Judge

On Saturday October 18, 2003, at Jefferson Memorial Hospital, WILLIAM KENNETH JUDGE, of Harpers Ferry, W. Va. and formerly of Baltimore, MD., beloved husband of Marie Kaniecki Judge of Harpers Ferry, W. Va., father of William K. Judge Jr., of SC and step-father of Alan E. Fabiszak and wife Pat of Harpers Ferry, W. VA., grandfather of Christopher Kathleen and Cody Fabiszak and Kelly Judge. Also survived by one great-grandson Dylan Fabiszak. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday October 22, at 10 A.M. from the St. Johns Catholic Church, 118 E. Second St., Frederick, MD. Visitation will be on Tuesday October 21 from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. at the Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church St., Frederick.

Julie Gilbert and Jose Trias might still be alive had Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Warren B. Duckett Jr. sent Scotland Williams to jail two months ago. Then, Williams was an anonymous petty thief; now, he stands accused of a double murder.It looks as though Judge Duckett made a terrible mistake; he has been honest enough to admit as much. For the victims' families and friends, knowing that the court had Williams in its grasp and let him go must be tormenting and infuriating. For others, what happened is proof that the criminal-justice system fails to protect us.Still, it is unfair to savage Judge Duckett for freeing Williams.

Angry women legislators yesterday called for the head of Judge Robert E. Cahill Sr. for the lenient prison sentence he gave a Parkton trucker who killed his wife after finding her in bed with another man.More than 30 of the 54 female delegates and senators elected to the Maryland General Assembly last month gathered on the State House steps to demonstrate their unified support for Judge Cahill's removal from the bench.The women handed out copies of a joint resolution they said they intend to introduce when the General Assembly convenes next month.

NEW YORK -- A federal judge said yesterday that he will seek a criminal investigation of Rafi Khan, an ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. stockholder, to determine whether the dissident shareholder lied under oath.U.S. District Judge John Sprizzo in Manhattan said at the end of a hearing, which originally involved an ICN proxy fight, that he will ask federal prosecutors to investigate possible perjury by Mr. Khan.Further, Judge Sprizzo blocked Mr. Khan from waging his proxy fight against the ICN board of directors, after finding that Mr. Khan concealed his checkered past from fellow ICN stockholders he is trying to woo.Judge Sprizzo rejected protestations of innocence from Mr. Khan, who earlier yesterday denied assertions from ICN Pharmaceuticals that he tried to illegally hoard British Gas L. P. shares in the mid-1980s when the utility went private.

A federal judge has fired the attorney handling the appeal of Maryland death row inmate Tyrone Delano Gilliam, saying the defense lawyer paid too much attention to the execution of the late John F. Thanos and not enough to his client.U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson Wednesday denied the public defender's motion to appoint Jerome H. "Jay" Nickerson of Rockville to handle Gilliam's appeal in federal court. Jay Nickerson, who is not related to the judge, had handled the appeal in Maryland courts.

The attorney for a Baltimore man tried yesterday to have his murder trial postponed for two weeks because of pretrial publicity, but city Circuit Judge Wanda Keyes Heard denied the motion. Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in the trial of Courtney M. Noakes, 20, who is accused of killing Branch Brown, 24, of the 4100 block of Hyden Court in Brooklyn. Brown was shot in the head July 15 last year. The case marks the third time that Noakes has faced trial on murder charges.

A Carroll County judge has stepped aside from hearing traffic charges against a man who went to prison for his role in a fatal 1998 crash and went on to receive a half-dozen speeding tickets in the years since his release. Judge Marc C. Rasinsky recused himself Wednesday in the District Court trial of Frederick Henry Hensen Jr., citing an article Sunday in The Baltimore Sun on Hensen's history of speeding and other driving violations. Hensen got tickets before and after his involvement in the crash that killed middle school teacher Geraldine Wu. Hensen was convicted of manslaughter by automobile in 1999, along with another man who participated in a road race on Route 140 that ended in the crash that killed Wu. A third man pleaded guilty in 1998.

The heavy backlog of cases in Harford Circuit Court has long been a problem that has gone unaddressed. Defendant rights to a speedy trial have been compromised, resulting in constitutional appeals to overturn clear but belated convictions.The caseload for four judges sitting in the Bel Air courthouse has soared from 4,000 cases for four judges a decade ago to nearly 7,000 last year. The number of criminal cases filed each year has doubled since 1983, when the fourth Harford judge was added.

An Anne Arundel Circuit judge yesterday let stand the demotions of two county police officers who were accused of having sex with informants, but directed the police chief to reconsider the demotion of one of them.Judge Eugene M. Lerner upheld the findings of a trial board that recommended the demotions of Bret K. Ballam and Henry A. McClung from sergeant to patrol officer. The trial board ruled the two men had violated department policy that forbids officers from socializing with informants.