Sentence

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

An Annapolis man who admitted sending a threatening letter from his prison cell to an Anne Arundel County judge who'd sentenced him to serve 10 years for armed robbery had a year and a day added onto his sentence Friday. "I will send a firebomb into your workplace and destroy you if you become more resistant," said the letter that Richard Glenn Parker Jr., 26, acknowledged sending to Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner after Hackner sentenced him in 2010. The letter was signed Jesus Christ, according to Anne Arundel prosecutors.

For nine days, Ross Hakim Telp asked police and news reporters to help him find his missing mother. The entire time, Baltimore prosecutors said at Telp's sentencing hearing yesterday, the 18-year-old knew precisely what had happened to Margo Antoinette Baker, 52, because he had stabbed her to death and dumped her body in Leakin Park. "Other relatives were hoping for a happy ending, when he knew all along there would not be one," Assistant State's Attorney Amir Gibbs said while asking a judge to sentence Telp to 33 years in prison -- the maximum penalty allowed under his agreement to plead guilty to second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon.

A Baltimore judge sentenced a man convicted of repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl in an East Baltimore vacant home to life in prison four times over plus an additional 25 years. Alvin Ray Wright Sr., 50, was convicted at trial in February on three rape counts, three sexual assault counts and a first-degree assault charge. He dragged his victim from the street, into the vacant home. It had no floor so the girl tumbled into the basement, knocking her glasses off. Then Wright attacked her repeatedly.

Claiming to be a "changed man" and teaching courses in finance to his fellow inmates, Maryland savings and loan swindler Tom J. Billman asked a federal judge yesterday to release him from prison after serving only four years of his 40-year sentence for stealing $22 million.Chief U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz rejected the request for immediate release, but may shave several years off Billman's sentence in a hearing next month. Prosecutors didn't object to a modest reduction for Billman, 57, saying there is no need to keep him in prison "until he is a doddering old man."

Calling the 1996 shooting outside the Volcano's nightclub "a tragedy for the whole community," a Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced gunman Kevin Lamont Richardson to 300 years in prison for killing two college students and wounding four other people.Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman said he had no choice but to impose the maximum sentence for the crimes because of Richardson's disregard for human life when he opened fire on a crowd outside the club in the 1000 block of Greenmount Ave. on Oct. 24, 1996, in an attempt to kill an "enemy" of his.Hammerman told Richardson, 25, that he had brought tragedy to the families of six innocent people, and left his three children to grow up without their father.

Saying that the Pam Basu carjacking has changed the community into "forever more a hostile place," a Howard County judge sentenced a Washington youth to life in prison yesterday for his role in the crime.Bernard Eric Miller, 17, will be eligible for parole in 17 1/2 years under state guidelines after Howard Circuit Judge Dennis Sweeney turned down the prosecution's request to deny the defendant the possibility of parole.Miller received the life sentence for the Sept. 8 slaying, which made motorists nationwide fearful and prompted state and federal officials to toughen carjacking laws.

Several Maryland correctional officers witnessed Davon Cole, 19, strangle a cellmate at the Baltimore City Detention Center Monday night, according to court documents charging Cole with first- and second-degree murder and assault. The suspect "disregarded the officers' orders" to release Xavier Tilghman, 21, the documents state, and officers had to enter the cell to pull him off the victim. Cole had Tilghman pinned to the floor with his "arm wrapped tightly around Tilghman's neck," the officers told investigators.

A third drug dealer convicted of distributing a brand of heroin known as "Smackdown" in West Baltimore was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Donita Moore, 29, had pleaded guilty in March to distributing heroin in a five- to eight-block area of West Baltimore bounded by Baltimore, Pratt, Gilmor and Arlington streets from 2005 through June 2007, according to federal prosecutors. Law enforcement officers raided a house in Northeast Baltimore last June and found more than 3 kilograms of heroin.

A former Baltimore police officer was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday -- considerably less than he could have been given -- for conspiring with drug lord Anthony Ayeni Jones to abduct and kill a narcotics dealer.Erick McCrary, who took more than $5,000 in bribes from Jones, received concurrent five-year sentences in Baltimore Circuit Court and U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He will not be eligible for parole.McCrary faced up to 30 years in prison on a state charge of conspiracy to kidnap and a federal charge of conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering.

Saying that "those who made the laws have an obligation to obey them," a District Court judge in Annapolis sentenced state Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. on Tuesday to 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to operating a boat while under the influence. Dwyer, 55, a Republican from Pasadena, immediately filed an appeal. The sentence stems from a powerboat collision last summer on the Magothy River involving Dwyer's boat, the Legislator, and another vessel. Several people were injured in the crash, and toxicology tests showed that Dwyer had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for being under the influence.

A former volunteer firefighter who worked with youth at the Lansdowne fire department pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to producing and possessing child pornography. Anthony Maurice Cottle, 23, of Owings Mills, faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison after engaging in sexually activity with two boys and filming the encounters. Authorities recovered more than 600 images of child pornography from Cottle's computer and cell phone, which included images of additional victims, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office.

For years, the ill effects of improperly dumped hazardous wastes was a hot topic in the media. However, it seems as though only big name corporations that get caught disposing colossal amounts of waste get covered today. Candy Thomson's recent report shows that there are still concerns when it comes to toxic dumping locally ("Baltimore man sentenced in hazardous waste case," April 29). The fact that the article reports on an average person and not a large corporation deserves applause.

A Fallston man found guilty earlier this year of child sex abuse charges was recently sentenced to serve 20 years in prison, according to court records. James Thomas Starr, 26, was found guilty by a Harford County Circuit Court jury Feb. 8 of sex abuse of a minor and a third degree sex offense. On April 17, Circuit Judge Stephen Waldron sentenced Starr to serve 25 years with five years suspended on the child sex abuse conviction and 10 years with all 10 years suspended on the third degree sex offense conviction, according to Maryland online court records.

Nearly seven years after she admitted that she plotted to have her boss killed in his Glen Burnie office to cover up thefts from his dental practice, Shontay Joyner Hickman had her life sentence reduced Thursday to 40 years in prison for testifying against her cousin. The reduction, in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, was part of a sealed plea agreement in which Hickman, 38, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder in the slaying of Dr. Albert Woonho Ro, who hailed from a family well-known in the area's Korean-American community.

Baltimore County Councilman Todd Huff was sentenced Tuesday to two years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to driving under the influence. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Timothy Martin also gave Huff a one-year suspended jail sentence. He ordered Huff not to drink alcohol during his probation, and to submit to random urine tests as part of the state's Drinking Driver Monitor Program. He also ordered Huff to complete a 26-week alcohol treatment program that the councilman has already started.

Two brothers admitted in federal court yesterday that they imported more than 100 kilograms of cocaine and heroin from both coasts, sold the drugs to dealers on the streets of Northwest Baltimore and hid their proceeds by investing in nightclubs, suburban real estate and high-performance cars. The hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore gave federal prosecutors close to a clean sweep in the widespread racketeering case. Twelve of the 13 indicted defendants - several of whom appeared to live the quiet suburban life of minivans, cul-de-sac basketball courts and backyard barbecues - have pleaded guilty to helping operate a decade-old drug organization that trafficked large amounts of drugs in the city's Park Heights neighborhood.

Saying that "those who made the laws have an obligation to obey them," a District Court judge in Annapolis sentenced state Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. on Tuesday to 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to operating a boat while under the influence. Dwyer, 55, a Republican from Pasadena, immediately filed an appeal. The sentence stems from a powerboat collision last summer on the Magothy River involving Dwyer's boat, the Legislator, and another vessel. Several people were injured in the crash, and toxicology tests showed that Dwyer had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for being under the influence.

A Baltimore man was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty Monday in circuit court to illegally dumping hazardous waste in an empty city lot, Attorney General Douglas Gansler said. Richard Kevin Fox Jr., 40, admitted that a year ago he hauled two, 55-gallon drums filled with wastewater from a brick-washing job to a lot in the 1800 block of S. Monroe St. and left them. A city code enforcement investigator was able to trace the truck back to Fox, who admitted he accepted money from a contractor to dispose of the drums.

A Baltimore woman pleaded guilty Monday to helping her 13-year-old son and a 12-year-old friend conceal the fatal shooting last year of 13-year-old girl. Monae Turnage was still breathing when the boys moved her from a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse to an alley, prosecutors have said. The girl's body was found under trash bags behind the Cliftview Avenue home about 20 hours after she was reported missing last March. Veronica Alford, 49, was accused of helping the boys move the girl.