Perjury

Sheila Dixon sat silently in court during her final hours as mayor of Baltimore on Thursday, receiving a scolding from a judge who said she was leaving office "in total disgrace" after stealing gift cards intended for needy families and would carry a "badge of dishonor" for the rest of her life. Circuit Court Judge Dennis M. Sweeney delivered the rebuke during a sentencing hearing at which he accepted a plea agreement calling for Dixon to step down as mayor and pay $45,000 to charity while keeping her pension.

A Baltimore police sergeant was suspended and criminally charged with perjury and misconduct after a months-long investigation into allegations he used false information to obtain a search and seizure warrant. Sgt. Dennis W. Workley, who's been on the force since 1996 assigned to the Eastern District, was charged Wednesday by the Baltimore state's attorney's office via criminal information. No details were immediately available. Police union lawyer Michael Davey, who expects to represent Workley, said Wednesday afternoon that he  hadn't yet seen the charging documents and couldn't comment.

Not long after his son was stabbed to death outside his apartment in Hampstead, Richard DeMario heard that police had arrested a suspect, and soon enough it seemed to him they had a strong case. The man had confessed in a video recording and left behind a trail of physical evidence, including a knife said to have been used in the killing and a shirt that prosecutors said was stained with the son's blood. No jury will see the evidence against Russell S. Laderer Jr., who was charged with first- and second-degree murder, and Cassandra L. Glover, charged as an accessory after the fact.

Why did a detective continue to interrogate a woman after she invoked her right to have a lawyer present? It's a question that Carroll County law enforcement has been grappling with since last fall -- and one that last week sank a prosecution in the case of a Baltimore City teenager who died at Bowling Brook Academy in 2007. In internal memos circulated last fall, officials in the state's attorney's and sheriff's offices discussed detective Douglas Epperson's descriptions of the questioning in the murder case of Jeremiah P. DeMario, who was killed in 2010.

A Laurel woman pleaded guilty Monday to giving false testimony to help the father of her child escape a conviction in a handgun case. Lakishian Witherspoon, 33, of the 9200 block of Bridal Path Lane in Laurel pleaded guilty to perjury Wednesday over her July 2009 testimony, according to the Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore. Witherspoon had testified that she did not know Michael Jones, also known as Philip Jones, during his trial or how he was in possession of her vehicle, where the handgun had been found, a release from the state's attorney's office said.

WASHINGTON - The top-ranking Democrat on the House committee examining Rafael Palmeiro's steroids case said the Oriole has "very shaky" credibility and has done a "disservice to baseball." But Rep. Henry Waxman of California also said it's too early to suggest that Palmeiro is being investigated for perjury for testifying on March 17 that he never used steroids. Palmeiro is now serving a 10-day suspension for failing a steroid test. "I think it's very premature to talk about perjury," Waxman said in an interview yesterday.

A Baltimore County man who was accused of acting as a home-improvement contractor without a license and of not delivering and installing a wheelchair lift in a Clarksville home has been indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, accused of lying under oath and presenting false documents at his trial. During the Howard County Circuit Court trial of Paris George, 51, in May, he testified that an invoice and bank document proved that he purchased a wheelchair lift for Ronald and Francine Diggs, according to the Howard County state's attorneys office.

A Glen Burnie man was ordered yesterday to spend five years on probation and perform 96 hours of community service for telling a county hearing officer he owned property he had sold two months earlier.Robin Mueller, 33, testified during a county zoning hearing in April that he owned a waterfront tract at 406 Greenland Beach Road near Nabbs and Stony creeks where he applied to build a pier, said Assistant State's Attorney Robert Bittman.But records showed that he had sold the property for $117,500 to Charles B. Wynn on Feb. 21, after he had applied for the pier permit and two months before the hearing.

A former public defender has been indicted by a Baltimore grand jury on charges of theft and perjury. David R. Eaton, who worked in the city public defender's office for more than 20 years, is accused of stealing $114,412 during a four-year period from the elderly, mentally disabled man for whom he was financial guardian. The misappropriation led to Eaton's disbarment in July, less than a week after his retirement. Claiming "a continuing scheme" of theft, a grand jury also indicted Eaton, 63, of Roland Park on two counts of perjury, saying he signed fiduciary reports that he knew were "willfully and corruptly false."

An Anne Arundel County prosecutor dropped perjury charges yesterday against a 33-year-old man who was convicted of murder and spent five years in prison before a second jury cleared him.Bernard L. Ward, of Dundalk, had been charged with perjury for what prosecutors said were lies he told under oath in a post-conviction hearing he requested to appeal his murder conviction.Assistant state's attorney William Mulford II said yesterday that several witnesses initially told police that Mr. Ward knew the victim, Edward Brewer, and that they were together on Nov. 15, 1988, the night of the murder.

Not long after his son was stabbed to death outside his apartment in Hampstead, Richard DeMario heard that police had arrested a suspect, and soon enough it seemed to him they had a strong case. The man had confessed in a video recording and left behind a trail of physical evidence, including a knife said to have been used in the killing and a shirt that prosecutors said was stained with the son's blood. No jury will see the evidence against Russell S. Laderer Jr., who was charged with first- and second-degree murder, and Cassandra L. Glover, charged as an accessory after the fact.

Carroll County prosecutors have dropped reckless-endangerment charges against five former juvenile facility staff members in the death of a Baltimore teenager because the main detective on the case is being investigated for perjury. "It's devastating right now," said Felicia Wilson, the mother of Isaiah Simmons III. The 17-year-old died in 2007 at Bowling Brook Preparatory School, a facility for juvenile offenders in Keymar. The five defendants, whose trial was scheduled for May, were accused of pinning Simmons to the floor and delaying calls for help.

Prosecutors argued Wednesday before Maryland's second-highest court that bribery charges against Baltimore Councilwoman Helen L. Holton should be reinstated, contending that a lower court judge erred in barring the introduction of her votes on tax breaks for developers. The arguments in front of the Court of Special Appeals were the most recent chapter in Holton's lengthy legal battle on charges of bribery and a campaign finance violation. Holton, chairwoman of the council's powerful Taxation and Finance Committee, was accused of receiving donations for a political poll from two Baltimore business leaders whose project received a tax break from her committee.

A Laurel woman pleaded guilty Monday to giving false testimony to help the father of her child escape a conviction in a handgun case. Lakishian Witherspoon, 33, of the 9200 block of Bridal Path Lane in Laurel pleaded guilty to perjury Wednesday over her July 2009 testimony, according to the Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore. Witherspoon had testified that she did not know Michael Jones, also known as Philip Jones, during his trial or how he was in possession of her vehicle, where the handgun had been found, a release from the state's attorney's office said.

Sheila Dixon sat silently in court during her final hours as mayor of Baltimore on Thursday, receiving a scolding from a judge who said she was leaving office "in total disgrace" after stealing gift cards intended for needy families and would carry a "badge of dishonor" for the rest of her life. Circuit Court Judge Dennis M. Sweeney delivered the rebuke during a sentencing hearing at which he accepted a plea agreement calling for Dixon to step down as mayor and pay $45,000 to charity while keeping her pension.

The Maryland state prosecutor released a scathing memo Tuesday supporting the plea deal that will lead Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon to step down Thursday, calling her attitude "unrepentant" and "laughable." The three-page memo blasted Dixon for failing to show any public contrition after a jury found her guilty in December of embezzling roughly $500 worth of retail gift cards. In January, Dixon also pleaded guilty to one count of perjury. "It seems Ms. Dixon's unrepentant position is that the people of Baltimore should be willing to tolerate some corruption from their political leaders," wrote State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh.

EASTON -- A Talbot County grand jury indicted Sheriff John J. Ellerbusch Jr. on four counts of theft, misconduct and perjury yesterday after an investigation by the state prosecutor, who said his office found evidence that he stole more than $71,000 from the department.The indictment followed a four-month probe of Sheriff Ellerbusch that was sparked by a complaint to state investigators, said State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli.Mr. Montanarelli declined to provide details of the indictment, but sources close to the investigation said Sheriff Ellerbusch is accused of stealing some of the money distributed to his department by federal officials after the conviction of Sandra Filbert Amos, an heiress and former Talbot County resident who was arrested in 1989 for conspiring to distribute cocaine.

Five members of a Baltimore police drug enforcement unit who allegedly lied in search-warrant affidavits were indicted on perjury charges yesterday by a city grand jury.The grand jury investigation resulted from a raid July 17 at a home in the 2800 block of Taney Road. The house belongs to a former hospital workers union chief, Ronald E. Hollie, who is married to a cousin of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's wife.Police officials refused last night to identify the indicted drug investigators, but State's Attorney Stuart O. Simms confirmed that one of them was Officer Nicholas S. Constantine, who had been indicted in the case earlier.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon should stand trial on charges that she perjured herself by not disclosing gifts from a developer boyfriend, a judge ruled Monday as he rebuffed objections from the mayor's defense team that the accusations rest on faulty evidence. The decision sets up the prospect that Dixon will face a pair of trials in the months ahead - one scheduled for November on charges that she stole gift cards intended for the needy, and another later on two perjury counts. "It is not good news from the standpoint of her being able to govern," said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.