Felon

Benjamin A. Sifrit, convicted along with his wife of 10 years for murdering a couple in Ocean City in 2002, has filed for divorce on the grounds she is a "convicted felon." Radio station WTOP reported that Sifrit is seeking to divorce Erika Sifrit. Both are in prison after being convicted of murdering Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley of Fairfax, Va. Acting as his own attorney, Sifrit cited Maryland Code, which says a court can grant a divorce on the grounds of a conviction of a felony or misdemeanor where the person has been sentenced to serve three years in prison.

Given the recent crackdown on contract hits, as noted in "Sins of the Saints" (March 22) and other player run-ins with the law, perhaps the acronym NFL refers to the National Felons League. Dennis R. McCartney, Baltimore

A 29-year-old man was sentenced yesterday to nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted by a jury of being a felon in possession of a handgun, federal prosecutors said. Darryl Harcum had been convicted eight times in state court of crimes that include distribution of heroin, distribution of cocaine and assault, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland. Prosecutors said that testimony during Harcum's two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore showed that a city police officer responded to the 1200 block of Braddish Ave. on Jan. 26, 2006, for a report of gunfire.

Howard County police charged a Columbia man Monday with assaulting a student on the campus of Long Reach High School in Columbia on March 21. Donnell Maurice Vannison, 40, of the 8500 block of Tamebird Court, faces second-degree assault and disorderly conduct charges. He was released Monday after a court appearance and is scheduled for trial on June 6. Vannison, wearing a ski mask, entered the school property at about 2:20 p.m., police said. He approached a 16-year-old male student and struck him with a blow that grazed the boy's face.

The president of the Pagan motorcycle club in Maryland was sentenced yesterday to 21/2 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of 19 guns, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. The man, Jay Carl Wagner, 67, of Hagerstown was prohibited from owning firearms because of a previous conviction of resisting arrest, according to the news release. Maryland State Police officers watched Wagner walk out of his home May 9, 2007, with a handgun, according to Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein's office.

A 34-year-old Baltimore man received a 15-year prison sentence in federal court yesterday for being a felon in possession of a Bersa .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Chief U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg enhanced the sentence for Jermaine Powell after finding that Powell was an armed career criminal, based on his previous convictions for narcotics distribution and robbery. After police discovered the weapon and ammunition in Powell's home, he said that the firearm belonged to him and that he had purchased the ammunition from a store in South Baltimore, according to court papers.

Oh, you've got to hand it to A. Robert Kaufman. He says what's on his mind, doesn't care who likes it and lets the chips fall where they may. And he's honest. Kaufman, Baltimore's perennial Trotskyist candidate for just about everything, doesn't flinch when it comes to telling you what he really believes. Kaufman has long been an advocate for restoring voting rights to felons. Which is he why he dashed off a testy letter to the editor about my column on felon voting rights, which ran a week ago today.

A convicted felon and admitted con man sought by Baltimore County police since January has been apprehended and is being held in a jail in Texas.Salvatore P. Spinnato was in the Denton County Jail last night awaiting transport to Maryland, according to a Sheriff's Department spokesman in Denton.Spinnato, who has used nearly a dozen aliases, went into the federal witness protection program in the 1970s after being a star witness in a Baltimore public corruption case.At the time he disappeared in January, he was scheduled to be tried in Baltimore County Circuit Court on charges of kidnapping his ex-wife's boyfriend and threatening to kill him.Pub Date: 8/28/97

The owner of a Fells Point gun shop targeted by federal agents has won the right to resume selling handguns after his acquittal on charges he sold a weapon to a woman acting at the behest of a convicted murderer.The not-guilty verdict delivered by a 12-member Circuit Court jury Wednesday marks a defeat in the state's first attempt to convict someone under a 1996 law that prohibits people from buying guns for someone else.Anthony A. DiMartino, the 67-year-old owner of Baltimore Gunsmith Co., was given back his handgun sales permit yesterday.

Jermaine Davis was careful to wear gloves while handling his .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to city prosecutors. He is a felon — convicted twice of felony drug charges — and it's illegal for him to have a gun. But the precautions that prosecutors say Davis took didn't matter after he got arrested on Baltimore's North Curley Street in January. The city State's Attorney's Office said they caught Davis on a recorded jailhouse telephone bragging to his girlfriend how he could beat the gun charge.

McKenzie White has made his mark on the judicial system. At the age of 37, federal prosecutors said he had already been convicted of felonies five times -- two for armed robbery, three for drug distribution. A search of the Maryland court database shows these convictions -- robbery in 1992 with a 12 year sentence, with all but eight years suspended; drugs in 2002, with a three year sentence; assault in 2004 with time served; drugs in 2005 with a 10 year sentence, all but three years suspended; and drugs in 2007, with a four year sentence.

After reading Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s commentary on gubernatorial pardons, I'd like some follow-up information about those who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted ("Pardons: A power to be taken seriously," Nov. 22). In a previous letter to The Sun I noted that Dan Rodricks ' column on the topic failed to be convincing because it lacked any information about the result of such pardons. Knowing that a significant number of released prisoners have made contributions to their families, communities and employers would certainly support his the arguments in favor or pardons.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein is warning that a recent revision to the federal sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine possession will lead to the release of hundreds of dangerous criminals onto the streets. But before crying wolf about a new crime wave, he ought to consider federal prosecutors' role in creating what he describes as an impending disaster. The fact is, most of the people currently in prison for drug violations aren't there because they committed violent crimes.

Jermaine Davis was careful to wear gloves while handling his .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to city prosecutors. He is a felon — convicted twice of felony drug charges — and it's illegal for him to have a gun. But the precautions that prosecutors say Davis took didn't matter after he got arrested on Baltimore's North Curley Street in January. The city State's Attorney's Office said they caught Davis on a recorded jailhouse telephone bragging to his girlfriend how he could beat the gun charge.

A 42-year-old Baltimore man, who shot and wounded a city police detective earlier this year, pleaded guilty Monday to being a felon in possession of a gun, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Glenn Plato Brooks, of the 3700 block of Oakmont Avenue, will be receive 19 years in prison if the court accepts the terms of his plea agreement at his February 8, 2011 sentencing. According to a statement of facts, a confidential informant alerted police that Brooks was on his front porch with a weapon on Feb. 4. When two officers approached the residence, Brooks opened fire, striking one man in his right arm. The officers returned fire, hitting Brooks in his left shoulder.

A 29-year-old Baltimore man who was shot in the stomach by a city police officer last year was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Monday for being a felon in possession of a gun, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Marcus Hill was turned in by a corrections officer who passed a "help" note to police in January 2009 inside a 7-Eleven store on the 4400 block of Belair Road. The woman later told police she had been arguing with Hill, who has three prior felony drug convictions, when he grabbed her hand and pressed it against a hard object she identified as a gun. She asked him to pull into the convenience store and slipped the missive to officers while inside.

A man whose 3-year-old nephew shot himself in the head Tuesday with a gun the man kept under a mattress at their northeast Baltimore home is a convicted felon and faces prosecution in handgun violations, law enforcement officials said yesterday.Devon A. Marshall, 25, of the 3300 block of Kenyon Ave. has been charged with keeping an unsecured firearm within reach of a child, city police said. A warrant obtained by police this month charges him with battery and carrying a handgun, alleged offenses that are unrelated to Tuesday's shooting.

More than 30 percent of a small sample of felons remained on Maryland's voter registration rolls after they were convicted of their crimes and should have been removed, according to an audit released on Tuesday. The review by legislative auditors of the Maryland State Board of Elections found that the statewide voter registration database needs better oversight, and criticized the state board for what it said were insufficient checks of local elections operations. Many of the problems noted by auditors were raised in past years.

The Charles Village apartment was largely empty — except for the guns, the drugs and the 20-ton hydraulic compressor. The apartment, in the 2900 block of St. Paul St. near the Johns Hopkins University, was raided this week by detectives after a monthlong investigation. Police said Joseph Batson, 39, was arrested on the street with a 10 mm Glock pistol and 4.5 ounces of crack cocaine, while his wife, Jamie Batson, 25, who was put on home detention for a drug conviction in Baltimore County about a month ago, was arrested inside the apartment.