NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel | November 7, 2009
An Anne Arundel County jury acquitted a Waldorf man Friday who prosecutors alleged had tried to erase a $400 drug debt by shooting a pregnant woman. Jerold R. Burks, 22, thanked his lawyer, weeping parents and God after the jury, which had deliberated seven hours over two days, found him not guilty of attempted murder, conspiracy and related charges. "Never for a second" did Burks' parents think he shot hairdresser Jodi Torok in the head in the foyer of her Crofton home on Oct. 27, 2008, said Darryl Burks, the defendant's father.
NEWS
By a Baltimore Sun staff writer | October 8, 2009
Baltimore County police arrested a suspect Tuesday in the killing of an Owings Mills man in August. Acting on a grand jury indictment, police arrested Gerald Edward Sears, 30, of the 2300 block of Wheatley Road, near Leakin Park in Baltimore. He is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and using a handgun in the commission of a felony. The body of Scott M. Greenberg, 51, was found by his ex-wife Aug. 22 in his parents' home in the 2300 block of Velvet Valley Way, where he had been living.
NEWS
By Scott Collins | October 2, 2009
Talk-show host David Letterman said Thursday that he was the victim of a $2 million extortion attempt related to his sexual relationships with staff members on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman." During a taping for Thursday night's broadcast, Letterman told viewers that three weeks ago, he was approached by a person who claimed to have information about the host's affairs with female staff members. This person, Letterman said, threatened to expose the relationships unless payment of $2 million was received.
NEWS
By Laura Vozzella | September 25, 2009
Howard Dixon, a retired city police officer who gets paid $60,566 a year to hold the door for the mayor, is a more valuable public servant than might be imagined. Valuable to the mayor he serves, anyway, in a don't ask, don't tell kinda way. Take that day in 2004 when, state prosecutors say, Sheila Dixon handed a wad of cash - $4,000, in $100 bills - to Howard Dixon, who is paid to escort her to events and who is no relation. Prosecutors allege that then-City Council President Dixon, just back from a Chicago shopping spree with developer-boyfriend Ron Lipscomb, asked Howard Dixon to put the cash in his bank account, and then write a check to help cover her whopping American Express bill.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | September 17, 2009
Defense lawyers for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon won a legal victory Wednesday morning when a judge ordered state prosecutors to hand over two subpoenas that a grand jury had issued in the City Hall corruption probe. Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney gave prosecutors two days to produce the documents, but Deputy State Prosecutor Thomas "Mike" McDonough stood in court and passed the two pieces of paper to the defense table. "Discovery has been provided," McDonough said. The mayor's lawyers had initially sought the documents to bolster their contention that prosecutors were misusing a grand jury.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | September 2, 2009
Lawyers for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon continued a legal quarrel with state prosecutors and filed new papers Tuesday aimed at forcing the state to turn over all grand jury subpoenas issued since January when the mayor was first charged with perjury and theft. Dixon attorney Dale P. Kelberman wrote in a court filing that he needs to review the subpoenas in order to prevent "possible injustice" in the case and called the state prosecutors' arguments for withholding the information "a combination of confusion, obfuscation and irrelevancy."
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | September 1, 2009
State prosecutors in the City Hall corruption cases defended their investigation of Baltimore's mayor, arguing they did not abuse the grand jury process when they issued three subpoenas this summer before dismissing their initial indictment of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. Deputy State Prosecutor Thomas "Mike" McDonough contends in court papers filed Friday that new investigative material brought to a Baltimore grand jury after Dixon's original indictment in January supported the second set of indictments that were brought against Dixon in July.
NEWS
By Tricia Bishop | August 14, 2009
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment Thursday, charging two Baltimore men - Johnnie "JR" Butler and Calvin "Turkey" Wright - in connection with gun crimes and a murder, in addition to the drug-distribution conspiracy alleged a year ago. It's the first time Butler, 33, has been indicted for murder, though police have long suspected he was linked to at least two homicides. In June, police filed an application for statements of charges and arrest warrants against Butler and Wright, 37, alleging they tortured and killed Sintia Mesa, whose naked body was found stuffed into the trunk of her Toyota Solara in January 2007.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | August 6, 2009
Mayor Sheila Dixon will go to trial Nov. 9 on charges of theft and perjury, and plans to enter a not-guilty plea, according to her lawyers. State prosecutors and defense attorneys for Dixon hammered out a new schedule for her case after a Baltimore grand jury handed up two new indictments against the mayor last week. At a court hearing Wednesday morning, prosecutors dropped the original indictment against Dixon, which like the new case stems from allegations that she stole gift cards intended for the needy and failed to report gifts she received on city ethics forms.
NEWS
By Jacques Kelly | July 9, 2009
Attorneys for Mayor Sheila Dixon have moved to block the state prosecutor's attempt to get additional information from one current and one former city employee he has called to testify before a grand jury. The lawyers filed a motion this week to quash subpoenas issued to Dixon's scheduler, Zoe Michal, and Anne Lansey, who previously worked in the city's Department of Transportation. Michal and Lansey were to appear Thursday at the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse. In his motion, Dixon's attorney, Arnold Weiner, said that the state prosecutor is abusing the grand jury process by subpoenaing witnesses to gather more evidence for the mayor's coming trial.