Rasin

No enemy need attack the United States. With all the shooting, we are doing the job ourselves. The Pinochet precedent is that, while he may have been saved by senility, on principle he might be tried in a Spanish court for what he did as ruler of Chile; and so may anyone else. Judge Rasin agrees to putting judges in jail as long as they are let out nights and weekends. Would Marconi's be Marconi's in a Mies van der Rohe building?

LET'S HOPE that yesterday's deal for a full-time court at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center is a real reform and not just a negotiating ploy. Too much time has already been wasted on bureaucratic wrangling in this city where slayings are rampant and the criminal-justice system allows many murderers to go unpunished. "We are finally moving forward," Mayor Martin O'Malley said of Chief District Judge Martha F. Rasin's "conceptual" willingness to place a judge at the intake center five days a week.

The chief judge of Maryland's District Court defended her role in efforts to reform Baltimore's court system, labeling recent criticism by Mayor Martin O'Malley as "offensive." "The implication is that judges don't care about Baltimore City," a clearly piqued Judge Martha F. Rasin told a Senate subcommittee yesterday in Annapolis. "I take offense at that. We care about the city as much, if not more than other people." Rasin was responding to comments O'Malley has made in Annapolis and Baltimore in recent weeks questioning the judges' commitment to major reform.

DO NOT be distracted by the histrionics of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Chief District Judge Martha F. Rasin. The important thing is that both of them have proposed a way to eliminate the longstanding bottleneck at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center. A compromise can -- and must -- be worked out. Ms. Rasin says she's ready to post a judge at Central Booking va01 five days a week. Mr. O'Malley wants one every day. Seven-day coverage, including holidays, makes the most sense.

Answering state judges' demands that he present them with his plan for reforming Baltimore's courts, Mayor Martin O'Malley yesterday sketched out his proposal to save the city justice system. Literally. His 10-page plan, sent to Maryland's Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals Robert M. Bell, comes complete with stick figures used to illustrate the new process O'Malley hopes will turn around the beleaguered court system, which has been under siege for the past year. The plan was accompanied by a letter listing seven top officials -- including Gov. Parris N. Glendening -- who were said to support it. But a Glendening aide and two others contacted yesterday said they had not seen it before it was sent.

Maryland's top District Court judge and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley exchanged harsh words yesterday, with the judge firing off an angry letter to him and the mayor calling her "obstructionist" on court reform. The comments deepened the divide between O'Malley and Chief Judge Martha F. Rasin over how to fix the city's beleaguered justice system. Rasin sent the letter to O'Malley after his remarks Feb. 11 before state legislators when he implored them to withhold $9 million from the state judiciary until they cooperate more on reform efforts.

STATE HOUSE lobbyist and convicted felon Bruce C. Bereano took over an Anne Arundel County courtroom last week to try to save his law license.A fixture in State House circles since the mid-1970s, Bereano called in friends from all reaches of his life to vouch for his character and his fitness to practice law.The parade of 39 witnesses provided a remarkable glimpse of the good will an energetic lobbyist can generate over a quarter-century.Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, for whom Bereano worked when Hoyer was president of the Maryland Senate, praised him for drafting environmental legislation that Hoyer sponsored and won political credit for.Former Del. Kay G. Bienen of Prince George's County described how Bereano, at her request, helped get her daughter out of jail after a brush with drugs and crime.

Maryland District Court Chief Judge Martha F. Rasin's warm testimony in support of lobbyist and convicted felon Bruce C. Bereano this week did not violate rules of judicial conduct or ethical standards, experts and state officials said yesterday.Rasin was among 39 witnesses who vouched for Bereano's character during a hearing Tuesday as the gregarious lawyer-lobbyist fought to avoid being disbarred for a 1994 mail fraud conviction.Montgomery County Circuit Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. and District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Richard Levie also testified for Bereano, with each saying that Bereano's felony conviction had not diminished their high opinions of him.Experts on judicial ethics said in interviews yesterday that they saw no problem with Rasin and the other judges testifying on Bereano's behalf.

Police in Federalsburg said yesterday that a retired steel worker fatally shot his daughter in their Caroline County home Saturday and then killed himself.Officer Robert Horseman of the Federalsburg City Police Department said evidence gathered at the Charlotte Avenue home of Charles L. Rasin Sr., 67, indicated he shot his daughter, Rosemarie E. Rasin, 44, in the head with a .22-caliber handgun and then shot himself in the chest with a .30-caliber rifle.Both weapons were found near the bodies, Horseman said.

MARYLAND'S TWO top jurists' reluctant about-face on assigning a judge to Baltimore's jail is a move in the right direction. But until the details are worked out, this seeming concession might fairly be viewed as little more than a way to save the judiciary from the legislature's threatened budget ax.Chief District Judge Martha F. Rasin has amply documented her opposition to assigning a judge to Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center. Her views have not changed. "I stand by my assessment that it is not the best use of judicial resources," she told a legislative hearing in Annapolis on Tuesday.