Preliminary Hearing

EAGLE, Colo. - Seemingly oblivious to the media and fan frenzy outside the courtroom, a stoic Kobe Bryant stood yesterday before an Eagle County judge who scheduled an Oct. 9 preliminary hearing in the felony sexual assault case against him. Seven minutes and two words later, Bryant ducked out of the county Justice Center and into asport utility vehicle, which sped off in a three-car caravan as a crush of onlookers yelled support for the Lakers star...

The man sought in connection with a shooting in Edgewood Monday afternoon was arrested Wednesday and is being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center. Neal Turner, 27, of the 1800 block of Brookside Drive in Edgewood, was taken into custody without incident Wednesday in the Abingdon area, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said in a news release late Wednesday. Turner was being held without bail on charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm in a felony violent crime, according to the sheriff's office.

EAGLE, Colo. - Cameras will not be allowed at Kobe Bryant's Oct. 9 preliminary hearing on a felony sexual assault charge, a judge ruled Monday, although there is no guarantee the court appearance will take place because of what legal experts say was a mistake by the prosecutor. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert could have ensured a hearing by filing a motion within 10 days of Bryant's initial court appearance Aug. 6. Because Hurlbert failed to do so, Bryant's attorneys can waive the preliminary hearing and allow the case to go directly to an arraignment.

Private First Class Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst awaiting a court-martial on charges of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act, will return to Fort Meade this month for his arraignment, the Army said Thursday. Manning, who is accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, appeared at the Army base in Maryland in December for a preliminary hearing. The arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 23. The decision on when and where his court-martial will be held is up to a military judge, who will be appointed by the Army Trial Judiciary.

WICHITA, Kan. - Shuffling into court in leg shackles and wearing a bullet-proof vest under his gray suit, Dennis L. Rader - the man accused of being one of the nation's most infamous serial killers - waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday. Rader stood calmly during his brief appearance before Sedgwick County District Judge Greg Waller, who ruled that there was probable cause for the state to pursue 10 counts of first-degree murder against the man believed to be the BTK killer.

Carroll District Judge Donald M. Smith yesterday set bail at $250,000 for the third man charged in the Jan. 28 killing of a Westminster man.Timothy Cumberland, 23, of Reisterstown, surrendered at a Baltimore County police station on Jan. 30 after he learned that Westminster police were looking for him in connection with the shooting of Gregory Lamont Howard, 22, of Old Manchester Road.The killing, Carroll's only homicide since a Melrose hardware store owner was shot March 25, occurred in the 100 block of S. Center St. before 11:30 p.m.Defense attorney Michael D. Montemarano argued for a maximum bail of $50,000, saying that his client wasn't the man who owned or fired the gun used in the killing and that any higher amount was tantamount to no bail.

A preliminary hearing for the Columbia 15-year-old charged in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Columbia man last month was postponed at his attorney's request for an investigation to determine whether the case could be transferred to juvenile court. Joseph Murtha, defense attorney for Monti Mantrice Fleming, made the request during the less-than-10-minute session in Howard County District Court yesterday morning. With the request, Murtha said, the state's Department of Juvenile Services will conduct an investigation of Fleming's history in the court system.

An Anne Arundel County grand jury indicted an Annapolis teen-ager yesterday on a charge of murder in a Sept. 19 fatal shooting and carjacking in the state capital's historic district. Annapolis High School student Leeander Jerome Blake, 17, of the 1300 block of Tyler Ave. in the Robinwood public housing complex is accused of killing Straughan Lee Griffin, 51, a video projection company owner, during a failed armed robbery. Prosecutors moved quickly to obtain an indictment, bypassing a preliminary hearing that could have been held within 15 days of Blake's bail hearing Monday.

A procession of former University of Virginia lacrosse players and students, police officers and medical experts on Monday gave the most detailed account to date of the May 3 incident that left Yeardley Love dead at her off-campus apartment. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, George Huguely, who is accused of murder, was badly intoxicated in the hours leading up to the death of his ex-girlfriend, a 22-year-old from Cockeysville. Much of the drinking had been done at a nearby resort, where members of the lacrosse team and their fathers competed in a golf tournament, teammate Kevin Carroll said.

A Cecil County grand jury handed up first-degree murder indictments yesterday against a man and woman arrested last month on Interstate 95 after two bodies were found in the trunk of the car they were riding in, law enforcement officials said. James Moore, 39, of Andrews, S.C., and Porsha Harper, 36, of Greensboro, N.C., were being held without bond last night in the Cecil County Detention Center, the District Court commissioner's office said. Earlier in the day, Moore and Harper had been released during a preliminary hearing, said Cpl. Rob Moroney, a Maryland State Police spokesman.

The commander of the Military District of Washington has ordered a court-martial for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington made the decision Friday after reviewing testimony and arguments from a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade in December, officials said. There was no word on whether the as-yet-unscheduled court-martial would also be held at Fort Meade, one of three installations within the military district equipped to host such a proceeding.

Sitting on a bench toward the rear of a Harford County courtroom Tuesday was a row of well-dressed women determined to send Robert C. Richardson III a message: They've got his back. The four Bel Air women say they're part of a network of support building for the teen, who police say confessed to the Jan. 9 killing of his father. Tuesday, the 16-year-old, represented by a public defender, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was immediately swept back into custody. The women say they want to pay for a private lawyer to represent Richardson on the first- and second-degree murder charges he faces.

When Timothy Scott Sherman shot and killed his mother and adoptive father while they slept, the case disturbed the normally quiet life in the small Harford County hamlet of Hickory. A quarter-century later, another family murder has rocked the county, in neighboring Bel Air. In that case, Robert C. Richardson III has confessed to killing his father, according to authorities. The state's attorney for Harford County, Joseph I. Cassilly, a gruff no-nonsense lawman, prosecuted the 1987 Sherman case in the beginning of his career and now takes the lead on the Richardson case, which has once again cast a pall over his community.

Hundreds of activists are planning to demonstrate outside Fort Meade this weekend in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, organizers said. The demonstrators are to include Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department analyst who leaked the Vietnam War records known as the Pentagon Papers; gay veteran Lt. Dan Choi, a national leader in the campaign to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell; and busloads from the Occupy Wall Street and Washington encampments.

To his supporters, Army Pfc. Bradley E. Manning is a hero, the whistle-blower who revealed U.S. war crimes and diplomatic double-dealing in the Pentagon records and State Department cables he is alleged to have sent to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks. To the government, which is bringing criminal charges against the former intelligence analyst, he is a turncoat who endangered lives and damaged relations with allies by stealing and leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - A judge has ordered a 19-year-old Bowie State University student accused of fatally stabbing a roommate last week held without bond. Alexis Simpson was ordered held without bond Monday. Her attorney, Michael Worthy, said in court that the stabbing was a "tragic accident" and that his client acted in self-defense. A prosecutor disagreed, saying Simpson had made a choice to end Dominique Frazier's life. Court documents say Simpson fatally stabbed Frazier inside their dormitory style apartment after the two women argued about music playing from aniPod.

The commander of the Military District of Washington has ordered a court-martial for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington made the decision Friday after reviewing testimony and arguments from a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade in December, officials said. There was no word on whether the as-yet-unscheduled court-martial would also be held at Fort Meade, one of three installations within the military district equipped to host such a proceeding.

A former Westminster resident who was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl at least five times was released from the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster after posting bail yesterday, authorities said. William Richard Schroeder Jr., 43, of the 2200 block of Pheasant Run Drive in Finksburg was charged by police with five counts each of second-, third- and fourth- degree sex offenses, five counts of sex abuse of a minor, five counts of second-degree assault and one count of sex abuse of a minor under a continued course of conduct.

After several postponements, George Huguely V, accused of killing his former girlfriend Yeardley Love almost a year ago, is to appear Monday before a Virginia judge for a preliminary hearing at which prosecutors are expected to lay out the case against him. Once the Charlottesville prosecutor presents the evidence against Huguely, the judge will decide whether the case is sufficient to bring to trial. Huguely, who was a University of Virginia varsity lacrosse player, is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, breaking and entering, burglary, robbery and grand larceny.

A procession of former University of Virginia lacrosse players and students, police officers and medical experts on Monday gave the most detailed account to date of the May 3 incident that left Yeardley Love dead at her off-campus apartment. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, George Huguely, who is accused of murder, was badly intoxicated in the hours leading up to the death of his ex-girlfriend, a 22-year-old from Cockeysville. Much of the drinking had been done at a nearby resort, where members of the lacrosse team and their fathers competed in a golf tournament, teammate Kevin Carroll said.