Jail Time

Barbara Gaskins says she took her 15-year-old son to his bus stop every morning at 7:30, well in time for his 9 a.m. homeroom bell at Patterson High School. She obtained as many medical excuses as the doctor would allow when her son suffered from a series of stomach viruses. And she has taught her children that they have to "get an education to get somewhere in life. " But Gaskins was recently jailed for 10 days — one of the dozen parents of Baltimore City students to receive a sentence this year — after failing to send her child to school 103 of 130 days.

Have you ever just messed up? I'm not talking about leaving your coffee on the roof of your car. I mean a major, life-altering mistake. Think fiscal cliff-level personal disaster. Now imagine paying for the mistake with jail time - then continuing to pay for the rest of your life by being shut out of every new opportunity to reestablish yourself. That's the life of Marylanders with prior misdemeanor convictions right now, and the General Assembly appears to want them to keep living their nightmares, while taxpayers foot the bill.

Ethan Phillip Weibman who plead guilty last fall to animal abuse in the death of one cat and the beating of another was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in prison. After District Judge Charles A. Chiapparelli's ruling, officers immediately took the 20-year-old, a short-time Baltimore resident originally from a wealthy hamlet in Westchester County, N.Y., into custody, as his mother shrieked in protest. “It's not just a crime, it's a person I'm sentencing,” Chiapparelli said.

Does John Leopold have Sheila Dixon to blame? He'll have plenty of time — 30 days to be specific — to contemplate such a cosmic question, as the former Anne Arundel County executive serves out the surprise prison sentence he received Thursday for misconduct in office. The not-quite-hanging judge who found him guilty on two counts of misconduct and ordered him locked up was Dennis Sweeney, who in 2009 presided over the trial of another public official gone wrong: former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

A 35-year-old Charles County man was sentenced Friday to six months in federal prison followed by six months home detention for illegally copying DVD movies and selling the bootlegs for 60 cents apiece at a Washington farmer's market, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced. John M. Harris, of Bryans Road, made hundreds of copies of films - including Kung Fu Panda 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and Bridesmaids - each weekend and peddled them at the Florida Avenue market last summer and fall, investigators said.

A Baltimore County judge has agreed to a five-day unpaid suspension, admitting that he was wrong to summarily find 28 people in contempt for courtroom disruptions — including two dozen fined and threatened with jail time after their cellphones sounded in his courtroom. District Judge Norman Stone III also will be on administrative probation for two years. Maryland's top court signed off late Friday on the agreement between Stone, 54, and the Commission on Judicial Disabilities.

Four days before the birth of the Salisbury girl he would be accused of kidnapping from her bedroom and killing, Thomas J. Leggs Jr. pleaded guilty to his first sex offense. Over the next 11 years, as Sarah Haley Foxwell grew into a bright, lively middle school student, Leggs was charged with five other crimes against girls and young women, including raping a teenager on a Delaware boardwalk and grabbing a 13-year-old the same day his newborn child was brought home from the hospital.

It was unusual enough when Baltimore housing officials had to get a search warrant to gain entry to a Canton rowhouse where they believed illegal renovations were occurring. But the owner's son had barred inspectors, and neighbors were complaining of work that was noisy, substantial and ongoing. Then inspectors went inside and were shocked to find that the three-story home in the 2100 block of Cambridge Street had been gutted. Not only had the owner's son failed to pull required building permits, the city alleged in a lawsuit, but the work was so shoddy that the house had to be condemned.

A District Court judge on Thursday convicted an Ellicott City man of undertaking major renovations at his mother's Canton rowhouse without permits, but spared him jail time by suspending his 90-day sentence. Martin Pozoulakis, found guilty of two misdemeanor counts, also was fined $1,000. The case was a rare example of the city seeking jail time as punishment for illegal rehab work. In imposing the sentence, Judge Ronald A. Karasic said he was disturbed that Pozoulakis chose to "snub his nose" at city officials who tried to monitor conditions at the house in the 2100 block of Cambridge St. Pozoulakis, 54, waived his right to a trial.

Sergio Kindle avoided jail time after pleading guilty to drunken-driving charges Tuesday, but the Ravens linebacker still faces an uncertain future on the football field. Judge Neil Edward Axel sentenced the 23-year-old rookie to two years of probation because he thought Kindle had taken "positive steps" in getting treatment for alcohol abuse — including spending five days in a private Owings Mills facility last week. During the hearing, Kindle apologized, saying, "I'm very remorseful for my actions.

Saying John R. Leopold committed "an arrogant abuse of power" by ordering police and other government workers to perform personal and political chores for him, prosecutors are asking a judge to fine the former Anne Arundel County executive $100,000 and sentence him to five years probation and 500 hours of community service. The recommendation by State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt comes in a document filed Monday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, where Leopold, 70, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday by Judge Dennis M. Sweeney on two misdemeanor counts of misconduct in office.

A Baltimore County judge has agreed to a five-day unpaid suspension, admitting that he was wrong to summarily find 28 people in contempt for courtroom disruptions — including two dozen fined and threatened with jail time after their cellphones sounded in his courtroom. District Judge Norman Stone III also will be on administrative probation for two years. Maryland's top court signed off late Friday on the agreement between Stone, 54, and the Commission on Judicial Disabilities.

Isn't the purpose of prison to punish offenders and serve as a deterrent to others ("Police get no break in prison," Aug. 20)? And don't police know the law of the land? Serving time in jail is not mandatory, it is the result of the choices people make. If one makes a bad choice then the result is jail time. Why should police officers be given preferential treatment? There is a saying every police officer should know: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. " The choice is theirs to make.

A 35-year-old Charles County man was sentenced Friday to six months in federal prison followed by six months home detention for illegally copying DVD movies and selling the bootlegs for 60 cents apiece at a Washington farmer's market, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced. John M. Harris, of Bryans Road, made hundreds of copies of films - including Kung Fu Panda 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and Bridesmaids - each weekend and peddled them at the Florida Avenue market last summer and fall, investigators said.

When Harford County's chief prosecutor, State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly, reached a plea agreement with a repeat-offending burglar that gave the 28-year-old admitted drug abuser 28 years to serve in prison, there was a lot to like about the deal. Asked about the plea agreement, Cassilly said: "If you're going to break into houses to steal stuff for your drug problem, we're going to ask for jail time. If you have a history of breaking into people's houses, we're going to ask for serious jail time.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Emanuel Brown said he wanted to send a message with his sentence of political consultant Julius Henson in the case of the infamous "relax" robocall. He certainly succeeded. It's not often that someone involved in a Maryland political corruption trial is led out of a courtroom in handcuffs, and a 60-day jail sentence is bound to make future political campaigns and consultants think twice before crossing the line. Despite his protestations that the case against him was political payback for his work for a Republican — former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — what Mr. Henson did was clearly wrong.

A pharmacologist whose fiancee died last fall after injecting phony drugs pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of growing marijuana, which will likely lead to his deportation along with the chance to donate a kidney to his ailing father in Canada. Under a plea deal, Clinton B. McCracken was given a suspended five-year sentence that will spare him further jail time but force him to return to his home country. His lawyer said McCracken hopes the removal happens "as soon as possible" because of his father's medical condition.

Despite keeping himself sober for months and becoming a worker who "hungers to learn anything," the East Main Street man who broke into the Westminster Exchange and set several small fires in September willspend the next 18 months behind bars.Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. yesterday sentenced James Henry Cassidy, 29, to prison terms of two years each on arson, burglary and breaking-and-entering convictions. Beck then suspended all but 18 months of those sentences and ordered them served concurrently.

A District Court judge on Thursday convicted an Ellicott City man of undertaking major renovations at his mother's Canton rowhouse without permits, but spared him jail time by suspending his 90-day sentence. Martin Pozoulakis, found guilty of two misdemeanor counts, also was fined $1,000. The case was a rare example of the city seeking jail time as punishment for illegal rehab work. In imposing the sentence, Judge Ronald A. Karasic said he was disturbed that Pozoulakis chose to "snub his nose" at city officials who tried to monitor conditions at the house in the 2100 block of Cambridge St. Pozoulakis, 54, waived his right to a trial.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for more cool weather, with highs expected in the low 50s and gusty winds. There's a chance of showers tonight, with lows in the mid 30s. TRAFFIC Check our traffic map for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... Fire damages Sparrows Point church : A three-alarm fire tore through a church in the 4300 block of North Point Blvd. in Sparrows Point on Tuesday night, causing parts of the roof to collapse, according to a Baltimore County fire official.