Defendants

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

Benjamin Lipsitz, whose commitment to the spirit and letter of the law led him to defend a would-be assassin, a Nazi sympathizer and a craven murderer during a career that spanned more than a half-century, died May 10. He was 94. "He was so fundamentally devoted to justice. He was Atticus Finch all over again," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader II. "To me, he was what lawyering and what representation are all about. " Lipsitz was chosen to defend Arthur Bremer, accused of shooting Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace and three others, including a Secret Service agent, at a Laurel shopping center in 1972.

A Baltimore judge on Monday will hear an ambitious plan to revive the long-dormant cases of more than 13,000 people who say they have been sickened by asbestos, an attempt by the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos to return to a strategy that made a fortune for its founder. In the early 1990s, the city established a two-tiered system to deal with an overwhelming amount of asbestos suits, prioritizing the cases of the sickest people while delaying trial for people who claimed to have been exposed, but had no symptoms.

Tavon White, the alleged leader of the Black Guerrilla Family at the Baltimore City Detention Center, will await trial in federal custody out of state, his attorney said Friday. A federal judge ordered him moved from state custody Friday after a hearing on the conditions of White's detention. His lawyer Gary E. Proctor complained earlier this week about the conditions he faced at a Maryland prison in Cumberland. In a court order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey cited the "allegations of corruption among the Division of Correction's staff in at least one of its correctional institutions.

Faced with a court decision that could cost tens of millions of dollars to pay for lawyers at bail hearings, the Senate and House of Delegates passed conflicting measures Thursday to limit the scope of the ruling — setting up a potential tussle between the chambers on which approach to take. The Senate bill, which passed 45-1, would give suspects held by police the right to be brought before a judge with a defense lawyer within 48 hours. The House bill, which passed 133-0, would not. It seeks only to make clear that defendants are not entitled to a lawyer until they appear before a judge when the court is next in session.

For defendants in high-profile criminal hearings, the so-called "perp walk" is one of the more distasteful traditions of American jurisprudence. The news media are alerted to a time and location when the alleged perpetrator will be walked to the courthouse so they can photograph him or her en masse - often in handcuffs and surrounded by police. Defense attorneys don't care for this parade and have argued against it on the grounds not just of public humiliation but of fairness.

Maryland Public Defender Paul De Wolfe stated he considered using panel attorneys to represent indigent defendants to staff commissioner bail hearings, but he concluded there are not enough panel attorneys statewide to meet the demand ("Maryland public defender asks for stay in high court's ruling," Feb. 3). Last year, after months of contacting the Baltimore City Public Defender's office to get my application approved and certification as a panel attorney, I finally received my certification.

A city judge cleared the way Monday for new trials of two men accused of slashing the throats of three children in a grisly triple murder nine years ago, settling a slew of legal disputes over years-old testimony and forensic evidence. A March 11 trial has been scheduled for Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 30, and a separate trial for Adan Canela, 25, will likely follow. The defense and prosecution agreed to give the co-defendants separate trials. They had been tried together in 2005 and 2006.

A Maryland appeals court has ruled that the state violated the rights of two men who were found incompetent to stand trial and were then held in state institutions beyond the legal time limit without going through proceedings for commitment to a mental hospital. In a case that state officials say would affect a small number of people now in state hospitals and community treatment, the Court of Special Appeals ruled Wednesday in favor of the men, who have been indicted and re-indicted on the same charges in Harford and Baltimore counties.

Irvin L. Steinbach, a retired court psychologist and avid urban walker, died Sunday of a cardiac arrest at Roland Park Place. He was 86. The son of a businessman and a homemaker, Irvin Lee Steinbach was born in Baltimore and raised on Eutaw Place. After graduating from City College in 1945, he was drafted into the Army. Mr. Steinbach served with the Army for 14 months in Japan until being discharged in 1946. After returning to Baltimore, he worked with his father, who had founded the Maderia Bonded Wine and Liquor Co., a beverage distributorship.

The storyline heading into Maryland's first-round game against Cornell on Sunday dealt with who to match up against Rob Pannell . This week, there isn't as much speculation over who among Dominic Imbordino , Joe Meurer (McDonogh) and Robby Haus (Gilman) will draw the assignment - one, because fans aren't as familiar with those players as they are with the Terps ' defense; and two, because Ohio State is much more likely to employ multiple strategies to slow down Pannell, as opposed to trying to play him straight up. "We want to play with seven," Buckeyes coach Nick Myers said.

COLLEGE PARK - Even when Stony Brook's Demmianne Cook edged to the sideline to confer with her coach during a stoppage of Friday night's NCAA tournament first round game, Towson defender Alexa Demski made sure she was never more than a few yards away. One of the keys for the Tigers was to never lose site of Cook, who entered as the nation's leading goal scorer. While Cook finished with two goals, Stony Brook goalie Frankie Caridi was the biggest difference-maker by making seven saves with several from point-blank range.

Former Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold has resurfaced with a critique of his successor, saying her statements about his administration are "disingenuous" and "feckless. " In a letter sent to The Baltimore Sun and other newspapers, Leopold criticized current County Executive Laura Neuman's description of the county as "defined by mediocrity" and "way behind in culture, attitude and investment" because of Leopold's actions. Leopold said in an interview Thursday afternoon that he decided to speak up because he felt Neuman's assertions went too far. "I have no problem with her wanting to stress her goals and accomplishments, but I felt some of her statements were inaccurate," he said.

On this morning 200 years ago, a plucky Irish immigrant, John O'Neill, matched wits with British Adm. Sir George Cockburn, a veteran sea dog in command of a fleet of 19 vessels that sailed into Havre de Grace during the War of 1812. O'Neill was born in Ireland in 1768 and immigrated to America in 1786. After serving under Gen. Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, helping to put an end to the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794, he settled in Havre de Grace, then a small Upper Chesapeake Bay village with about 60 wooden houses.

I read the sorority sister's tirade after seeing it mentioned on Yahoo ("In defense of UM's most profane (former) sorority sister," April 26). Frankly, I found it disgusting, as virtually all of the bloggers did too. What confounds me is that The Sun's Andrew A. Green defended it. He didn't have the guts to use the word she did regarding the "developmentally disabled" because he knew that the wrath of (hopefully) most readers would come down on him. In his last paragraph regarding the gun background check legislation he appears to be saying that she should have used her profane writing skills against those who voted against the proposals.

Loyola junior defenseman Joe Fletcher and Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin do not know each other personally. But they can still appreciate each other's skills from afar. "He's probably one of the best defenders I've seen play," Fletcher said of Durkin. "The style he has, he's very physical and aggressive, but he's also controlled. I've been watching him as he's developed. Just the way he plays and the way he does things, he has a good balance between being aggressive and being smart.

Opening statements began yesterday in the trial of a Marine Corps lance corporal charged with driving a getaway car for a gang of robbers who killed a Belair Road gun shop owner and stole 43 handguns.Lance Cpl. Keith Bradford, 22, on leave at the time of the Sept. 11 robbery, faces charges of felony murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.Charles E. Scheuerman, 53, owner of the Northeast Gun Shop in the 4900 block of Belair Road, was shot in the chest after saying, "May I help you?"

A U.S. District Court jury in Baltimore returned guilty verdicts yesterday against all nine men accused of murder, kidnapping and drug charges for their participation in the alleged Anthony Jones drug ring, which prosecutors say was one of the city's most violent drug gangs.Eight of the nine could be sentenced to life in prison without parole for conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Some also face prison time for other, related convictions.The ninth, John Levi Benton, was acquitted yesterday of the drug conspiracy charge but was found guilty on a separate count of conspiracy to murder and kidnap, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The 19-year-old Harford County man with developmental disabilities who is accused of killing his 2-month-old niece was ordered Monday to continue being held without bail. Colin Christopher Wolf, of the 2000 block of Bay Meadows Court in Forest Hill, is facing first degree murder charges after he allegedly struck the child, who had been left in his care, in the face Thursday night and she later died, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. After an earlier bail review hearing Friday where Harford County District Court Judge Mimi Cooper questioned Wolf's competency, District Court Judge Victor Butanis ordered Wolf to continue being held without bail Monday and made no mention of any competency concerns.

For those who may have lost count, the public drama surrounding Towson University's desire to disband its baseball and men's soccer programs has stretched 199 days. ( Here's our original story about the proposal. ) Improbably, the governor got involved . As did the state comptroller . Then, the entire legislature . Despite a temporary stay of execution for the baseball program created by lawmakers , Comptroller Peter Franchot wanted to hear from Towson University president Maravene Loeschke at the Board of Public Works Wednesday.