Judge

An Anne Arundel County judge handed the Key School a victory Tuesday, allowing the 55-year-old Annapolis private school to go ahead with plans to turn the 70-acre Annapolis Golf Club into an outdoor campus for athletics. A request by residents of the surrounding Annapolis Roads community to block the proposed landscape of playing fields, tennis courts, parking lot and a maintenance facility was turned down by Circuit Judge Paul G. Goetzke. An appeal, however, is possible. "This is an important day for us," said Marcella Yedid, head of the school, noting that the school has been working with Anne Arundel County on the site plan.

The 19-year-old Harford County man with developmental disabilities who is accused of killing his 2-month-old niece was ordered Monday to continue being held without bail. Colin Christopher Wolf, of the 2000 block of Bay Meadows Court in Forest Hill, is facing first degree murder charges after he allegedly struck the child, who had been left in his care, in the face Thursday night and she later died, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. After an earlier bail review hearing Friday where Harford County District Court Judge Mimi Cooper questioned Wolf's competency, District Court Judge Victor Butanis ordered Wolf to continue being held without bail Monday and made no mention of any competency concerns.

Maryland's highest-ranking judge, Robert M. Bell, likes that his courthouse is dedicated to his predecessor, pointing out that the letters etching Robert C. Murphy's name on the building's exterior are filled in gold paint to make sure even nighttime drivers can see it. As Bell approaches retirement, mandatory when he turns 70 in July, he scoffs at the notion that his name might someday grace a building as well. But then, his name is forever etched in legal history by virtue of the Supreme Court case Bell v. Maryland.

July 6, 1943 Robert Mack Bell born in Rocky Mount, N.C.; family moves to Baltimore about 11/2 years later. June 17, 1960 Bell and 11 students try to get seated at Hooper's Restaurant at Charles and Fayette streets in Baltimore. A hostess says the restaurant policy is not to "serve Negroes," and they sit down nonetheless, prompting a call to police that leads to their arrest and conviction for trespassing. Case becomes known as Bell v. Maryland because Bell's name came first alphabetically.

Baltimore County prosecutors will not be allowed to use information provided by James D. Laboard's lawyer on the night that the off-duty police officer allegedly killed a Randallstown teenager, a judge ruled Friday. During a criminal motions hearing, Circuit Judge Jan Marshall Alexander ruled that the lawyer's decision to talk to detectives violated attorney-client confidentiality. Prosecutors said the ruling would have little effect on the case. Laboard, a Baltimore County police officer, is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Christopher Brown.

Last week, a federal district judge in New York ruled that girls younger than 17 should be allowed to purchase the Plan B contraceptive pill over the counter. Unlike the Obama administration, Judge Edward Korman got this one right. The 2011 decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to restrict access for younger girls not only denied them a safe and legal means to prevent unwanted pregnancy but ignored all scientific evidence that supported its access. Emergency contraceptive pills, commonly known as "Plan B," are drugs that work to prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after sexual intercourse.

The owner of a Edgewater-based tree service was convicted Tuesday on three counts of critical area violations for removing dozens of trees in Severna Park, allegedly so the property owners could have a better view of the Severn River, according to Maryland's Attorney General. Dennis Russell Paddy Sr., 44, of Edgewater, owner of Paddy Stump Grinding, cut down dozens of trees in an expanded buffer area along Bellehahn Court, according to the attorney general. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michele D. Jaklitsch sentenced Paddy to perform 80 hours of community service along with 12 months probation, after granting probation before judgment.

A federal judge last week threw out a Baltimore security guard's copyright infringement case against National Football League Properties, saying there was no evidence the NFL had licensed the use of the Ravens logo he'd designed to a software company. Frederick E. Bouchat has been credited with designing the Ravens' first logo, known as the "Flying B logo," and is awaiting compensation. In this most recent case, Bouchat claimed he wasn't getting credit for the use of the logo in some Madden NFL video games.

A jury declared Tuesday that it was hopelessly deadlocked over the case of a Baltimore police officer accused of secretly tape-recording a judge. The impasse triggered a mistrial that leaves the sergeant's fate uncertain. Sgt. Carlos M. Vila, an 18-year-veteran police officer, was charged with recording a telephone argument with a judge designated to sign search warrants after normal business hours. Prosecutors said the recording violated the state's wiretap laws. Vila wanted District Judge Joan B. Gordon to sign a warrant on a Saturday night to search a car in which a shooting victim had been found.

Ten lawyers, including the county's state's attorney and a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, have applied for the vacancy on the Harford County Circuit Court. In addition, 20 lawyers have applied for the vacancy on the county's District Court bench, with six applying for both. The 10 applicants to replace recently retired Circuit Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr. are: • Joseph Ignatius Cassilly, Harford County State's Attorney since 1983; • Michael Gerard Comeau, a senior assistant attorney in the Harford County Law Department and a former state delegate; • Yolanda Lauranzon Curtin, a state administrative law judge and former Harford prosecutor; • Michael Hugh Andrew Daney, associate zoning hearing examiner for Harford County; • Howard Wayne Norman Jr., a member of the House of Delegates representing Northern Harford; • Steven J. Scheinin, a lawyer in private practice and previous judge applicant and candidate; • District Court Judge Victor Kuras Butanis, a district judge since 1996; • Melissa Lazarich Lambert, chief legal counsel to the Harford County Council and a former assistant state's attorney; • Kerwin Anthony Miller Sr., a deputy state's attorney for Cecil County; • Diane Adkins Tobin, a deputy state's attorney for Harford County.