Preliminary Hearing

The 19-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing Dennis Lane allegedly told investigators that his girlfriend had instructed him to kill her father and his fiancee, specifying the number of times each was to be stabbed in the throat - 10 for him and 15 for her. Jason Anthony Bulmer charging documents In a conversation at school hours before the Ellicott City blogger and businessman was killed, Jason Anthony Bulmer said, 14-year-old Morgan...

A man who lived in the same townhome as a missing Joppa man now feared dead was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Wednesday, after parts of a dismembered human body were found inside the home and in a dumpster nearby, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. The arrest of Alexander Kinyua, 21, came almost a week after Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, 37, first went missing Friday, and followed a search of the home the two men shared in the 500 block of Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne early Wednesday morning, police said.

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.

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.

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.

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...

A complex domestic violence case brought against a Howard County police corporal by his estranged wife is budding into a feud between the Howard Police Department and the Carroll County state's attorney's office, which was specially appointed to prosecute the charges. During a heated preliminary hearing Friday in Howard County District Court, Carroll County prosecutors said the Howard County Police Department was biased in its investigation of Cpl. Michael K. Williams, who is accused of threatening his estranged wife with a gun. The felony assault charge alleges the corporal pointed a gun at Elizabeth Williams on Oct. 20 and demanded she drop another set of charges she filed against him in September.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Baltimore grand jury has indicted Sian James on murder charges, alleging that the 25-year-old killed an off-duty city police officer last month. James, of the 2800 block of Dillon St., was scheduled to appear Tuesday in District Court for a preliminary hearing on the charges, but the indictment moves the case to Circuit Court, where James will be arraigned Dec. 10. According to the city state's attorney's office, James was arguing Oct....

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 Charlottesville judge ruled Wednesday that the medical records of Yeardley Love, a former University of Virginia women's lacrosse player who was slain in May, will remain sealed until he determines whether they are relevant. Attorneys for George Huguely, the former U.Va. men's lacrosse player who has been charged with first-degree murder in Love's killing, are seeking her medical records. They have requested records from the university's student health and athletic departments, as well as from the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad, with the hope of challenging the official cause of death.