Magistrate

DESPITE A SIZABLE U.N. peacekeeping force and much attention from international donors during the last year, Haiti has inched much closer to chaos than to a functioning democracy. Its dysfunctional government cannot provide for the basic needs of its people, and its thuggish security force, severely weakened by the thug-o-war that sent President Jean Bertrand-Aristide packing in February 2004, has been unable to establish peace and security. Criminal activity has reached alarming proportions in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with kidnappings emerging as a growth industry.

In a court document filled with strong accusations, the lawyer for one of two Baltimore police officers charged with shaking down drug dealers for money said that a judge in the case showed bias against his client. Defense attorney Edward Smith Jr. alleged that U.S. District Magistrate Judge James K. Bredar erred when he ordered Officer William A. King to remain in custody until his still-unscheduled trial date in federal court. "There is no indication that the defendant would not appear.

GREENBELT - Investigators are looking into whether a defendant they are calling the ringleader was racially motivated when he allegedly led a conspiracy to destroy a Charles County subdivision in Maryland's most expensive residential arson. Patrick S. Walsh, 20, was ordered yesterday to remain in jail without bail until trial after a hearing in which his attorney disclosed that federal agents had searched Walsh's Fort Washington home the night before. A short time later, one of his co-defendants was allowed to await trial while confined to his home.

Judge Marshall A. Levin, who presided in Baltimore's Circuit Court over a historic asbestos-injury case that was the nation's largest mass trial, died Sunday of complications from a stroke at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 83. He had been hearing cases for more than 40 years, as a magistrate and judge, and was presiding on a fill-in basis in Circuit Court until two weeks before his death. "He just loved doing it," said the court's recently retired Administrative Judge Ellen M. Heller.

CHICAGO - A federal magistrate has disclosed that documents that could be critical in the government's prosecution of a Palestinian charged as an Islamic militant in the United States have been destroyed, potentially undermining the ability of the Bush administration to prosecute a case that it has called a victory in its war on terrorism. Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, is in jail on charges of funneling money and support from Chicago and Florida to the radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

On April 6, 2003 CLARENCE E. RITTER beloved husband of Lois M. (nee Rau); father of Michele J. Kaplan, Scott E. Ritter and Robin L. McNeal; brother of Charlotte Gilchrist, Olive Roberta Hayes and the late Betty Jean Smith; grandfather of Bryce Nicholson Ritter and John Henry McNeal III. Mr. Ritter was a Baltimore County Councilman, 3rd District (1974-1978) and a Baltimore County Trial Magistrate (1966-1970). Friends may call Wednesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. at ELINE FUNERAL HOME, 11824 Reisterstown Road (at Franklin Blvd.

Baltimore's chief federal judge said yesterday that he plans to retire to senior status because of health concerns, creating a second opening on the local bench to be filled by the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Frederic N. Smalkin, known for his ultra-no-nonsense style in the courtroom and for his 1987 decision to vacate former Gov. Marvin Mandel's federal fraud conviction, said he will remain in his current post until a successor is appointed. Smalkin, 56, did not elaborate on his health problems.

Judge Daniel E. Klein Jr., former chief magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for Maryland who was active in Scouting and the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, died of cancer at his Hunt Valley home Tuesday. He was 67. In 1978, Judge Klein was appointed as a magistrate to the U.S. District Court for Maryland by President Jimmy Carter. He was appointed chief magistrate judge in 1997 and retired in 1999. Judge Klein, who presided over felony criminal, civil and settlement cases, continued working on active recall status until his death.

A federal judge ordered home detention yesterday for a Baltimore police officer charged in a drug conspiracy case after prosecutors failed to substantiate allegations that he tried to obstruct justice after his arrest last week. U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gessner released John H. Wilson, 27, to the custody of a family friend. She ordered electronic home monitoring for him and that he undergo psychological, drug and alcohol treatment. Federal prosecutors said last week that Wilson, while jailed, had contacted co-conspirators about destroying evidence and threatening witnesses.