District Court

Federal authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the boyfriend of a woman whose body was found this week in the trunk of her car in Northwest Baltimore. The man, who is awaiting trial on drug charges, is accused of violating the conditions of his release. U.S. marshals searched yesterday for Jermarl A. Jones, 31, of Hyattsville, who is charged in a year-old federal indictment with conspiring to sell heroin. A U.S. District Court judge ordered the issuance of a bench warrant for Jones on Tuesday evening.

Two weeks ago, mayoral candidate Carl Stokes announced his campaign to walk across Baltimore. He might not have had a choice.State motor vehicle records show that Stokes' license has been suspended for the past two weeks because he failed to pay a January speeding ticket. Despite the suspension being confirmed as active yesterday by a state Motor Vehicle Administration spokesman, Stokes was observed driving.When he attended a luncheon at New Song Academy in West Baltimore to address a group of Habitat for Humanity workers, he arrived at the wheel of a green Toyota Camry.

U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, former Gov. Marvin Mandel and the chief judge of the Maryland District Court were among three dozen witnesses who came to Annapolis yesterday to praise the character of Bruce C. Bereano -- attorney, lobbyist and convicted felon.Battling to hang on to his law license despite a 1994 mail-fraud conviction, Bereano mounted an extraordinarily aggressive defense in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.Over eight hours of testimony, his witnesses included four current or former judges, two former county executives, a prosecutor, several prominent lawyers and four of the lobbying clients he was convicted of defrauding.

The state's top court erased a Howard County drunken driving conviction yesterday, taking a swipe at the governor in its ruling that the defendant was denied a speedy District Court trial because the court set a trial date a year after his arrest.The 1996 case of John E. Divver was enmeshed in the political controversy over Gov. Parris N. Glendening's attempt to diversify the bench in Howard County. In a unanimous opinion yesterday, judges said the lack of District Court judges -- two of four positions were vacant -- was not a reason for delaying a court date one year and 16 days.

Five Carroll County lawyers made the list of nominees sent Friday to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who is expected to name one of them soon to fill the Circuit Court vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Francis M. Arnold.Two were finalists when a lower District Court judgeship opened in 1995: Michael M. Galloway, 53, a Democrat, and Charles Michael Preston, 53, an independent, who in June completed his term as Maryland State Bar Association president. Those working around the courthouse have indicated that Preston is a strong favorite for the position.

YESTERDAY morning, in just 70 minutes of docket in the District Court of Maryland, a citizen could see and appreciate the kind of social and systemic conditions that keep the arteries of criminal justice clogged. I hate to say we've seen it all before, but we've seen it all before - drug addicts from the city, drug addicts from the suburbs, cops pulled off street duty for relatively minor cases, cases dismissed because cops or other witnesses don't show up. One defendant, his case a perfect candidate for expeditious treatment in District Court, asked for a jury trial in Circuit Court only because he showed up without an attorney and didn't know what else to do.I drop by the Edward F. Borgerding District Court Building on Wabash Avenue, Judge Jack I. Lesser presiding, about 9:40 a.m.The first case I catch is that of Defendant Williams.

The list of applicants for a Carroll Circuit Court vacancy was noted yesterday for its number -- 13 -- and for the absence of the county's two District Court judges, who normally would be considered to have a head start.The position opened with the mandatory retirement of Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold, who turns 70 next month and has served on the court since 1990, after 10 years in the District Court.The last open judgeship in 1995 for the District Court drew a field of 21 county lawyers -- almost every one of them well known through a local practice.

A legal dispute over who should pay to guard and escort inmates while they're in a county District Court could end up costing the state millions of dollars, depending on how a judge decides the case.Prince George's County, which has sued the state, argues that the county's responsibility ends once a prisoner is taken to the courthouse.Managing inmates while there is part of providing security at District Court -- a state responsibility, the county maintains.But the state contends that escorting prisoners and guarding holding cells is a custodial rather than a security function -- one the county is responsible for providing at its expense.

After years of steadfast resistance, Maryland's two top judges agreed yesterday to assign a judge to Baltimore's jail, defusing a political battle with state lawmakers who threatened to cut the court's funding.The surprise turnabout comes as the judiciary comes under increasing scrutiny by lawmakers because Baltimore's courts are so backlogged that serious criminal charges, even murder, have been dismissed.The move follows a report last week by public safety officials which determined that $21 million could be saved, and hundreds of cases could be handled, if a full-time judge with jurisdiction over felony and misdemeanor cases staffed a jail-house courtroom that has sat mostly empty for two years.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening was expected to interview five nominees today for the vacant seat on the Circuit Court bench for Carroll County, Michael E. Morrill, a spokesman for the governor, said yesterday.The vacancy occurred in June, when Judge Francis M. Arnold turned 70, the mandatory retirement age for Maryland judges.The county's Circuit Court is operating with two full-time judges. Arnold and Daniel W. Moylan, a retired Washington County judge, are assisting part time.The names of the nominees, chosen from among 13 candidates, were forwarded to the governor in August by the judicial nominating commission.

Federal prosecutors are looking for what could be hundreds of victims in an alleged scheme to rig bids at Maryland tax lien auctions, according to court filings. They've already identified two dozen corporate and municipal victims - including the city of Baltimore, and Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Baltimore counties. And they believe there could be many more injured individuals, people who lost their liened property to the defendants: Harvey M. Nusbaum and Jack W. Stollof. The men, both in their 70s, were indicted last month on one count apiece of violating the Sherman Act. From 2002 through 2007, the indictment alleges, they conspired to stifle competition in the tax lien bidding process, guaranteeing that they won a disproportionate number of liens, which allowed them to charge property owners large fees or to take their holdings if they couldn't pay. An FBI surveillance team allegedly saw the men meeting in Baltimore County shortly before dropping off bid envelopes in Montgomery County and using signals to communicate during another auction, according to an affidavit.

Maryland's U.S. District Court judges already handle an average of 250 cases apiece, and the caseload is about to get heavier, with the U.S. Senate expected soon to confirm Andre Davis to a new position on the region's federal appeals court. With one judge's seat already vacant, that would leave eight full-time judges out of 10 possible positions on one of the country's busiest courts. The shortage could hold up case processing and put a greater strain on already-strapped judges, who oversee complicated cases involving everything from antitrust issues to witness murders and gang activity.

For weeks, it's been obvious Republicans would oppose whoever President Barack Obama picked to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Conservative commentators pounced on the president's use of the word "empathy" to describe one of the qualities he was looking for - as if an ability to put oneself in another person's shoes was somehow undesirable in a judge - and that same sort of reflexive hostility was on view again over the weekend, when...

Barely 24 hours into the witness murder trial of three defendants accused of drug conspiracy and multiple killings, a federal prosecutor revealed that a woman scheduled to testify Thursday had been intimidated at her job by two men in the courtroom audience. Her daughter's car windows were also smashed, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame Manley told the judge. If true, it's a brazen example of one of law enforcement's most vexing issues: violent threats and actions toward witnesses. It's a frequent occurrence in state courts.

Howard County Council members are wondering where all the court-ordered community service "volunteers" will go. People given alcohol citations, convicted of traffic violations or disorderly conduct are sometimes ordered to clean parks or vacant lots, or help nonprofits as a condition of probation or instead of receiving points on their driving records, but county Sheriff James Fitzgerald said the program doesn't work and he wants to end it July 1....

Joseph A. Ciotola Sr., former longtime administrative judge of Baltimore's District Court and a decorated World War II veteran, died Saturday of heart failure at his Catonsville home. He was 88. Judge Ciotola's career spanned 15 years - from 1976 when he was appointed by Gov. Marvin Mandel to the District Court - until he was forced to step down in 1991 because he had passed the mandatory retirement age of 70. "I got to know Judge Ciotola in my first job out of law school as a prosecutor, and I tried many a case in front of him," Gov. Martin O'Malley recalled yesterday.

President Barack Obama nominated Baltimore U.S. District Court Judge Andre M. Davis on Thursday to fill a long-vacant seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, calling his judicial record one of "integrity and fairness." It is Davis' second shot at the seat, left empty since the 2000 death of Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. That fall, President Bill Clinton nominated Davis to the Richmond, Va.-based court, but the Republican-controlled Senate never confirmed him, and the nomination expired shortly thereafter.

It has been a good news, bad news kind of week. But these days, if you can get a 50-50 mix, consider yourself ahead. Good news: Yellow perch are beginning to make guest appearances in Chesapeake Bay tributaries, a sure sign we're on the back side of winter (fingers crossed). Up in North East, Capt. Mike Benjamin is already offering half-day yellow perch charter trips on the Susquehanna River. When it comes to spring, I'll take yellow perch arriving over a groundhog seeing its shadow any day of the week.

Thousands of Marylanders who are sued over unpaid bills show up in court without a lawyer. Many of them try to negotiate the legal system on their own and end up agreeing to settlements that may not be in their best interest. The system may help resolve small-claims cases faster, but it isn't always fair or just. Officials of the District Court of Maryland have rightly recognized that and are trying to do something about it. The problems surrounding these debt collection cases were documented by a University of Maryland study last fall and a Baltimore Sun investigative series that focused on hospitals' tactics to reclaim unpaid bills, including for treatment of poor people for which they were reimbursed by the state.

Maryland district court officials want to give defendants in debt collection lawsuits new access to legal help and change the way that settlement conferences are handled, in response to criticism that hospitals, credit card companies and other creditors often have an unfair advantage. The courts are responding to an investigation into hospital debt collection practices published last month by The Baltimore Sun. That report, as well as a University of Maryland law school study released in November, found that defendants are confused by the court process, do not understand that they sometimes have legitimate defenses and assume that they must accept whatever terms are dictated by hospital lawyers in settlement conferences.