New Trial

Maryland's constitution calls for the removal from office of any elected official, state or local, who is convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors. That would seem simple enough, but we have, sadly, at least three examples from recent years in which Article XV didn't quite work out the way one might hope. Despite being found guilty by a jury or pleading guilty in court, former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, former Prince George's County Councilwoman Leslie Johnson and former Anne Arundel County Councilman Daryl Jones managed, at least for a time, to hold onto office while under the darkest of legal clouds.

The family of a special needs student who lost a $1.3 million lawsuit against the Baltimore city school system last month is seeking a new trial, saying the jury wasn't impartial and violated court instructions. Donna King, the attorney for Edmund and Shawna Sullivan, filed the motion Tuesday on behalf of the family who took the system to court after they say the complaints about the chronic bullying of their son — who suffers from a traumatic brain injury — and daughter were ignored by school administrators at Hazelwood and Glenmount elementary schools.

The state's highest court has returned a rape case to Howard County courts, telling judges there to determine whether police violated the rights of a teenager who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman. In an unusual decision, the unanimous Court of Appeals ruling neither overturns nor upholds the 2008 rape conviction of Dedrick Tyrone Wilkerson, nor his 12-year prison sentence. Whether Wilkerson is entitled to a new trial will depend on whether a Howard County judge believes the second statement Wilkerson gave police in December 2007 violated his rights.

Lawyers for two Baltimore police officers convicted of misconduct in a case tried by State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein have filed motions for a new trial, citing "astonishingly inappropriate" remarks by prosecutors and improper jury instructions. In court filings, attorneys for Detectives Milton Smith and Tyrone Francis cited a comment made by Bernstein in response to the defense's contention that the officers had never previously been accused of wrongdoing: "We're not saying … that all of a sudden their behavior just changes.

Maryland's highest court ruled Thursday in favor of an Orthodox Jewish plaintiff who missed part of a medical malpractice trial because it was scheduled during a two-day Jewish holiday. He will now be a allowed a retrial in the case. The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court "abused its discretion by denying plaintiff's motions to suspend trial for two days," according to the opinion issued this week. The top court's narrow ruling says that excluding Alexander Neustadter from his own trial was prejudicial.

Prosecutors said Friday that they will retry the animal-cruelty case against brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who were accused of fatally setting fire to a pit bull in 2009, after the first trial ended Monday in a hung jury. The new trial is scheduled for May 4. "The Court's order prohibiting public comment about the case remains in effect. We will respect the Court's order and look forward to the retrial," Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein said in a statement.

A $590,000 jury award to a mother who said her child was harmed by lead paint in the family's rented Baltimore home was overturned this week by the state's second-highest court. The Court of Special Appeals ordered a new trial to determine whether Tyaih Dodd suffered lead paint poisoning in the house in the 2200 block of E. Lanvale St. It was among about 700 houses controlled by companies connected to Stanley Rochkind that fell under a 2001 consent order with the Maryland Department of the Environment to reduce or eliminate lead paint hazards.

It was the most routine of drug arrests. Baltimore detectives Troy Taylor and John Rice were sitting in an unmarked car on West Lombard Street, using binoculars to watch a busy corner a half-block away. Taylor watched one man reach into the back of his pants and take out a clear plastic bag containing "several small, white objects. " The officer saw the man remove some of the objects from the bag and hand them to two other men, who then handed over money. "Taylor testified that based on his training and experience, he believed he had just witnessed the sale of narcotics," according to the Maryland Court of Appeals.

A 28-year-old Gwynn Oak man, the first defendant to be convicted under the state's gang law, has been granted a new trial. Dajuan Marshall, who was found last month to have killed a rival gang member in 2008, will get another chance before a jury following a decision Friday by Baltimore Circuit Judge L. George Russell III, who presided over the first trial. Russell vacated Marshall's conviction after hearing testimony from jurors about misconduct on the panel, including an allegation that a juror performed an Internet search on Marshall's prior criminal record.