Leasure

On December 31, 2003, SHIRLEYLEASURE (nee Hladik); beloved wife of William E. Leasure; devoted mother of Karen M. Jones and her husband William H., Jeffrey W. Leasure and his wife Sharon; loving grandmother of Kyle, Joshua and Nicholas Leasure. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the Schimunek Funeral Home, Inc., 9705 Belair Road, (Perry Hall), on Saturday and Sunday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where funeral services will be held on Monday, 11 A.M. Interment Parkwood Cemetery.

The names of four candidates for a Howard County Circuit Court judgeship, two of them attorneys in the county prosecutor's office and two who hear juvenile and other matters for the court, have been forwarded to Gov. Martin O'Malley by a committee that vets applicants for the bench. Judge Diane O. Leasure, who has been a Circuit Court judge since 1995, is leaving this week, though she is expected to return to hear cases in retirement. The governor must select a judge from the list given to him by the Judicial Nominating Commission.

Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure, a former middle school teacher in New Jersey who became one of the most respected arbiters in Maryland, said Tuesday that she plans to retire from the bench when her 15-year term ends in November. Leasure, 58, will become a senior judicial fellow and lecturer at the University of Maryland law school, where she has been an adjunct professor for the past four years. She also hopes for Court of Appeals approval to serve as a recall judge around the state, and to become involved in private mediation and arbitration.

Lenore R. Gelfman has been named administrative judge for the Howard County Circuit Court, succeeding Diane O. Leasure, who announced her retirement, effective Nov. 4, 2011. "Judge Gelfman has a long and impressive record of service," said Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, who made the appointment. "She is a thoughtful and distinguished jurist, whose leadership skills are exemplary. " Gelfman received her Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore in 1973 and began her legal career as an assistant state's attorney in Baltimore City.

CUMBERLAND -- Bill Leasure watched as a line of more than 40 people began to form outside the back door of the Moose Lodge in Frostburg, waiting for food.These were his friends and neighbors. They asked about his brother's bypass surgery, introduced grandchildren, shared innocuous gossip.But, when the door finally opened, small talk stopped. The people in line crowded forward, cardboard boxes and plastic laundry baskets in hand, anxious to pick up their monthly allotment of food -- more than $40 worth of staples such as cereal and canned goods.

In a sharply worded television ad starting today, the challengers in Howard County's judges race attempt to tie Judge Diane O. Leasure to the sagging fortunes of her one-time benefactor, Gov. Parris N. Glendening.The ad renews last week's charge by the challengers that Leasure gained an unfair advantage over other applicants for Howard's Circuit Court bench by helping plan a fund-raiser for Glendening days before he appointed her and Donna Hill Staton.Both the charge and the ad mark a renewed aggressiveness by the challengers, District Judge Lenore Gelfman and attorney Jonathan Scott Smith, who, like their opponents, promised a kinder general election campaign after March's bitter and expensive primary.

Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure's involvement in planning a fund-raiser for Gov. Parris N. Glendening held just days before she was appointed to the bench last year is drawing sharp criticism from her electoral opponents and a government watchdog group.Leasure -- who was appointed by the governor with Judge Donna Hill Staton on Oct. 24 -- was one of a dozen people who served on a planning committee that organized a $350-a-person golf tournament sponsored by a Howard County law firm for the governor Oct. 16.Her application for a judgeship was before Glendening at the time.

THIS NEWSPAPER has a long-standing policy of endorsing sitting judges in contested elections. This policy stems from our opposition to the concept of elected judgeships, which inappropriately inject politics into a system of choosing impartial arbiters of the law. We continue to recommend an appointed merit system for Circuit Courts.Even if we did not have this policy, however, we would endorse Howard County Circuit Judges Donna Hill Staton and Diane O. Leasure. They have performed admirably since being appointed to the bench last year by Gov. Parris N. Glendening.

YOUNG GIRLS waiting outside a public library never will have to worry about Timothy Bryan Chase again.Howard Circuit Court Judge Diane O. Leasure handed down an appropriate sentence to the 29-year-old rapist: Life in prison plus 25 years for his conviction in the March 1996 attack on a 15-year-old girl outside the Howard County Library's Central Branch in Columbia.The crime shook Howard County's sense of security, perhaps more than any since the grisly carjacking murder of Pam Basu in 1992.

As Howard County's top Circuit Court judge, Diane Leasure has been described by colleagues as a fair-minded, even-keeled arbiter. One veteran defense attorney went so far as to call Leasure an "ideal judge". So it might be difficult to imagine the obstacles she faced when she first sought a nomination in 1995. Leasure had been working as an attorney in Prince George's County, and most on the nominating commission viewed her as an outsider. Jason Shapiro, a defense lawyer and former assistant state's attorney who was a member of the commission, said some thought Leasure was a "carpetbagger of sorts" because of her ties to the county and, indirectly, to its former executive, then-Gov.

Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure, a former middle school teacher in New Jersey who became one of the most respected arbiters in Maryland, said Tuesday that she plans to retire from the bench when her 15-year term ends in November. Leasure, 58, will become a senior judicial fellow and lecturer at the University of Maryland law school, where she has been an adjunct professor for the past four years. She also hopes for Court of Appeals approval to serve as a recall judge around the state, and to become involved in private mediation and arbitration.

A former Columbia teacher's aide who wrote dozens of love letters to an 8-year-old third-grader at his school but never had any physical sexual contact with her was sentenced to seven years in state prison Friday in a precedent-setting sexual abuse case. Over prosecutor Mary Murphy's objections, Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure allowed Karl Marshall Walker Jr., 39, to remain free on bail pending an appeal to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Louis P. Willemin, the deputy district public defender who represented Walker, said his client is the first person in the state to be convicted of sexual abuse without physical sexual contact.

A 52-year-old Howard County woman, whose mother was sentenced to six months in jail for abusing cats, must serve a day in jail for each of the 74 cats that died. Nese Icgoren, of the 7300 block of Swan Point Way in Columbia, told Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure on Friday that she couldn't get her 81-year mother, Ayten Icgoren, to properly care for a small family of cats, then failed to do anything after the felines multiplied to well over 100. Neighbors had called authorities, complaining about an odor coming from the townhouse and bugs that infested their homes.

The daughter of an 81-year-old woman imprisoned in a cat abuse case was convicted Wednesday on similar animal cruelty charges by a Howard County judge. Nese Icgoren, 52, of the 7300 block of Swan Court Way in Columbia faced 148 counts in the mistreatment of cats found dead or dying by animal control officers in August 2006. Authorities found more than 50 live cats, only three of which survived. Neighbors had complained to county authorities about the odor coming from the townhouse that Icgoren shared with her mother, Ayten, and said bugs in the residence were infesting adjacent homes.

A former River Hill High School teacher who was sentenced this week to four years in prison for undressing a student and photographing him naked will appeal his case, his attorney said. However, Alan Meade Beier, 54, of Columbia must go to prison until the appellate court rules, Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure ordered Monday. Beier was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree assault in March. His attorney, Joshua Treem, argued throughout Beier's trial that his client's actions did not constitute exploitation under Maryland law because he was not seeking sexual gratification.

On June 21, 2007, LEO LEASURE, Jr., beloved husband of the late Mary Alice Leasure (nee Fridley), devoted father of Ronald Leasure and his wife Sharon, Sherrie Pierce and her husband Duane, dear brother of Goldie Stewart and John Leasure. Also survived by six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Friends may call at the family owned Bruzdzinski Funeral Home, P.A., 1407 Old Eastern Avenue, Essex at Route 702 (beltway exit 36) on Sunday from 3 to 5:30 P.M. Funeral service on Sunday 5:30 P.M., followed by private cremation.

On February 14, 2005, MARY LEASURE, beloved wife of Leo Leasure, devoted mother of Ronald Leasure and his wife Sharon, Sherrie Pierce and her husband Duane, dear sister of Nina Kifer and Charles Fridley, niece of Gladys Justice also survived by six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Friends may call at the family owned Bruzdzinski Funeral Home P.A., 1407 Old Eastern Avenue, Essex (at Beltway Exit 36) on Thursday from 3 to 5:30 P.M. Funeral services on Thursday at 5:30 P.M. Private cremation to follow.