Court Records

A great frustration of daily crime reporting is that when readers want to know the most about a shooting incident or other crime, there's often very little information available. You end up with a few paragraphs about where and when, the victim's age, and the standard line that police are investigating. That's why we scour court documents looking for cases that may - even if indirectly - shed new light on some of those incidents. Earlier this week, a 66-page affidavit in a broad drug conspiracy case was made available, and while the document consists of transcriptions of mostly bland, intercepted drug conversations, the DEA also picked up their targets discussing recent shootings in East Baltimore's Latrobe Homes area.  On March 29, at about 10:53 a.m., authorities were listening in as Corey Donnell Brown, 38, also known as "Slug," and Damond Terrell Brown, 35, known as "Ray Ray," spoke on the phone and talked about a shooting of Brandon Branch, according to the affidavit.

Officer Rodney Cintron took his car, damaged in an accident, to Majestic Auto Repair in Rosedale on the advice of a colleague, not realizing that the man was getting paid to send him there. When the city police officer found out, he signed on to the scheme, according to court records. That decision four years ago would lead to a federal prison term and the end of his brief career. The U.S. attorney's office for Maryland announced Wednesday that Cintron, 32, had been sentenced to 42 months in prison and was ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution, half to the Police Department and half split among several insurance companies, for accepting kickbacks from the car shop's owners.

UPDATED WITH DETAILS OF CHAN'S ARREST Two men were sentenced last week for jumping onto the field in Oriole Park in separate incidents, though only one is likely to have a conviction on his record a year from now. Peter Chan, identified in court records as a 23-year-old from Towson, was found guilty of trespassing Friday in Baltimore's district court.  He was given a 90-day suspended jail sentenced and ordered to pay a $500 fine and...

A 43-year-old man who police say was stabbed more than 20 times last month by his stepson during an argument over money died late last week from his injuries, according to police and court records. Police say George Stevenson was able to call for help, and responding officers found him bleeding profusely in the living room of his apartment in the 1400 block of Limit Ave., suffering from stab wounds to his arm, chest and back. Stevenson said he had been stabbed with an unknown object by his stepson, 16-year-old Galen Stevenson, who then fled on foot, police said.

Jurors heard the words of George Huguely V for the first time during his murder trial Friday morning, when prosecutors played a harrowing video of his police interrogation, recorded hours after his former University of Virginia girlfriend, Yeardley Love, was found dead in her off-campus apartment. The recording was taped the morning of May 3, 2010, just weeks before Huguely and Love were to graduate. Huguely, a popular lacrosse player from Chevy Chase, says he believes he's been brought in for assaulting Love the night before.

A Naval Academy professor will spend two weekends in jail and be on probation, after he admitted breaking into the Gambrills home of his former girlfriend. Lt. Cmdr. Charles D. Spera, 31, of Bowie, was granted probation before judgment this week by Annapolis District Court Judge Megan B. Johnson, according to court records. She ordered Spera to serve four days in the Anne Arundel County jail and placed him on 18 months probation, after he pleaded guilty to burglary, the records say. The sentence, which is not a conviction, means his record can eventually be cleared if he meets all conditions.

A 31-year-old Anne Arundel County man was arrested last week and charged in connection with what police say they believe is the theft of more than $100,000 worth of top-shelf liquor from numerous liquor stores in Harford County and elsewhere in Maryland. Kyle Venton Brown, 31, whose address is listed in court records as the 300 block of Forest Beach Drive in Annapolis, was arrested Jan. 30 on 10 warrants from Maryland and one from New Jersey. He is being held at the Harford County Detention Center on $35,000 bail.

City police have identified a 24-year-old man who was fatally shot Friday afternoon in Northwest Baltimore.  Travis Spencer was found suffering from gunshot wounds in the 4400 block of Park Heights Ave. at about 3:15 p.m. Friday. Detectives believe the shooting actually occurred around the corner, in the 2700 block of W. Coldspring Lane.  Spencer, who according to court records had lived in North Baltimore's Woodbourne Heights neighborhood, was transported to Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.  According to postings from friends on Facebook, Spencer, who was known as "Trey," had played running back for a semi-pro football team called the Arbutus Big Red, which after his death posted an image of Spencer's uniform number, 9, over a red ribbon on their Facebook page.

He won't be able to fake a seizure to get out of this one. Andrew Timothy Palmer, a 45-year-old who police and prosecutors say has made a hobby out of dining at restaurants and faking seizures to get out of paying the tab, was sentenced to the maximum of 18 months in jail on Friday, according to court records and a blog report. It's the second time in less than two years that Palmer has received an 18-month sentence for such crimes. Prosecutors hoped the first, in August of 2010, would teach him a lesson.

On Monday, 19-year-old Rodney Vest Pridget stopped by the Northeast Baltimore group home where he once lived, The Sun's Alison Knezevich reports today . He watched TV with old friends and told them he was heading to the Towson Town Center mall. Hours later, Pridget was found dead of gunshot wounds on a sidewalk outside a service entrance to Nordstrom as crowds of people inside shopped for Christmas presents. People who knew Pridget struggled to understand what had happened to him. Baltimore County Police released few details about the shooting beyond the victim's name, emphasizing that the mall is safe and they do not believe that Pridget's death was a case of random violence.