Sentence

Eighteen years ago, when a Maryland judge sent William Joseph Parker to prison for life, I thought it was an extremely good idea. Parker was, physically and by deed, one of the scariest men I'd ever seen in a defendant's chair. No one I know wanted to see his face or to recall his ugly crime again.But by complete coincidence, Parker's is the last of three cases scheduled on the day I've chosen to check out the state's relatively new system of open parole hearings.Emerging from a holding cell, Parker appears before us -- wide forehead, receding hairline, the nose as flat as a boxer's and the lips fixed in a subtle sneer -- in the sunlit room set aside for hearings at the Maryland Correctional Institution at Hagerstown.

Veronica Alford had been friends with Edith Turnage for 20 years. After Turnage's daughter died in an accidental shooting at the hands of her friend's son, Alford sent flowers, balloons and a teddy bear. She asked about the funeral but never heard back. Turnage could not fathom the charges that would be leveled against her friend. How could Alford have helped drag 13-year-old Monae Turnage's body down an alley and bury it in pile of trash? How could she have arranged to hide the gun that killed the girl?

WASHINGTON -- It has bumper-sticker simplicity and powerful political appeal: "Three strikes, and you're out!" Put another way, the idea is still simple: "Turn career criminals into career inmates."In an era of rising fear of crime, politicians across the country are seizing on a get-tough suggestion that may well become a law in many states: A conviction for a third violent crime leads to life in prison, with no chance of being freed on parole.The suggestion has gained popularity swiftly across the country since Washington state voters strongly approved it in an initiative election last fall.

A former instructor at the Naval Academy was sentenced Monday to 60 days in a military jail for indecent acts, fraternization and conduct unbecoming an officer stemming from an incident with two female midshipmen in 2011, an academy spokeswoman said. Marine Corps Maj. Mark Thompson, 43, was also fined $2,500 per month for two years — for a total of $60,000 — and issued a reprimand, a punitive letter that now becomes part of his permanent record, spokeswoman Jenny Erickson said.

Former Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold was led out of a courtroom Thursday with his wrists handcuffed behind his back and his head lowered, bound for the county jail after being sentenced for his misconduct in office conviction and behavior a judge condemned as "outrageous. " Outside the county courthouse, a Leopold supporter said the judge should be fired, while a woman whose lawsuit alleges that she was wrongly terminated by the Leopold administration walked from the building exclaiming, "Pop the champagne!"

Only 17 percent of respondents to SUNDIAL agree that the sentence of life without parole for Eric Joseph Tirado, convicted of killing Maryland State Police Cpl. Theodore D. Wolf, is appropriate. The figure represents 141 callers out of 810. The other 669 callers, almost 83 percent, say the sentence is not appropriate."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as would be done in a scientific public opinion poll.

Prosecutors are portraying Gilbert Arenas as a thuggish intimidator who tried to pressure his teammate into a cover-up, as they argue for a three-month jail sentence for the NBA star on a weapons charge. Arenas' lawyer says his client is "a peaceful man" who played a misguided prank and has already been severely punished for bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room. He says the more fitting punishment is probation and community service. Both sides staked out their positions Tuesday in court filings, ahead of Friday's sentencing in D.C. Superior Court.

A 39-year-old Edgemere man who claimed to be a police officer while waving a gun outside a Southeast Baltimore bar last fall pleaded guilty to handgun possession in Baltimore District Court on Tuesday and received a suspended three-year sentence, the city state's attorney's office announced. Arthur Campbell of the 2500 block of N. Snyder Ave. told police that he was trying to break up a fight at the Angle Inn in O'Donnell Heights and showed a membership card for the Police Emerald Society, a fraternal organization for area police officers of Gaelic descent, charging documents show.

A 23-year-old Howard County man who went on a 15-minute armed robbery spree in South Carroll last May will continue to serve the 10-year sentence imposed on him.Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. last weekdenied a sentence reduction request by Wayne Edward Bell of West Friendship. In January, he was convicted of armed robbery, assault with intent to murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony and sentenced to 45 years, with all but 10 years suspended under termsof an agreement reached with the State's Attorney's Office in October.

A former Baltimore police officer received a five-year suspended sentence this week and was ordered to refrain from unsupervised contact with children after pleading guilty in September to second-degree assault. Troy Jaquan Gee Sr., 34, had been charged in Baltimore Circuit Court with child sexual abuse for allegedly fondling a 13-year-old relative in March 2008. The girl reported the incident to police, and Gee was suspended without pay from the Police Department upon his arrest. He has since resigned.

A former instructor at the Naval Academy has been found not guilty of aggravated sexual assault in an alleged attack on a female midshipman two years ago, an academy spokeswoman said Sunday. Marine Corps Maj. Mark Thompson, 43, was found guilty of indecent acts, failure to obey an order or regulation and conduct unbecoming an officer in the 2011 incident, spokeswoman Jenny Erickson said. He is to be sentenced on Monday. Thompson, who taught history at the academy, was accused of attacking the midshipman in his Annapolis apartment following the annual croquet match between the Naval Academy and St. John's College.

A Baltimore Police officer who pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit crimes with one of his informants is asking the judge in his case to keep him out of federal prison. Kendell Richburg, a 13-year veteran, admitted in his plea that he skimmed some of the department funds intended for the informant, and was selling stolen property. Richburg gave the informant drugs and helped him avoid arrest, and the two discussed plans to set up innocent people so Richburg could rack up arrests.

As three generations of his family watched, a man once described by police as an "engine for violent crime" won praise for his parenting from a Baltimore judge even as she sentenced him for his part in a shooting that left one of his friends dead. Judge Wanda K. Heard invited Stanley Brunson, 36, to tell his 16-year-old son to stay away from the life of the streets that had landed him before her Tuesday. Brunson turned and mumbled a warning to the teenager. "That's your father talking to you," Heard said.

The University of Maryland says it alerted the state attorney general nearly 25 years ago that the school's head swimming coach had acknowledged sexually abusing a girl at his private club, but he was not charged until last year. Rick Curl, founder of Washington's pre-eminent Curl-Burke Swim Club, resigned his position at College Park in August 1988 after the parents of the teenage victim gave the university a letter signed by Curl that acknowledged the abuse. Curl and the parents entered into a legal settlement around that time.

A federal judge doled out lengthy prison sentences this week to members of a violent drug-dealing crew that operated on the downtown strip of bars and clubs known as The Block and killed a dancer who worked for them when they thought she was a threat to their business. Donte Baker, Tyrone Johniken and Gary Cromartie, who dealt heroin and crack cocaine together in the 400 block of E. Baltimore St., were convicted last year in the murder of Cherrie Gammon, a 25-year-old stripper and mother of two who worked at Club Pussycat.

Kelley Currin recalled dancing with her longtime swimming coach, Rick Curl, as a teenage girl the night of his wedding some 30 years ago. She wore a pink dress, held on too long and whispered in his ear, "I hate you. " She told Montgomery County Circuit Judge Marielsa A. Bernard on Thursday how she fell in love with Curl, who was then 33, before her 13th birthday in the early 1980s. She recounted the details of their first kiss near a water fountain at Georgetown Preparatory School and the way years of sexual abuse altered the trajectory of her life.

A Crofton teenager was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday for raping a 7-year-old girl, in an attack that outraged a suburban Anne Arundel County community. Circuit Judge William C. Mulford II told David B. Raszewski that his actions were "beyond disturbing" and that there was "no appropriate sentence" to rectify the damage to the young girl and her family. "It approaches a level of depravity which shocks this court," Mulford said. "It's horrific." The sentence, life in prison with all but five decades suspended, was above state sentencing guidelines of 15 to 25 years.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama fired the head of the Internal Revenue Service, the first sacrificial lamb brought down after the alleged "targeting" of conservative political groups by the IRS. Mr. Obama declared, "Americans are right to be angry about it. " Call me out of step, but I am angrier that the president is joining the rush to judgment. All that is known for sure is that some IRS functionaries took a shorthand route to identify partisan political groups that might be pretending not to be political so that they could get the tax exempt status available to social welfare organizations.

A Baltimore police sergeant found guilty of malfeasance for using false information to obtain a search and seizure warrant was sentenced Monday to three years of supervised probation, according to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. Sgt. Dennis W. Workley, who joined the force in 1996, also received a suspended one-year prison sentence from Circuit Court Judge John Addison Howard for the malfeasance charge, which he was convicted of in March. Workley was also convicted of perjury, for which he received probation before judgment Monday, the state's attorney's office said.