Malicious Destruction

A third person has been charged with malicious destruction of property and violating Maryland's hate-crime law after racial slurs and vulgar phrases were spray-painted on four Mount Airy homes Monday night, state police said yesterday. Justin Eugene Wright, 20, of the 200 block of Watersville Road in Mount Airy was charged with nine counts of malicious destruction of property and one count of racial or religious harassment, authorities said. Wright was released on his own recognizance to await a court appearance, police said.

Two teen-agers were charged with malicious destruction of property and with violating Maryland's hate-crime law after racial slurs and vulgar phrases were spray-painted on four Mount Airy homes, police said yesterday. Residents in the Friendly Acres neighborhood woke up Tuesday morning to find that the homes, a car, a sidewalk and two signs had been vandalized, said Sgt. David Warner of the state police Westminster barracks. Police did not identify the boys who were charged.

A Baltimore police officer was sentenced to a year of probation yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of malicious destruction. Officer Robert A. Jones, 34, is on leave from the Police Department, where he has been suspended without pay. Prosecutors say that on Feb. 10, Jones went to the home of Russia McClammzy in the 5200 block of Moravia Road and destroyed a chair that belonged to McClammzy. It is not clear how Jones and McClammzy know each other. The case was prosecuted by A. Thomas Krehely Jr., chief of the police misconduct division.

Two teen-agers were arrested early yesterday and charged with setting a fire at the western Howard County middle school under construction in the 13500 block of Triadelphia Road, West Friendship. Edward L. Ernst Jr., the deputy state fire marshal, made the arrests after a passer-by saw two people fleeing the school at 12:17 a.m., officials said. The fire destroyed the trash container in which it was set, but the flames were quickly doused by firefighters from West Friendship. Damage was limited to no more than $500, authorities said.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ignored a prosecutor's suggested guidelines and imposed stiff prison sentences yesterday on longtime peace activist Philip Berrigan and three co-defendants charged with malicious destruction of Maryland Air National Guard warplanes. "The amount of destruction in this case takes it out of the guidelines of the typical malicious destruction of property case," said Judge James T. Smith Jr. He sentenced Berrigan, 76, to 30 months in a Department of Corrections prison on charges of conspiring with the others to damage two A-10 Warthog aircraft at the Air National Guard base in Middle River and then carrying through on the action in the pre-dawn hours on Dec. 19, 1999.

A prosecutor told the jury members they would hear evidence in a simple case involving trespassing and malicious destruction of property. But peace activist Philip F. Berrigan turned yesterday's case against him and three co-defendants on charges of damaging two jet fighters last December into a sermon about the perils of nuclear war and his commitment to world peace. Berrigan, 76, of Baltimore, is being tried with three other peace activists: Susan Crane, 56, also of Baltimore; the Rev. Stephen Kelly, 50, a Jesuit priest from New York City; and Elizabeth Waltz, 33, a Catholic Worker from Philadelphia.

A knife-wielding naked man broke into two Elkridge homes and carjacked a vehicle Friday evening before being apprehended, Howard County police said yesterday.Police say the incidents began at 6: 15 p.m. when the man accosted a neighbor in her home on Church Avenue.As police approached, he fled by commandeering a car at a nearby intersection, police said. He abandoned the car at Furnace Avenue and entered another home, police said.Police arrested Jimmy Nathaniel Brown, 38, of the 5800 block of Race Road on charges including carjacking, assault and indecent exposure.

A Baltimore man was held yesterday without bail at the Carroll County Detention Center after he was charged in several burglaries and thefts in Westminster in January and February.Willie Capers Williams of the 3200 block of Lake Ave. is accused of breaking into toy stores in Cranberry Mall and Cranberry Square, as well as Country Liquors and Big Lots in 140 Village Shopping Center and Kmart on Englar Road, court records show.All the stores are in Westminster.Williams was charged on 20 counts, including several counts of second-degree burglary, theft over and under $300, and malicious destruction of property for alleged incidents Jan. 16, Jan. 18 and Feb. 2, court records show.

Two more suspects -- believed to be the last of six -- were arrested yesterday in connection with the beating of two men with baseball bats in Westminster last week, authorities said.A 15-year-old Westminster boy was charged as a juvenile on 11 counts, including two counts each of attempted second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, use of a deadly weapon with intent to injure and one count of malicious destruction of property, Westminster police said.The boy, who was not named because of his age, was turned over to juvenile authorities to be held at the Charles P. Hickey School in Baltimore, pending further action by juvenile authorities, said Capt.