Judge Kane

A former legal secretary was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison for stealing more than $150,000 from accounts overseen by two Ellicott City lawyers for whom she worked between 1988 and 1993.Daren Lynne Flather, 42, was ordered to repay money she siphoned from four accounts set up for elderly or mentally ill people, but Howard Circuit Judge Raymond Kane Jr. expressed doubt that she would ever come up with the money.Flather's lawyer said the money was used to pay bills. The prosecutor contended that it was used for luxuries.

A Howard County public defender pursued several unusual legal strategies in Howard Circuit Court yesterday in the case of a man accused of robbing an Ellicott City bank last winter.Deputy Public Defender Louis Willemin wanted a courtroom line-up, requested a judge to remove himself from the case and asked for the charges against 30-year-old Henry Darnell Johnson Jr. of Baltimore to be dismissed. And all that courtroom action occurred before the trial even started.Mr. Willemin wanted the courtroom lineup to require witnesses to identify the robber.

A 15-year-old boy accused of shooting a former neighbor in his back and paralyzing him during a fight over a dog last August will be tried as an adult, a judge decided yesterday.Attorneys for Raheem Ameen Jones argued during a Howard Circuit Court hearing that the boy's case should be handled in the county's juvenile court, but Judge Raymond Kane Jr. denied their request.The Jones youth, who now lives in Reisterstown, is charged with attempted murder. Police say he shot 19-year-old Christopher Graham while the victim lay on the ground after being shot in the leg by another teen-ager.

A man who represented himself and was convicted in September of murdering his girlfriend lost a bid for another trial in Howard Circuit Court yesterday.Marvin Philander Smith of Baltimore cited his lack of knowledge in practicing law and understanding courtroom procedures as one of several reasons why he should be given a new trial.But Judge Raymond Kane Jr. didn't buy Smith's argument. He denied Smith's request for another trial and scheduled his sentencing hearing for Dec. 20."I'm satisfied it was appropriate for Mr. Smith to proceed with the trial without counsel," Judge Kane said.

A fourth member of a theft ring alleged to have stolen more than 20 vehicles in Columbia last winter was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday in Howard Circuit Court.Keith Richard Burton, 18, of Columbia, also was given an additional 18-month prison term for a drug charge that prosecutors said is unrelated to the vehicle thefts.Burton pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and one count of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine before Judge Raymond Kane Jr.The prosecution dropped multiple counts of theft, attempted theft, malicious destruction and additional counts of unauthorized use as part of the plea agreement.

A Marriottsville man serving a five-year prison sentence for causing his wife to fall from a ladder to her death in 1992 lost his bid in Howard Circuit Court yesterday for a reduced sentence.John Carroll Calhoun, 53, asked Judge Raymond Kane Jr. for a shorter sentence so he could help raise his two children, who are in temporary custody of a Mount Airy couple.Calhoun was sentenced to 10 years in prison -- with half of the term suspended -- after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in June 1993.

A Marriottsville man serving a five-year prison sentence for causing his wife to fall from a ladder to her death in 1992 lost his bid in Howard Circuit Court yesterday for a reduced sentence.John Carroll Calhoun, 53, asked Judge Raymond Kane Jr. for a shorter sentence so he could help rear his two children, who are in temporary custody of a Mount Airy couple.Calhoun was sentenced to 10 years in prison -- with half of the term suspended -- after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in June 1993.

A man whom Howard County police suspect in the slaying of a Columbia girl last summer was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday for having sexual relationships with two other girls.Curtis Aden Jamison, 29, of Baltimore was given the sentence after pleading guilty in Howard Circuit Court to three counts of second-degree rape and one second-degree sexual offense.Jamison pleaded guilty to charges that he had intercourse and performed sex acts with two girls. The victims were 12 and 13 years old at the time of the incidents, which occurred between February 1992 and June 1993.

A Silver Spring man pleaded for the death penalty but was given life imprisonment yesterday for kidnapping two western Howard County women and raping them in his home while videotaping the 1992 attacks.William Kirk Evans, a 52-year-old computer analyst who has four children and was married at the time of the incidents, was given the sentence in Howard Circuit Court after he begged his victims and his family for forgiveness.Evans, who pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree rape in January, was sentenced by Judge Raymond Kane Jr. He is to be sentenced in Montgomery County next month as part of another plea agreement involving two similar attacks in 1990.

Don't let Nancy Haslinger's old-style title fool you: She deals with some very contemporary issues -- divorce, custody and juvenile crime.The 46-year-old Columbia lawyer is Howard County's new master in chancery, and the first woman to hold a judicial position in Howard Circuit Court.Ms. Haslinger was sworn in last month as one of two county masters in chancery, a title that dates back several hundred years to the days when the British monarchy addressed such family matters as divorces and adoptions.