Parole Commission

An article Saturday about former Old Court Savings and Loan President Jeffrey A. Levitt's parole inaccurately named Harry J. Taurig as being a state parole commissioner. Mr. Taurig was replaced on the parole commission in June by Patricia K. Cushwa, who voted for paroling Levitt.The Sun regrets the errors.Jeffrey A. Levitt, the savings and loan swindler who pleaded guilty to stealing $14.6 million from his own thrift, will be paroled in a year, after serving 7 1/2 years of his 30-year prison sentence.

Carolyn Sue Wallace, one of a group of women convicted of murder and considered for early release by Gov. William Donald Schaefer because they said they were victims of battered-spouse syndrome, was paroled yesterday.Wallace, 41, who was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to shooting her husband to death in 1985 in Baltimore County, was freed from the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, officials said.Her release came just days after Mr. Schaefer said he wanted her released "as soon as possible."

While Gov. Martin O'Malley has the authority to release a convict serving a life sentence, he has never used it. Now, lawmakers are considering whether to take it away from him. The House of Delegates has approved legislation that would free a lifer on the recommendation of the state parole commission if the governor does not file an objection. A Senate committee is expected to vote this week on legislation that would remove him from the process altogether. The efforts are being led by O'Malley's fellow Democrats, some of whom are exasperated by his inaction on the 50 cases now sitting on his desk.

As festively dressed New Year's Eve revelers ducked into restaurants for Annapolis' First Night celebration, a more solemn group stood outside the governor's mansion seeking freedom for 10 prisoners serving life sentences. Del. Salima S. Marriott, a Baltimore Democrat, and her group, Campaign for Justice Under the Law, held the vigil as part of a last-ditch effort to persuade departing Gov. Parris N. Glendening to parole prisoners whom he has previously denied release because of his "life means life" policy.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Maryland Parole Commission has unanimously denied Terrence Johnson's latest appeal for freedom, meaning the 28-year-old killer of two Prince George's policemen is likely to spend the rest of this century behind bars.Johnson has already served 12 years of a 25-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter and illegal use of a handgun in the 1978 slaying of Officer Albert M. Claggett in a Hyattsville police station. Johnson also was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity in the killing of Officer James B. Swart during the same incident.

A sweeping anti-crime proposal that would crack down on repeat violent offenders won the unanimous approval of a state Senate committee yesterday.The bill, endorsed by the Judicial Proceedings Committee, would force violent criminals to serve at least half of their prison sentence before parole, rather than one-fourth.The measure also includes a "three-time loser" provision, an idea backed by President Clinton on the federal level. People convicted of a third violent crime in Maryland would receive life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening replaced the longtime head of the (( Maryland Parole Commission yesterday with Patricia K. Cushwa, advocate for victims' rights and a member of the parole panel since 1992.Cushwa, 58, will succeed Paul J. Davis, who has been chairman of the eight-member commission since 1988 but was not reappointed by Glendening at the expiration of his term in December.Cushwa, who helped start a victims' advocacy group in her Washington County home 20 years ago, said her appointment is a "strong signal that victims matter."

A Baltimore circuit judge overturned yesterday a 2-year-old executive order by Gov. Parris N. Glendening that blocked inmates serving life sentences for rape and murder from seeking parole.Judge Richard T. Rombro said that Glendening did not have the authority to issue the order he gave to the state's Parole Commission in September 1995, in which he told commissioners "not to even recommend -- to not even send to my desk -- a request for parole for murderers and rapists."Glendening did make two exceptions in his order -- one for "very old age" or terminal illness.

A man who is accused of attempting to rape a Guilford woman six weeks after he was freed from prison is back under the jurisdiction of the state Division of Correction, pending a hearing to determine if the incident violated the terms of his early release.The state Department of Parole and Probation issued an order on Sept. 9 to remand Thurman Alexander Moore to the state prison system on a charge that he violated the terms of his early release from a 25-year jail term for rape and kidnapping.

An Anne Arundel circuit judge has rejected a request by Terrence Johnson for an order to release him, saying appeals of such a ruling would be tied up in the courts longer than the month remaining on Johnson's prison sentence.Johnson, who was convicted of one count of manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two Prince George's County police officers in 1978, was told Aug. 11 that he would be released in February if he completed 90 days of work-release.Attorney Melvin White said he also was told by a Parole Commission lawyer that his client could be released earlier if he completed the work-release agreement before Feb. 1. Johnson completed his work release Sunday.