Motions

Since her September drug trial was postponed, Pamela S. Davis has tried -- and failed -- to get a Carroll Circuit Court judge to listen to her.Acting as her own attorney, the Westminster woman has tried to persuade Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. -- who canceled a jury trial a day before it was set to be heard -- to change his mind.He didn't.She asked the judge to lift the 30-day filing requirement for mandatory motions -- such as requests for evidence suppression or dismissal of a charge.

Hugh Wade is going to trial - with no lawyer at all. The suspected con artist whose check-fraud trial has been delayed for almost two years as he hires and fires lawyers has forfeited his right to counsel, two city Circuit Court judges decided yesterday. Wade, 57, will be defending himself this morning when he helps select a jury. The man with a 15-year history of counterfeiting convictions is charged with 19 counts of forgery and fraud and one count of heroin possession. Wade could face a possible 154 years in prison if convicted, but he has repeatedly rejected prosecutors' plea offer of a maximum of 15 years.

FAIRFAX, VA. - Court documents made public yesterday revealed that teen-aged sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo was indicted Tuesday on two counts of capital murder and one weapons charge, beginning a court process that could end with the state putting him to death. The two-page indictment accuses the 17-year-old of gunning down FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, on Oct. 14 in the parking lot of the Home Depot store in the Seven Corners area. The first count alleges that the slaying was an act of terrorism under a new and untested state law. Prosecutors cited allegations that Malvo and 42-year-old John Allen Muhammad, the other suspect in last fall's sniper shootings in the Washington area, asked for $10 million from the government to end the spree.

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.

Attorneys for James H. VanMetre III are expected to begin arguments tomorrow to have murder charges against him dropped, saying prosecutors missed their chance by not bringing the convicted rapist to trial quickly enough.VanMetre, 35, was indicted in December 1991 on first-degree murder charges in the strangulation of Holly Ann Blake, 28, whose burned body remains was found Oct. 6, 1991 on a farm in Harney.He wasn't served with the murder indictments until January of BTC this year because Carroll county prosecutors were waiting until completion of his unrelated first-degree rape trial in Adams County, Pa.He was extradited to Carroll County on Jan. 20 and has remained at the Carroll County Detention Center since.

Jason Aaron DeLong and Sara E. Citroni, the two teen-agers charged in the fatal stabbing of Mr. DeLong's mother and her boyfriend in Westminster in July, have been examined by a panel state psychologists, court records show.But while both have undergone days of testing and evaluation at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, the psychologists' findings on their competency to stand trial on first-degree murder charges are not expected to be completed much before June, the records say.Both defendants were in the Carroll County Detention Center last night.

A man charged with killing an off-duty city police officer this year is seeking to change his plea from "not guilty" to "not criminally responsible," court documents show. With the request to change his plea comes a trial delay. Yesterday, the Baltimore Circuit Court trial for Brandon Grimes was postponed from Sept. 11 to Nov. 2. Grimes is a 22-year-old with a long arrest record who is accused of fatally shooting Detective Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. in what might have been a robbery attempt.

NEW YORK -- For top executives, there have been better years to take home multimillion-dollar salaries.Following generations of impunity over compensation, executives at Bell Atlantic Corp. and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. -- along with their counterparts at eight other companies -- have become the newest and most notable targets in the season for annual meetings, which runs from now until mid-May.Big compensation contracts have become the outrage of the moment, making them good fodder for the one chance shareholders have each year to confront senior executives with their concerns.

Los Angeles -- Sharon Stone spent years in the trenches, surviving awful movies like "King Solomon's Mines," "Action Jackson" and "Scissors," and bit parts in "He Said, She Said" and "Irreconcilable Differences." An ice pick and a silk scarf -- tools of her character's trade in "Basic Instinct" -- put an end to that.Now one of the most popular and most handsomely paid actresses in Hollywood, Ms. Stone writes her own ticket. She's co-producing her latest effort, "The Quick and the Dead," which opens Friday.

The trial of Linda R. Tripp is at least a few months away, but the pressure of the high-profile case is already building on Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure.Many legal observers say the case will be decided and shaped during motions hearings before Leasure and might not even reach a jury. However she rules on the complicated legal issues, the relatively inexperienced judge is assured of intense scrutiny from the legal community and the news media.Sounding like a circumspect coach before a big game, Leasure says only that she likes a good "challenge," refusing to comment further on the case or even allow a new photograph to be taken for fear of being accused of grandstanding.