Janey

City Solicitor Neal M. Janey will come before the City Council and the public this afternoon to make his case for keeping his job as Baltimore's longtime top lawyer.Mr. Janey, appointed by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in 1987, is expected to glide through the question-and-answer hearing, scheduled for 5 p.m. in City Hall, despite criticism from some council members last year about perceived conflicts of interest and city legal work given to private firms.The council is scheduled to vote on whether to reconfirm Mr. Janey during Monday's council meeting.

Anne Arundel County police officers whisked Wanda R. Hall to an unidentified drug treatment center in Virginia yesterday after a circuit judge cut short her 14-year prison sentence and approved what prosecutors termed a "necessary evil."Hall, 35, of Annapolis, swapped her testimony against a murder defendant for prosecutors' support of her bid to leave prison after serving about 3 1/2 years for her part in the killing."Cases of this nature never leave me comfortable," Judge Ronald A. Silkworth told Hall, who testified in February that she drove a borrowed car while Richard E. Janey, 34, stabbed another woman to death in the back seat in December 1994.

A convicted murderer sentenced to an added 15-year term for assaulting a fellow inmate told an Anne Arundel County judge yesterday that he is being threatened in prison by gang members and was forced to resort to violence to protect himself. Richard Janey, 43, is serving a 30-year sentence at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland for the murder of an Annapolis woman in 1994. Janey was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of 29-year-old Susan McAteer, who was stabbed 58 times.

Richard Janey, who is appealing an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court murder conviction and 30-year prison sentence, has received another year in prison.Janey pleaded guilty recently to assault on a county jail guard Oct. 15, 1997. Throwing batteries, he hit the officer in the head so hard the guard blacked out briefly, according to charging documents. Janey's jail misconduct records, inadmissible at his April sentencing for second-degree murder, were an inch thick.Janey, 34, of the 100 block of Obery Court in Annapolis was convicted slaying of Susan McAteer, 29, of Annapolis, who was stabbed 58 times in December 1994.

Anne Arundel County homicide detectives fear that an Annapolis woman who may have witnessed the fatal stabbing of Denise McAteer on Tuesday may be in danger, police said yesterday.Wanda Rebecca Hall, 31, whose last known address was in the 1000 block of Bay Ridge Road, has not been seen since Tuesday, said Sgt. Rick Tabor, head of Anne Arundel County's homicide unit.Sergeant Tabor said homicide detectives believe that Ms. Hall witnessed the slaying of Ms. McAteer, whose fully clothed body was found Tuesday afternoon near some woods in the 300 block of Dubois Road, just outside Annapolis.

Anne Arundel County prosecutors decided yesterday to pursue a murder charge for a third time against Richard E. Janey, 34, after a Circuit Court jury failed to reach a verdict Monday on a second-degree murder charge.Janey, who lives in the 100 block of Obery Court in Annapolis, is accused of the December 1994 killing of Susan McAteer, 29, of the first block of Southgate Ave. in Annapolis.Despite the hung jury on the charge of second-degree murder, Janey was convicted on charges of malicious burning of a car, conspiracy to burn the car and being an accessory after the fact to murder.

When a Baltimore couple bought an exotic bird from Michelle and Brian Howard last month, they seemed more interested in the Howards' capuchin monkey. But Janey was not for sale. Police said the 48-hour search for Janey ended yesterday when officers found her in the couple's Southwest Baltimore home. As the exotic monkey returned to the Howards, Anne Arundel County police issued arrest warrants for Kenneth Michael King, 25, and Wendy Michelle Ward, 30. Each faces charges of first-degree burglary, fourth-degree burglary and theft of more than $500.

A 30-year-old Annapolis man who was convicted twice last year of beating up his girlfriend was sentenced to 30 years in prison yesterday for killing her.Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Bruce C. Williams ordered the sentence for Richard E. Janey of the 100 block of Obery Court. Janey was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted Sept. 1 of second-degree murder and malicious burning in the December 1994 death of Susan McAteer, an Annapolis woman he had dated.Janey was accused of stabbing Ms. McAteer 58 times, dumping her body in woods outside Annapolis and burning the stolen car used in the slaying.

"If only my life could be different," sighed 29-year-old Janey, the mother of two children. "For eight years, Henry has controlled every aspect of our lives. I've had enough."Janey and Henry met at college, and even then she had a sense that he would try to dominate her life. "He decided when and where we would marry, when and how many children we would have and whether I'd quit the job I loved in a small publishing house to become a full-time mom," Janey adds sadly. He even tells her what she should think.

An assistant Baltimore solicitor took personal leave to represent his boss's wife in a private legal matter during city business hours, according to city records obtained by The Sun yesterday.The assistant, Harry L. Chase, previously refused to authorize release of any payroll records to the newspaper to support his claim that he took a half-day of vacation on Sept. 13 -- the day he represented the wife of City Solicitor Neal M. Janey before the city elections board.But after prodding from Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Mr. Chase granted permission for the law department to release one payroll document for the hours he worked Sept.