Paone

An Anne Arundel circuit judge has postponed ruling on the insanity plea of a Bowie man charged in the 1995 shooting death of a Gambrills service station manager.Blake Allen Ohman, 38, who lived with his mother in the 3000 block of Tanbark Lane, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Patrick William Clements Dec. 21, 1995.Clements, of the 1600 block of Midland Road, Edgewater, was shot to death at the Exxon station at Route 3 and Waugh Chapel Road.Ohman entered an insanity plea yesterday before Judge Clayton Greene Jr. after psychiatrists at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center determined that he lacked the mental capacity to intentionally commit murder.

A Crofton man, who beat and left for dead a 62-year-ol woman who was working to make extra money to buy Christmas gifts for her grandchildren, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday.Shawn T. McDonnell, 25, of the 1700 block of Greentree Court burst into tears as he tried to apologize to his victim. The robbery took place in November at a TCBY yogurt shop in the 2200 block of Defense Highway in Crofton."It was a terrible, terrible mistake that I made," he said. "Cocaine just made me a person that let things get out of hand."

A 29-year-old laborer was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for the knifepoint robbery of a well-known Annapolis restaurant in February.James William Henry Brown, 29, of the 100 block of Obery Court in Annapolis was sentenced by Circuit Judge Raymond G. Theime Jr. after a brief hearing.Assistant State's Attorney Fred Paone said that Brown walked into Chick & Ruth's Delly, at 165 Main St., about 3 a.m. Feb. 3, sat at the counter and asked a waitress for a blueberry muffin.When the waitress turned away to reach up to nearby shelves for the muffin, Brown jumped over the counter, grabbed her from behind and threatened her with a bread knife.

A blank videotape may not seem like much of a weapon, but it brought two robbery suspects scrambling from their hiding place in an Eastport home last April when Annapolis police convinced them it contained tear gas.The surrender ended a two-hour stand-off after their bungled attempt to burglarize the house in the 1300 block of Colony Drive turned into a comedy of errors.Michael A. White, 21, of the 8500 block of Pioneer Drive in Severn, pleaded guilty yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to burglary, attempted armed robbery and illegal use of a handgun in the incident.

An 18-year-old Annapolis man pleaded guilty to manslaughter yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court for fatally shooting a man in July near where the victim's brother, a popular basketball star in the Annapolis area, was slain four years before.Richard Sterling Crowner of the 1800 block of Bowman Court entered an Alford plea to the July 12 shooting death of Sylvester Green, 30, of the 100 block of Eastport Terrace in Annapolis. The plea was made to Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr.An Alford plea means the defendant is not admitting guilt, but acknowledges that the prosecution would have sufficient evidence to win a conviction if the case were tried.

A South County man with a history of alcohol-related driving offenses was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday for auto manslaughter and drunken driving convictions stemming from a fatal accident in March 1990.Raymond Lewis Stallings Jr., 30, of Tracys Landing, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but six suspended, said Assistant State's Attorney Frederick M. Paone.Circuit Judge Eugene M. Lerner also fined Stallings $2,000 and placed him on five years' supervised probation on release, the prosecutor said.

A man who said he is a former artist and activist for Native Americans and Latin Americans was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for his role in a series of commercial burglaries in Anne Arundel County last year.Manuel Javier Zertuche, 51, of the 200 block of Victor Parkway in Annapolis already is serving a four-year sentence on burglary convictions in Queen Anne's County. His latest sentence will run on top of that first one.The burglaries Zertuche committed with at least one other person from July through October 1996 were so sophisticated, "the CIA could have taken lessons from what these people did," said Assistant State's Attorney Frederick M. Paone.

He's been called a slick salesman, an evil Pied Piper and an all-star thief.But when Gino Marchetti Jones was sentenced last week in Anne Arundel Circuit Court it was the first time -- despite a decade of criminal convictions -- that the elusive car salesman was put behind bars for a lengthy prison term.Judge Bruce C. Williams sentenced the 34-year-old Columbia man to 10 years in prison on five counts of felony theft, and one count each of false advertising, misrepresentation and auto dealing without a license.

A plan to help farmers and rural landowners sell their development rights while keeping their remaining land has won universal praise from farmers, developers, planners and politicians -- except for one thing: No one wants to give up their development rights forever.Under a proposal discussed by the Harford County Council last week, landowners could sell development rights to a portion of their land, but development of the rest would be barred forever.Legally, it's called an easement "in perpetuity."

A Gambrills man admitted in court yesterday that he fatally stomped an acquaintance he claimed owed him money and took the man's pants to try to collect the debt. Patrick Robert Aldridge, 29, pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel Circuit Court to manslaughter and robbery in the death of Cleadis Bruce Barnes, 40, whose naked body was found June 15 in front of his home in the 1400 block of Defense Highway. Assistant State's Attorney Frederick Paone said an intoxicated Aldridge apparently did not know he had killed the smaller Barnes, who also was drunk, when he bragged that night about getting $5 from Barnes and said, "I should have killed that guy because dead men don't talk."