NEWS
BY A SUN STAFF WRITER | December 16, 1997
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld yesterday the conviction of Jane F. DeCosta, the Timonium teen-ager found guilty of being an accessory after the fact to the 1995 murder of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor.The appellate court did not agree with any of the five arguments against DeCosta's January conviction in Baltimore County Circuit Court. She was acquitted of more serious charges in the death of Sharon Edwards, 26.Judge Barbara Kerr Howe imposed a five-year sentence, suspending all but the 15 months DeCosta spent in jail after her arrest, on the condition that DeCosta enter a locked mental health facility.
NEWS
By Laura Smitherman and Laura Smitherman,laura.smitherman@baltsun.com | September 2, 2009
Maryland's second-highest court has ruled that Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration was within its rights to fire a holdover patronage employee from former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term. Monday's ruling - the latest in a long-running legal saga surrounding state personnel practices - was in the case of Gregory Maddalone, who was fired shortly after O'Malley, a Democrat, came into office in 2007 after defeating Ehrlich, a Republican. Maddalone, a former ice dancer, was a central figure in an investigation by Democratic lawmakers who accused the Ehrlich administration of firing longtime state employees for political reasons and hiring "loyalists" to replace them.
NEWS
By Joan Jacobson and Joan Jacobson,SUN STAFF | November 5, 1999
The state's second-highest court has overturned a $4 million verdict by a Baltimore County jury last year, which found that a defectively designed steering column on a Nissan pickup truck caused the death of a Carroll County man who died in a 1994 crash.The Court of Special Appeals ruled yesterday that evidence presented by lawyers for the family of crash victim Donald A. Nave failed to prove the design defect.The family's lawyers presented testimony during the trial showing that the steering column should have collapsed like a telescope on impact during the accident, but instead severed Nave's aorta, killing him instantly.
NEWS
By Andrew A. Green and Andrew A. Green,Sun Reporter | April 13, 2007
Bruce C. Bereano, one of Annapolis' top lobbyists, will appeal to Maryland's highest court to overturn a suspension of his lobbying license, his attorney said yesterday. The Court of Special Appeals issued an amended ruling yesterday, reiterating its November decision that upheld Ethics Commission sanctions against the lobbyist for entering into a contract that paid him in part based on his success at securing government work for a client. Bereano is fighting a 10-month suspension of his lobbying license and a $5,000 fine.
NEWS
By Thomas W. Waldron and Thomas W. Waldron,SUN STAFF | May 29, 1997
Deborah Sweet Byrnes, a civil trial lawyer from Towson, was named yesterday to a seat on the Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court.Gov. Parris N. Glendening also appointed James A. Kenney III, a St. Mary's County attorney, to a seat on the 13-judge court.Byrnes, 44, has been a litigator with the firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston since 1980. She has mainly worked on the defense side of civil cases, often on behalf of doctors and hospitals. She became a partner in the firm in 1989.
NEWS
By Dennis O'Brien and Dennis O'Brien,SUN STAFF | November 1, 1996
Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr., who presided over some of the most important trials in the county's history, was elevated to the Court of Special Appeals yesterday by Gov. Parris N. Glendening.Thieme, 65, of Pasadena, was appointed despite acknowledging during Republican candidate Ellen R. Sauerbrey's suit to overturn the outcome of the 1994 gubernatorial election that he did not vote for the man who has just promoted him.Thieme said that he recalled making the comment -- which was reported in news accounts -- but that he did not think about its effect on his chances when he applied for a judgeship on the state's second-highest court this year.