Defense Attorneys

Federal prosecutors rested their case yesterday against three men charged in the firebombing of the home of a North Baltimore community activist, but arguments from defense attorneys to throw out the charges could reopen the evidence phase of the trial next week. At issue is whether the defendants - Nakie Harris, 30, Terrance Smith, 24, and Richard Royal, 21 - should have been charged in federal court. Defense attorneys argued before U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz yesterday that their clients should not have been charged with federal witness tampering because the victim, Harwood Community Association President Edna McAbier, had reported drug activity in the neighborhood to local authorities.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that the trial of three correctional officers accused of beating to death Raymond K. Smoot will remain in the city, rejecting a defense motion for change of venue. Dameon C. Woods, Nathan D. Colbert and James L. Hatcher are charged with second-degree murder in the case, which is scheduled for trial in September. They are accused of fatally attacking Smoot, 51, in May 2005 in his cell at the city Central Booking and Intake Center. Defense attorneys for the officers argued the change-of-venue motion in a hearing last month before Circuit Judge John M. Glynn.

Defense attorneys for five middle school students accused of beating a woman aboard a city bus in December asked a judge yesterday to dismiss the petitions, or charges, against their clients. Baltimore Circuit Judge David W. Young is expected to rule on the request when the trial resumes tomorrow. All five defense attorneys challenged witnesses' inability to identify who assaulted victims Sarah Kreager, her boyfriend, Troy Ennis, and the driver of the No. 27 bus in Hampden, Danny Williams.

Local defense attorneys are frustrated by the state's attorney's policy of routinely withholding pertinent police information they say iscritical to preparing an effective defense for their clients.Thelawyers claim they are legally entitled to some of that information,and that being refused access to it creates inefficiency in the court system. They also contend that they are forced to advise clients without knowing basic facts of the case."I simply don't know what to tell my clients -- whether they should plead guilty, whether we will prevail -- if I don't have enough facts," said Carol A. Hanson, the district public defender for the county.

Defense attorneys for two young men charged in the gruesome killings of three children criticized prosecutors after a hearing yesterday, saying that they haven't been able to view much of the state's evidence and that what they have seen has been sloppy. With a trial date set for next month, lawyers for Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela also pointed to what they said are other problems: defense witnesses who have been ordered to be deported to Mexico and inaccurate oral translations of court proceedings for the Spanish-speaking defendants.

The head of Baltimore's police union, Robert Cherry, launched a heartfelt defense of Det. Daniel T. Nicholson IV, who is suspended and accused of conducting an authorized raid while searching for his missing 15-year-old daughter: "I think what Detective Nicholson did is no different than what any concerned parened would do. He went out to find his missing daughter and make sure she was safe. In the end, I think the facts will prove that he did not abuse his position or his power.

Man who died in city fire identified 2 City Fire Department officials have identified a man who died in a fire in the Mondawmin neighborhood of West Baltimore early Thursday, a spokesman said. Firefighters responded to reports of a fire in a house in the 2000 block of N. Smallwood St. just before 5 a.m., city fire spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said. After extinguishing the blaze, rescuers found the body of Willie James, 75, the spokesman said. Fire investigators were working to determine the cause of the blaze.

A Washington teen-ager charged with first-degree murder in the carjacking death of a Savage mother was denied bond after a hearing in Howard Circuit Court yesterday.Bernard Eric Miller, 16, has been held at the county Detention Center without bond since his arrest on Sept. 8.The Miller youth, charged as an adult, was arrested in the murder of Pam Basu, who was dragged to her death after he and a co-defendant allegedly forced her from her vehicle near her home."The court finds that under all of the circumstances . . . that it is not appropriate to set a bond for this defendant, in this case, at this time," Circuit Judge James B. Dudley said in an order issued yesterday.

A Harford County Circuit Court jury has found bar owner Giovanni Rivieri guilty of three lesser criminal charges and not of solicitation to commit murder as had been sought by a prosecutor.The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about three hours yesterday before returning its verdict.Jurors found Rivieri, 60, owner of the Bush Valley Inn in Abingdon, guilty of solicitation to maim a truck driver who was identified as the current lover of the defendant's ex-girlfriend.He also was found guilty of solicitation to commit assault and battery against the trucker, Ronald Soto, 53, of Levittown, Pa., and solicitation to commit assault and battery against his ex-girlfriend, a waitress.

A Howard County Circuit Court judge reinstated Monday a $156 million lawsuit filed by a Columbia woman against a Fulton pastor, saying that he erroneously dismissed the case in January."