Court Ruling

The Humane Society of the United States is extremely disappointed in the recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision designating all pit bull-type dogs as inherently dangerous, and holding owners, landlords and anyone in custody of the dog automatically liable regardless of whether it dog poses a threat ("Pit bulls are inherently dangerous, court rules," April 28). This is a backward step for Maryland, and it puts both dogs and people at risk. A dog's propensity to bite is a product of several factors, including early socialization, living conditions and the owner's behavior - not breed alone.

Standing under a stormy sky, Bill Stankiewicz got chills as he looked toward the old brick building that once housed the Catholic Community middle school in South Baltimore. "It's kind of creepy," he said, rubbing goose bumps along his forearms. He hadn't been back since graduation in the 1970s, purposely avoiding the school — and the memories of what happened in it. "Thirty-six years is a long time to bury something. It's time to exorcise the demons. " Roughly two dozen of his surviving classmates gathered at the site last weekend, all bound by a shared childhood tragedy detailed in multiple court filings: repeated sexual and mental abuse by English teacher John J. Merzbacher, now 71. They've come together in middle age to fight for his continued imprisonment, as a federal judge's court ruling threatens to release the convicted child rapist from four life terms.

Pit bulls are inherently dangerous animals, the state's highest court has ruled, a decision that could lead to stiff penalties for people found responsible in attacks — even if the dogs have never been violent before. A decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals, issued this week, distinguishes pit bulls and mixed breeds from other kinds of dogs. In the past, a victim intending to file a lawsuit after a dog attack had to prove that a dog's owner knew it had a history of being dangerous.

Police around Maryland said Wednesday that they would continue to collect DNA samples when suspects are arrested for violent crimes and burglaries, despite a recent ruling by the state's top court limiting the practice. Several law enforcement agencies, including the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, were awaiting a decision on whether the state will appeal before they make changes. Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore's mayor and a chorus of state and local officials called for an appeal of what they see as a crucial tool that has linked suspects to other, unsolved crimes.

The Maryland General Assembly passed bills this month that effectively reverse a Court of Appeals ruling that would have required public defenders for indigent defendants at thousands of initial bail hearings held before court commissioners each year. The legislation instead requires lawyers for poor people at reviews of those hearings, which occur less frequently and take place in front of a judge — sometimes days later. That means some of those arrested and denied bail or unable to afford it could spend a weekend or longer in jail awaiting representation.

The tragic slaying of Trayvon Martin in Florida has shown the folly of that state's "stand your ground" self defense law - and similar laws enacted or proposed in a number of other states - which your editorial writer correctly characterizes as providing a "license to kill. " However, The Sun neglects to point out that Maryland will move inevitably in the same direction if the recent federal court ruling voiding our sensible handgun permit law is upheld on appeal. Unquestionably, George Zimmerman could not have been granted a permit by the Maryland State Police and would not be permitted legally to carry a weapon on our streets.

The U.S. Supreme Court made an important ruling for the cause of fairness when it decided this week that the right to effective counsel extends to plea bargains and not just trials. As Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion in the 5-4 case, 97 percent of federal convictions are the result of pleas, as are 94 percent of convictions in state courts. Unless the right to effective counsel extends to plea deals, it means very little. But an opinion that in theory is eminently just threatens to result in a manifest injustice in Baltimore.

Three cheers for U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg's ruling that Maryland's law denying ordinary citizens the right to carry arms in public is unconstitutional ("Md. gun-carry law overturned," March 6). The right to self-defense is the preeminent civil right. If a person is barred by the state from protecting his person when outside his home, all his other rights are potentially meaningless: They are of no benefit to a person who is raped or murdered because she or he was denied the means of self-defense.

The case that led the Court of Appeals to conclude that indigent defendants arrested in Maryland should have the right to counsel when they appear before a district court commissioner put the state Office of the Public Defender in an awkward position. On principle, it agreed; the initial phase of the criminal justice process is crucial to determining the liberty of a person who is arrested, and without the benefit of counsel, far more people than necessary wound up confined to jail while awaiting trial because of excessive bail requirements.

A spray-paint artist arrested last year was found not guilty Friday of peddling without a permit at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, a ruling that left the defendant without an opportunity to argue the free-speech issues he says are at the heart of the case. District Judge George M. Lipman said prosecutors failed to prove their allegations because police officers never saw Mark Chase sell his paintings. In effect, the judge ruled the officers arrested the artist too soon, while he was setting up and before he had made a sale.