Sentence

In the recent article "Perry Hall Shooter gets 35 Years" (Feb. 25) I ask myself, what was Judge Robert E. Cahill Jr. thinking? Trying a troubled 15-year-old boy who made a very bad choice as an adult instead of placing him in the juvenile court system where he would receive the psychiatric help he needs, is a total travesty of justice. Judge Robert Cahill is sending this child to adult prison for 35 years, which is far beyond the legal guidelines. I hope there is enough public outrage to appeal this unreasonable sentence.

A 34-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty late Wednesday to illegally selling night vision goggles and other military style gear online to an undercover federal agent in Baltimore pretending to be an overseas buyer — a charge that could land him in prison for 20 years. Anthony J. Torresi, of Coral Gables, did not have the required U.S. Department of State license to sell the items when he posted them on eBay and then arranged to sell them to a buyer who he believed was in New Zealand, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office of Rod J. Rosenstein.

The self-professed leader of the Maryland-based prison gang Dead Man Inc. was sentenced to life in prison Monday after threatening to withdraw his guilty plea, according to federal prosecutors.  The plea agreement will spare James Sweeney, 35, a possible death sentence in a separate case in which he was charged with killing a fellow inmate. The former Locust Point resident, who is being held in federal prison in Texas, admitted under the agreement that he was a leader of Dead Man Inc. and that he ordered "hits for hire in order to raise money and also to enable white prisoners to retaliate against black gangs" in Maryland, court records show.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced Richard Charles to 65 years in prison Wednesday for a string of sexual assaults on his girlfriend's young daughter. The attacks started when the girl was seven years old and continued until she was nine, according to the State's Attorney's Office. The girl came forward in April 2011 and Charles, 45, was convicted of second degree rape and three counts of sexual abuse of a minor last December. "This was a depraved, unconscionable act of repeated violence and the basest kind of violation of a child's vulnerability," Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said in a statement.

A Parkville man is scheduled to be sentenced this week on charges of transporting a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, and the woman he lived with has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography in a case that prosecutors said involved confining a minor in their home. John Andrew Blaes, 49, of Parkville, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and to transporting a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 19. Meanwhile, the plea of Margaret Ellen Jones, 37, of Parkville, was announced this month by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, with FBI, Homeland Security officials and Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson.

An Aberdeen man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the 2011 stabbing death of a teenager, the Harford County state's attorney said. Terrance Darreyll Wanzer, 22, was sentenced in Harford County Circuit Court in Bel Air for the murder of Thomas Burdsall Jr., 16, also of Aberdeen. A jury found Wanzer guilty of first-degree murder on Nov. 28. According to a media release from Cassilly's office, before imposing the life sentence, Harford Circuit Judge Angela Eaves listened to the emotional statements of the victim's mother, Jennifer Burdsall, as she described the impact of her son's murder on and her and her family..

A judge has set a March date for the sentencing of Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, as more Republicans said they were considering applying for his job. Del. Steve Schuh added his name Thursday to the list of candidates looking to complete Leopold's term, and Anne Arundel County Council Chairman Jerry Walker said he would think about it after the council removes Leopold from office. The council is expected to vote Monday for Leopold's ouster, to take effect when he is sentenced.

A federal judge sentenced a Pennsylvania man to 10 years in prison for making videos of boys using urinals at two I-95 Cecil and Harford county rest stops last May. Brian Matthew Williams, 28, loitered at the Maryland House and Chesapeake House rest stops for five hours last May filming boys on his cell phone from an adjacent urinal, authorities said. After taking the video, he would follow them out and take full length photos of them. He made 21 videos in all. The parents of one of the victims reported Williams' suspicious actions and he was arrested by Maryland State Police.

Hacker group Anonymous claimed to have taken over the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in protest of attempts by federal officials to prosecute open-data campaigner Aaron Swartz. Swartz killed himself earlier this month. And in a YouTube video Anonymous said he did so because he was faced with "an impossible choice" after federal prosecutors charged him in connection with copying academic journal articles from an online repository. The video was reportedly posted on the website of the sentencing commission, but as of Saturday morning the site appeared to be offline.

Two men were sentenced to 10 years in prison this week as federal prosecutors seek to close the books on a large illegal drug ring they say operated out of Latrobe Homes in East Baltimore. Judges sentenced Raymond Williams, 36, on Thursday, and Melvin Thompson, 31, on Tuesday. The two were charged in a case officials called Operation Usual Suspects that nabbed a total of 66 defendants in March 2011, including "The Wire" actress Felicia "Snoop" Pearson. Numerous other defendants have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.