Arundel County councilman who lost his seat said Daryl Jones lived in his council district— until he was convicted last year of a misdemeanor count of not paying federal taxes, and his colleagues voted to remove him out of office. The county council wrongly redefined residency, deciding that Jones' five-month, out-of-state prison term meant he no longer lived in his district and was grounds for ousting him, Linda Schuett told the state's highest court Monday, as she argued for the Court of Appeals to erase the council's action and reinstate Jones.

Maryland's highest court upheld Gov. Martin O'Malley's new legislative redistricting map on Friday morning. The Court of Appeals issued an order, but no opinion, denying the claims in three challenges. The order comes only two days after the challenges were argued in court. The order said the judges found the plan, which will take effect with the 2014 elections, passed constitutional muster. The new map shifts the districts of Baltimore County Democratic Sens. James Brochin – whose new district is majority Republican – and Delores Kelley, both of whom objected to the plan.

Hazel Sanders depends on her Rottweiler, Jurnee, to get her out walking, which she needs for a disabling knee condition, and to help her up if she falls. Two doctors have written letters saying the dog is an important part of her treatment, and she considers it as much a help as a seeing-eye dog is for a blind person. "It's not a pet; she's my legs," said Sanders, who is 70 and lives in Laurel. "I depend on the dog. ... She keeps me going. " Now, though, the 69-pound dog could stand between Sanders and a new home.

Anne Arundel County's public safety unions won a major court victory Friday, when Maryland's highest court threw out a County Council measure that gutted binding arbitration. "This is a victory for all of our public safety agencies," said O'Brien Atkinson, president of the county's largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police chapter. The county has nine public safety collective-bargaining groups. In a 6-1 ruling, the Court of Appeals ruled that a 2002 change to the county's charter that provided for binding arbitration is legal, and that a law adopted last year that effectively undid it is not. "As a politician, you can't come in and undo with the stroke of a pen what the citizens voted on," said Craig Oldershaw, president of the largest union in the Fire Department.

The collapse of a soccer goal on a Howard County practice field has led the state's highest court to reconsider more than 150 years of personal injury law, in a case that could significantly improve injured plaintiffs' chances of winning payouts. The case - which began when a crossbar crashed into then-20-year-old Kyle Coleman's face, crushing the bones around his eye - has drawn national attention, as Maryland's unusual legal standard meets its first judicial test in decades. Maryland is one of only four states, plus the District of Columbia, that bar injured people from winning lawsuits if they had any role in an accident - even if a jury finds the defendant in their suit deserved a much greater share of the blame.

Maryland's second highest court has upheld the murder conviction of a gang member who shot a man six times in February 2009 on orders from a Bloods leader. The suspect had contested the state's introduction of gang testimony, arguing it prejudiced the jury. Prosecutors are increasingly using this tactic to help jurors understand the context for some of the violence in Baltimore. In this case, it helped because three witnesses, including one who told police the suspect bragged about the killing and two others who identified Tyrone Burris as the shooter, recanted at trial.

Maryland's highest court will soon decide whether voters will get a chance to overturn a break on college tuition costs for illegal immigrants, following a hearing Tuesday on the 2011 law. The Court of Appeals is expected to rule within weeks on whether the Dream Act will appear on the ballot in November. The question before the seven-judge panel is whether the act is a spending bill, which under state law is not subject to voter review. If the court decides that the law is exempted from a referendum, some illegal immigrants would qualify to pay in-state tuition at Maryland public colleges and universities.

A Canadian developer whose bid to build a slots casino in Baltimore was dismissed last year has been rebuffed again by a state appeals court. Maryland Court of Special Appeals Judge Robert A. Zarnoch wrote Monday that developer Michael Moldenhauer's Baltimore City Entertainment Group — which had appealed a decision by the state gambling commission — was "an unsatisfactory bidder. " It was not in the "best interests of the state" to award a license to a company that planned to install only 500 video lottery terminals, he wrote.