Key Witness

Friday was Avon Ball's first night off "the box," finally finished with court-ordered home monitoring and ready to hit the town. "Who with me?" he posted on Facebook. But police said he didn't make it home. He and a friend were involved in an argument early Saturday at a downtown club, and detectives believe they were followed to the intersection of Madison Avenue and West Preston Street, where they were shot multiple times. Ball, 26, died at an area hospital, and his unidentified friend was critically injured.

A judge delivered a major blow Monday to the state's case against two men accused of fatally slashing the throats of three children nine years ago, ruling that the testimony of a key witness is inadmissible. As prosecutors try for a third time next month to convict Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 31, and Adan Canela, 26, they'll have to do so without some important evidence and witnesses they used to secure a 2006 guilty verdict that was later thrown out by Maryland's top court. Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock told the prosecution that it may not use the statements of the woman who said in the earlier trials that she drove the men from work to the crime scene.

From Luke Broadwater: A key witness in the case against Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of burning a pit bull puppy named Phoenix, abruptly refused to testify Tuesday, causing a judge to sentence her to six months in jail. Tiera Goodman, 25, of the 800 block of Braddish Ave., witnessed Phoenix as she was fatally burned in 2009, and testified during the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, that she saw the 20-year-old Johnson twins running from the scene. But Goodman, who is incarcerated on unrelated charges and initially identified the Johnsons to receive a $1,000 reward, charged her attitude from helpful to obstinate Tuesday.

In a pivotal day of testimony in the Phylicia Barnes murder trial, a 36-year-old petty criminal the defense has dismissed as a "jailhouse snitch" took the stand as one of the prosecution's key witnesses. James McCray, currently locked up in Charles County on a theft conviction, began his testimony by saying his name was actually Jason Lee and that he had drifted to Baltimore six years ago from New York and run an under-the-table business helping unqualified drivers get tags and titles.

On the first day of the capital murder trial of a Baltimore man, the key witness yesterday stopped short of positively identifying the man accused of killing her boyfriend and shooting her in a Dundalk apartment almost two years ago. Several times, prosecutors asked Jennifer Parvizimotlagh whether Travis Davon Terry, the man facing her in the courtroom, was the assailant. But Parvizimotlagh, who had given police detailed descriptions of the shooter and the incident in the days following the killing, said only that the defendant had similar hair.

A proposed plan by Constellation Energy Group Inc. to split into two independent companies later this year will saddle Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. with too much debt and leave the regulated utility vulnerable to a takeover bid, the state regulatory agency's chief economist said yesterday in testimony that sent company officials scrambling. Regardless of whether a suitable plan is in place to pay off BGE's $2.4 billion debt after the split, there will be no guarantee that goal will be completed by new management if the company is sold or taken over, said Calvin L. Timmerman, a key witness who is also director of the research and economics division of the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Almost a year to the day after Baltimore police Officer Gahiji Tshamba shot to death an unarmed Marine, the state concluded its murder case against him Monday without calling several expected witnesses — including the victim's sister, who saw the confrontation. The omission shocked Tshamba's lawyers, who said they will call Chantay Kangalee themselves when they begin presenting their defense Tuesday. "I did not expect to get into my case so quickly," said defense attorney James L. Rhodes, noting that at least two other prosecution witnesses — a police investigator and an expert in law enforcement procedures — were also passed over without being called to testify.

A 31-year-old Baltimore man has been charged in the killing of one man and the wounding of another in a hail of gunfire at a city intersection early Saturday morning, following a dispute at a night club, according to Baltimore police. Tion Bolden, of the 5200 block of Reisterstown Road in the city's Woodmere neighborhood, faces 10 charges in the case and remains in police custody. Police announced his arrest Sunday, after saying Saturday that they were questioning a person of interest.

BRADY G. SPICER, in prison since 1992 for the brutal beating of an Annapolis restaurateur, maintains his innocence and alleges he was denied a fair trial. His claims can no longer be dismissed as outlandish.Recent developments raise questions about a key witness in his trial and a deal cut by prosecutors. A jury convicted Spicer of assault with intent to murder in a 1990 beating that shattered every bone in the face of Francis Denvir, owner of Armadillo's restaurant.The key witness, Larry Michael Brown, died Tuesday.

John G. "Jerry" Gerant, the former Miami police officer who flew drugs into the United States for a Colombian cartel, has been convicted of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy and three related counts in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.His conviction yesterday was a victory for federal drug agents and prosecutors, who used Gerant as a key witness in a major drug trial here several years ago but later rescinded his immunity agreement after learning he had lied about the extent of his involvement in international drug trafficking.

A 31-year-old Baltimore man has been charged in the killing of one man and the wounding of another in a hail of gunfire at a city intersection early Saturday morning, following a dispute at a night club, according to Baltimore police. Tion Bolden, of the 5200 block of Reisterstown Road in the city's Woodmere neighborhood, faces 10 charges in the case and remains in police custody. Police announced his arrest Sunday, after saying Saturday that they were questioning a person of interest.

Friday was Avon Ball's first night off "the box," finally finished with court-ordered home monitoring and ready to hit the town. "Who with me?" he posted on Facebook. But police said he didn't make it home. He and a friend were involved in an argument early Saturday at a downtown club, and detectives believe they were followed to the intersection of Madison Avenue and West Preston Street, where they were shot multiple times. Ball, 26, died at an area hospital, and his unidentified friend was critically injured.

The way it is now: Mark Farley Grant steps out of the room he shares with three other men in a big rowhouse on St. Paul Street, grabs his backpack, and steps into the 6 a.m. darkness. He takes the No. 13 bus, transfers to the 54, then the 53, grabs breakfast at the kosher Dunkin' Donuts on Reisterstown Road and walks to work at the kosher supermarket two blocks north. "It's a real busy time right now," he says of his job as a meat cutter at Seven Mile Market. "You know, with the Jewish holidays coming.

A 55-year-old man operating an unauthorized cab in Baltimore witnessed a passenger's arrest, according to prosecutors, then turned down a bribe to give false testimony in the case. Months later, he was shot to death in front of the suburban home he shared with his elderly mother. City and Baltimore County prosecutors revealed the details of the 2011 killing of Ronald Givens on Thursday as they announced the murder indictments of four men, three of whom were also charged with conspiracy, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.

A storm of recriminations and denials followed the publication of "The Politician," but the testimony inJohn Edwards' criminal trial reads like the book's key chapters. The former senator from North Carolina is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in illegal campaign contributions while seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Prosecutors say he used the money to bankroll his mistress, Rielle Hunter, rather than his campaign. The defense says the money was a personal gift, unrelated to the campaign.

Wails and screams echoed through the halls of the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse on Friday, as relatives and friends of two teenage girls absorbed the fact that no one would be imprisoned for their hit-and-run deaths on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard last June. About two dozen relatives and friends comforted each other after walking out of the small courtroom they had packed for the two-day trial of Reuben Dunn. When the jury foreman read off "not guilty" on each of three charges, the supporters gasped, some weeping and others shaking in anger.

A state prosecutor's decision Tuesday to leave a key witness out of the theft trial against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon stunned those watching the case closely but generated no consensus about which side might benefit most from the unexpected move. Some legal analysts said the decision not to call developer Ronald H. Lipscomb to the stand was a clever end run around the mayor's defense that the gift cards from Lipscomb, her former boyfriend, were tokens given in a romantic pursuit.

A storm of recriminations and denials followed the publication of "The Politician," but the testimony inJohn Edwards' criminal trial reads like the book's key chapters. The former senator from North Carolina is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in illegal campaign contributions while seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Prosecutors say he used the money to bankroll his mistress, Rielle Hunter, rather than his campaign. The defense says the money was a personal gift, unrelated to the campaign.

From Luke Broadwater: A key witness in the case against Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of burning a pit bull puppy named Phoenix, abruptly refused to testify Tuesday, causing a judge to sentence her to six months in jail. Tiera Goodman, 25, of the 800 block of Braddish Ave., witnessed Phoenix as she was fatally burned in 2009, and testified during the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, that she saw the 20-year-old Johnson twins running from the scene. But Goodman, who is incarcerated on unrelated charges and initially identified the Johnsons to receive a $1,000 reward, charged her attitude from helpful to obstinate Tuesday.

A key witness in the case against Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of burning a pit bull puppy named Phoenix, abruptly refused to testify Tuesday, causing a judge to sentence her to six months in jail. Tiera Goodman, 25, of the 800 block of Braddish Ave. witnessed Phoenix as she was fatally burned in 2009 and testified during the first trial that she saw the 20-year-old Johnson twins running from the scene. The case is being retried after the previous trial ended in a hung jury.