Motions

An attorney for Linda R. Tripp launched his first legal assault yesterday by filing a motion seeking to toss out the indictment of the Columbia resident on felony wiretapping charges because, he said, state prosecutors used her immunized testimony during their investigation.That motion and several others were expected, but the length and detail of the arguments highlighted the unusual nature of the high-profile case."Sometimes you see boilerplate motions," said Joseph Murtha, a Tripp attorney.

The legal challenge against the county's use of "Comp Lite" to rezone dozens of properties should proceed because motions to dismiss the case are "fundamentally inconsistent" and amount to the defendants trying to "have it both ways," a lawyer representing the opponents contends. Those contradictions "present the opportunity, and perhaps the duty" of the court to decide whether Comp Lite is to be judged as a single legislative act by the county, or as a series of decisions, each of which must be judged individually, Katherine L. Taylor, an attorney representing the challengers, said in a filing opposing efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Lawyers for two Naval Academy midshipmen accused of raping another midshipman are trying to obtain more records about the woman in preparation for trial next month. The attorneys are asking an Anne Arundel County judge to let them use at trial records they believe show the 20-year-old midshipman told doctors she had sex with another person two days before she was allegedly raped at an off-campus party. Cordrea "Dre" Brittingham of Berlin and Arion "Bas" Williams of Detroit, both 21, have been suspended from the academy football team since they were indicted in July.

In the days before state police investigators arrested Michael C. Bryson Sr. in the murder of Melrose hardware store owner Charles W. Therit, their search for the killer led to three dead ends.None of the dead ends led investigators anywhere near Mr. Bryson, who was arrested April 6 after a set of fingerprints found at the slaying scene was identified as his. Mr. Bryson was in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court yesterday, as his attorneys and prosecutors argued over more than 30 pre-trial motions in the death penalty case.

Prosecutors have submitted a list of 89 potential witnesses who could be called to testify against Michael C. Bryson Sr. in his murder trial.Mr. Bryson, who was charged with first-degree murder in the shotgun death of Melrose hardware store owner Charles W. Therit, will have his trial heard by Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Warren B. Duckett Jr. beginning Jan. 7.The jury trial -- moved from Carroll after Mr. Bryson requested a change of venue -- is...

Hand-in-hand, Mr. and Mrs. Billy Murphy walked down the marble corridor toward the courtroom. They were on their way to Mr. Murphy's trial on charges of beating Mrs. Murphy.She now says he didn't do it.Finding himself playing the part of the defendant and not the defender, the normally talkative William H. Murphy Jr. was silent. He smiled a thin smile.In a city where thousands of cases of domestic assault are prosecuted every year, this case is anything but routine. It has a specially assigned judge from Carroll County -- all of Baltimore's Circuit Court judges know Mr. Murphy, himself a former judge and former mayoral candidate, too well.

This is the letter John Frederick Thanos wrote to Gov. William Donald Schaefer April 21, 1992. Governor Schaefer:You said on the news tonight that something's wrong with this appeal process in these death penalty cases. I won't speak for others, but in my case I agree with you.My question is what are you going to do about it? I've got 3 attorneys who insist on filing motions and appeals for me after I've adamantly told them not to.I've written to their superiors and told them to withdrawl [sic]

The two young women whose landlord was convicted last week of secretly videotaping them in their Elkridge homes have filed suit against the 58-year-old man, claiming he invaded their privacy. The lawsuit filed yesterday in Howard County Circuit Court against Edward George Campion III asks for $1.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The two woman, 18-year-old Amanda Yingling and 22-year-old Susan Holt, say in court papers that they never gave Campion permission to place pinhole cameras in their rooms in his Elkridge home and that he gave them exclusive control of their rooms when he agreed to rent to each of them.

A year after Howard County officials approved a 116-unit condominium complex for senior citizens in Glenwood, the battle continues -- this time in Circuit Court.Yesterday, Circuit Judge Lenore R. Gelfman held a status conference on an appeal brought by the development's opponents. Much like the four-month fight before the Board of Appeals last year, the opponents of Donald Reuwer's development have been relentless, burying Gelfman in paper work, motions, letters and exhibits.And the fight may have just begun.

Pa. extradition expected for suspect in 1991 killingJames Howard VanMetre, who is in a Pennsylvania prison awaiting sentencing for rape and kidnapping convictions, could be extradited to Carroll County as early as today to face first-degree murder charges in the 1991 death of a woman whose body was found in Harney.VanMetre, 35, waived his right to an extradition hearing in Gettysburg, Pa., on Friday, clearing the way for his return to Maryland. He is being held at the State Correctional Institute at Camp Hill, near Harrisburg.