Defense Lawyers

I have been reading with great interest the recent articles on the Baltimore City Detention Center and Central Booking ("City jail oversight said to be lacking," Aug. 6). Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the abhorrent conditions defense lawyers face when attempting to have meaningful interviews with clients. In the BCDC, we are forced to conduct interviews in filthy, cramped booths equipped with equally filthy backless iron stools. More often than not, there is no real privacy or ability to go over audio tapes, etc. These conditions are deplorable, along with the loud yelling of inmates as well as the officers.

Robert Jarrett Jr. was convicted Tuesday of murdering his wife, following a trial in which prosecutors described him as a "cold-blooded killer" who allowed his sons to walk over her body buried beneath their backyard shed for two decades. Howard County jurors handed down a guilty verdict on one count of second-degree murder after deliberating into the night, bringing an end to a years-long investigation. Prosecutors, who had pushed for a first-degree murder conviction, said they would seek the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison at Jarrett's sentencing, scheduled in August.

The 285 court-appointed criminal defense lawyers who represent clients in U.S. District Court in Baltimore will have to wait until fall before their next pay from the federal government.The government suspended their pay last month when budgeted money ran out. The lawyers now must wait until the 1993 fiscal year arrives on Oct. 1."It's really an untenable position for lawyers to be in," complained Judith R. Catterton, president of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. "We're fundamentally being asked for a lengthy delay, and that's very burdensome for practitioners."

The Orioles' team doctor, William H. Goldiner, tended to orange-clad ballplayers at the same time as he diagnosed thousands of blue-collar workers with asbestos-related illnesses whose cases were taken up by prominent lawyer and team owner Peter G. Angelos. Angelos' firm is seeking to revive thousands of dormant asbestos cases, but some of the underlying diagnoses are facing new scrutiny from defense lawyers. They say Goldiner's dual roles call the integrity of his work into question - a contention he says is "insulting and absolutely false.

After three days of pretrial motions, jury selection is set to begin Thursday in the trial of three men accused of killing former Baltimore City Council member Kenneth N. Harris. Charles McGaney and Gary Collins, both 22, and Jerome Williams, 17, face charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and various robbery and weapons counts in connection with the death of Harris outside a Northeast Baltimore jazz club Sept. 20, 2008. The pretrial motions did not go well for the defense.

Two well-known Baltimore criminal defense lawyers were reprimanded by the state's highest court for letting an unsupervised secretary take charge of their personal injury cases and not giving a client her money, which resulted in the client's getting sued for a debt. The sanction against Warren Anthony Brown and Lawrence Barry Rosenberg, who were law partners from 1990 to 1993, is the mildest that the Court of Appeals can impose. The Attorney Grievance Commission had asked that their law licenses be suspended for a year.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio wanted a political corruption case when he started investigating investment manager Nathan A. Chapman Jr. and used embarrassing personal information, false promises and the threat of a related criminal investigation to try to reach that goal, Chapman's attorneys said in a court document filed yesterday. The trial of Chapman - who is accused of defrauding the state pension system and stealing from his own companies - has "lifted a veil of secrecy that had kept the United States Attorney's pattern of questionable behavior hidden from the defendant and the public," the lawyers wrote.

John M. Rusnak, the former Allfirst Financial Inc. currency trader who lost $691.2 million, could face a tough battle in winning a light sentence if convicted, legal experts said yesterday. Rusnak, 37, who is at the center of one of the largest bank scandals in history, was indicted on seven counts of bank fraud Wednesday. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count. None of the legal experts thinks Rusnak would receive the maximum sentence.

Baltimore City Circuit Judge Emanuel Brown will decide whether a jury can see a police surveillance video that prosecutors say ties twin brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson to a pit bull that was set on fire in 2009. The second trial in the animal cruelty case opened Friday with a series of requests by the brothers' defense attorneys for Brown to throw out key pieces of the prosecution's evidence, including the video and a gas can. Brown held off ruling on the motions until at least Monday, when the trial continues.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers rested their cases Tuesday in the retrial of two brothers accused of dousing a pit bull with an accelerant and lighting her on fire, with jurors poised to begin deliberating Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors called their last of eight witnesses before lunch Tuesday, questioning a state Department of Juvenile Services staff member who said in brief testimony that one of the defendants, Travers Johnson, was not on house arrest at the time the dog was burned.

Lawyers on both sides of the Phylicia Barnes murder trial acknowledged the circumstantial evidence against Michael Maurice Johnson in closing arguments Monday. But while defense attorneys described flaws and inconsistencies, prosecutors said the facts point to Johnson as the only reasonable suspect. "It's not one thing," Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Goldberg told jurors. "It's everything. " Jurors began deliberating on those details in the 10th day of the trial, despite a second attempt from defense attorneys to get an early acquittal.

Baltimore prosecutors said Friday that a sexually charged video depicting teenager Phylicia Barnes and the man accused of killing her shows a turning point in the relationship that ultimately led to her death. Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Goldberg also said in opening statements that a witness will testify that defendant Michael Maurice Johnson showed him Barnes' body after she died, in a plea for help. Defense lawyers said that witness is unreliable and shows that the state has a weak case.

George Huguely V, the former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted last year of drunkenly beating to death his girlfriend Yeardley Love, has asked the Virginia Court of Appeals to review his case. Huguely's attorneys argued in a petition filed Tuesday that the court violated Huguely's constitutional rights. Love, the victim, was from Cockeysville. "The circuit court's response to the intense media interest was to rush through the trial, rather than to ensure that the accused received a fair trial," Craig S. Cooley and Paul D. Clement, the attorneys, wrote in the petition.

Michael Maurice Johnson is scheduled to stand trial starting Tuesday in the death of North Carolina teenager Phylicia Barnes, with court proceedings that could include prosecutors playing a sex video and defense attorneys revealing details from an internal affairs investigation of the lead detective in the case. Barnes, 16, disappeared in late December 2010 while visiting her half-sister Deena Barnes in Baltimore. Her body was found four months later floating naked in the Susquehanna River.

An effort to revive more than 13,000 lawsuits filed by people who contend they were sickened by absestos was met with sharp objections Monday by lawyers for potential defendants. Plaintiffs' attorneys said consolidating some of the lawsuits would help people who have seen their cases languish for years. But defense lawyers told a Baltimore judge that the proposal — which made a fortune for the Law Firm of Peter Angelos previously — was unworkable and unfair. Opponents criricized the Angelos fim's suggestion for these cases, for people with a range of cancers but not mesothelioma, which has been closely linked to asbestos exposure.

I have been reading with great interest the recent articles on the Baltimore City Detention Center and Central Booking ("City jail oversight said to be lacking," Aug. 6). Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the abhorrent conditions defense lawyers face when attempting to have meaningful interviews with clients. In the BCDC, we are forced to conduct interviews in filthy, cramped booths equipped with equally filthy backless iron stools. More often than not, there is no real privacy or ability to go over audio tapes, etc. These conditions are deplorable, along with the loud yelling of inmates as well as the officers.

Even as prosecutors weigh an appeal of a Howard County judge's decision to throw out drunken-driving charges and rule that they were tied to illegal citation quotas, defense lawyers are considering whether the same defense might apply to past or current cases. District Court Judge Sue-Ellen Hantman's ruling in a case against an Ellicott City woman has raised questions on both sides - as well as eyebrows around the legal community. Leonard Stamm, a Prince George's County lawyer who wrote a legal handbook called "Maryland DUI Law," said the case puts lawyers who defend people charged with drunken driving on notice for a potential avenue for defense.

Robert Jarrett Jr. was convicted Tuesday of murdering his wife, following a trial in which prosecutors described him as a "cold-blooded killer" who allowed his sons to walk over her body buried beneath their backyard shed for two decades. Howard County jurors handed down a guilty verdict on one count of second-degree murder after deliberating into the night, bringing an end to a years-long investigation. Prosecutors, who had pushed for a first-degree murder conviction, said they would seek the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison at Jarrett's sentencing, scheduled in August.

Proceedings in Florida's case against George Zimmerman for the tragic shooting death of Trayvon Martin have recently provided an object lesson in how the institution of bail is supposed to work - but almost never does. Last week, George Zimmerman's wife was charged with perjury for lying at her husband's bail hearing in April - she testified that the couple was broke, which prompted the court to set a low bond. But since then prosecutors have alleged that, at the time of the hearing, the Zimmermans had in fact raised over $100,000 for the defense.

Jurors are scheduled to resume deliberations Tuesday in the trial of Tiffany Alston, a Prince George's County delegate charged with using General Assembly funds to pay an employee at her private law practice. Prosecutors and defense attorneys wrapped up arguments Monday in the case of the freshman Democrat, who is charged with theft and misconduct in office, and jurors deliberated for more than two hours. Prosecutor Shelly S. Glenn said in closing arguments that Alston dipped into legislative funds for $800 in January 2011 "because she was broke, because her law firm was broke.