False Arrest

A man who was shot by an off-duty Baltimore police officer then found guilty of assaulting him is asking to have his conviction thrown out, saying that city prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence during his trial. The issue is a touchy one for city prosecutors and police, who have lost cases or had them badly compromised because of problems involving withheld evidence. Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, said she couldn't comment on the case because it is in litigation, but she said the office will "investigate thoroughly any and all allegations of prosecutorial error."

A Baltimore City police officer was indicted yesterday by a city grand jury on perjury and misconduct in office charges after being suspended in March for allegedly making a false drug arrest. If convicted, Jacqueline A. Folio, 41, a 14-year veteran of the department, could receive a maximum of 10 years in prison for the perjury charge and whatever sentence a judge hands down for the misconduct charge, a common law offense. Police said Folio was involved March 27 in what they called an integrity sting.

The Harford County NAACP said yesterday it has filed two federal lawsuits charging the towns of Havre de Grace and Aberdeen and their police departments with civil rights violations. The organization seeks $34 million in damages. "We anticipate we will win," Janice Grant, president of Harford's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said at a news conference in Bel Air. "It's important because we want the community to be aware that the NAACP functions as a civil rights organization," she said.

A motorist whose life went into turmoil after an off-duty city police officer shot him during a "road-rage" incident three years ago has been given $204,900 to settle a lawsuit he filed after being wrongfully convicted of assault in connection with the incident. Dwight D. Allen, 32, a gulf war veteran, was cleared of all charges this month. Allen was convicted at a July 2000 trial, but the case was overturned by a judge when it came to light that city authorities had failed to divulge key evidence pointing to Allen's innocence.

A Baltimore man claims in a civil suit that he was falsely accused of shoplifting and detained in a small room for about 45 minutes at The Mall of Columbia.Kenneth Wilson, of the 4000 block of Belle Ave., is seeking $5.1 million in damages in a suit he filed in Howard Circuit Court over the Feb. 17 incident, which began with the purchase of two shirts and pants.The suit charges false arrest, false imprisonment, defamation, negligence, assault and battery against Sears, Roebuck & Co.; Rouse Co. of Columbia, the mall's owner; and John Starr, a Sears security guard.

If you really love Roseanne Arnold, you probably won't mind how awful most of "Backfield in Motion" is.In fact, if you're a die-hard Arnold fan, you probably won't think it's awful at all. The film, which airs at 9 tonight on WJZ-TV (Channel 13), comes up short in just about every category by which such programs are usually measured, but it is long, long, long on love-her-or-hate-her Roseanne.As Nancy Seavers, Arnold plays a recent widow who moves with her teen-age son from California to the small Midwestern city of Deerfield.

On The Weekend Watch:HEAPS O' HORROR -- OK, tonight's the night of dread, and the Halloween theme is running through a number of regular programs or is spawning some specials. Among them is the trio of Fox network series, "The Simpsons," "Drexell's Class" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" (beginning at 8, Channel 45). Even NBC's "Cheers" (at 9, Channel 2) gets into the spooky spirit, as the gang plays a prank on rival barkeep Gary. A two-hour special at 8 on Channel 54, "Horror Hall of Fame," features actor Robert Englund (better known as Freddy Krueger of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series)

An Anne Arundel County judge has dismissed a $500,000 negligence and false arrest lawsuit filed against the state by a Manchester man who was jailed overnight because he couldn't pay a parking fine.In an order received yesterday in Carroll Circuit Court, Circuit Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. dismissed Gary C. Cronin's complaint.The brief order said the 28-year-old sheet metal mechanic failed to prove that he had been harmed when he was jailed because he showed up in court $8.50 short to pay a fine and costs imposed for a parking ticket.

A bus driver from Carroll County who was arrested two years ago while dropping off Sykesville Middle School students at the Maryland Science Center has filed a class action lawsuit against the city, claiming she was wrongfully strip-searched.The search violated Wenda K. Bollinger's civil rights and was conducted against the Police Department's own policy limiting strip searches, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.The Mount Airy resident, now 38, was handcuffed in front of the Science Center in May 1992 by two plainclothes officers who charged her with failing to display her driver's license and registration and disobeying a police order made to prevent public disturbance.

It's a toss-up as to what was more disturbing: the revelations in David Simon's recent series in The Evening Sun that the Baltimore police department mismanaged the too few resources it has to apprehend criminals, or the indication from columns by Michael Olesker last week that some police can't tell the good guys from the bad.The Simon series, "Crisis in Blue," detailed how political concerns dictated police priorities in recent years; how crimes against...