Stand Trial

Prosecutors say he is guilty of a horrific crime that could send him to prison for life: raping a 62-year-old woman on the floor of a coin-operated laundry, then stealing $6 from her purse. But Anne Arundel County Judge Paul A. Hackner found Christopher Parr, 27, of Baltimore not competent to stand trial yesterday on charges of first-degree rape - or of assaulting jail employees on two occasions - in a case that illustrated the difficulties of prosecuting mentally ill criminal defendants.

For nearly a year since John R. Leopold was charged with using his taxpayer-funded police detail to arrange sexual liaisons and defeat his political adversaries, the Anne Arundel County executive has said little in public about the allegations. This week, he will answer the accusations in court. Jury selection is scheduled to start Wednesday in the trial of Leopold on charges of misconduct and fraud. Prosecutors could begin presenting their case against the second-term Republican by the end of the week.

Doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center have found Ruthann Aron "competent and responsible" to stand trial next month on charges she tried to hire a hit man to kill her husband and a Baltimore lawyer.The report was sent yesterday to Montgomery County Circuit Judge Paul A. McGuckian, prosecutors and the defense team, said Barry H. Helfand, Aron's lawyer.McGuckian ordered the 60-day psychiatric evaluation to determine if Aron would be able to take part in the trial and assist in her defense.

Alexander Kinyua, the college student accused of killing a family friend and ingesting his heart and brain, has been declared incompetent to stand trial, according to court records. Harford County State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said in an Aug. 13 letter that prosecutors had reviewed a report from Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, the state's maximum-security psychiatric hospital, and agreed to the designation without a court hearing on the matter. Kinyua, 21, has pleaded not criminally responsible on charges of first-degree murder and use of a dangerous weapon in connection with the May killing of Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, a Ghanaian national who had been staying with his family in their Joppatowne home.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Three more Marines were ordered yesterday to stand trial on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the April shooting death of an Iraqi man. But Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of Marine Force Central Command, dropped a charge against the three that could have resulted in the death penalty. Mattis ordered Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Cpl. Trent Thomas to stand trial. He previously ordered Pfc. John Jodka, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda and Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate to court-martial, also after dropping the death penalty charge.

A supervising doctor from the state's forensic psychiatric hospital testified yesterday that a Baltimore man not only is competent to stand trial in the killing of his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter but also is so aware of the legal proceedings that he "dramatizes his actions" in the courtroom to influence the judge who will decide whether the case goes forward. Dr. Saadia Alizai, director of admissions at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center and supervisor of the forensic psychiatry fellowship program, told a Baltimore County judge that Jamaal Abeokuto's actions in court - clutching his head, kneading his forehead and gazing down with what the defense team's psychologist described in testimony Monday as "vacant" eyes - appear to be an act. She said the mannerisms are an extension of the embellishments and "malingering."

MIAMI -- Two forensic psychology experts testified yesterday that Jose Padilla, who is alleged to be an al-Qaida accomplice,suffered mental damage during his 3 1/2 years in U.S. military custody and is unfit to stand trial on terrorism charges. Testing and evaluation of the 36-year-old former Chicago gang member revealed "strong indication of cognitive impairment" and a 98 percent probability of "brain injury," said Patricia Zapf, a clinical forensic psychologist and associate professor at City University of New York, who was called as a defense witness.

A Howard County circuit judge has ordered authorities to conduct a psychiatric examination of the Columbia man accused of killing his wife and injuring his stepdaughter outside the courthouse in Ellicott City in March.Under the order, which was signed Tuesday and filed yesterday by Judge Diane O. Leasure, state psychologists will examine Tuse S. Liu, 49, to see if he is competent to stand trial and if he is criminally responsible for his actions.Liu is accused of fatally shooting his wife, So Shan Chan, 52, and wounding his stepdaughter, Wing Sau Wu, 26, on March 11 in the courthouse parking lot after a divorce hearing.

LOS ANGELES - Kobe Bryant will stand trial for felony sexual assault, a Colorado judge ruled yesterday, meaning the unnerving shadow hanging over the Los Angeles Lakers' season will linger for months while the five-time NBA All-Star fights charges that could result in a lifelong prison sentence. Analysts predict the trial could take place as soon as March or as late as next fall. However, lawyers who know Bryant attorneys Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey say basketball is not important to them.

LOS ANGELES - A judge ruled yesterday that actor Robert Blake had the motive and opportunity to fatally shoot his wife and ordered him to stand trial on murder charges. Then, in a surprising turn, the judge reversed himself and set bail for Blake at $1.5 million. Blake, who had been staring forlornly through most of the morning's proceeding, took a deep breath and cried as Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd M. Nash announced the bail decision. It was a partial victory for the defense in the 10-day preliminary hearing that ended with the judge ordering the Emmy Award-winning actor to stand trial on charges of soliciting two Hollywood stuntmen to kill Bonny Lee Bakley and, when they refused, pulling the trigger himself.

What was to have been the start of a trial for two of four youths charged in a fatally botched robbery of a pizzeria in Glen Burnie took a detour Monday, as one teenager abruptly entered a plea to second-degree murder. Charles Sequan Butler, 19, of Brooklyn Park, who had been charged with first-degree murder, entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder before Judge J. Michael Wachs, meaning that he did not admit guilt but acknowledged that Anne Arundel County prosecutors had evidence to convict him. He faces the possibility of up to 30 years in prison when sentenced July 20. That left Shawn "Hawk" Johnson, 19, of Glen Burnie, to stand trial — though jurors do not know that during Butler's plea, prosecutors named Johnson as the second shooter, not Butler, as they had indicated in an earlier case.

A West Baltimore man captured on video attacking a police officer on New Year's Eve was convicted of second-degree assault last month in a rare bit of swift justice in the city. Manuel Imel, 40, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but one year of the term suspended, for tackling an officer who was in the middle of arresting a second man. A recording of the incident was widely viewed online at WorldStarHipHop.com. It shows two officers trying to handcuff a man in the street as a crowd watches, apparently upset.

A Dundalk man accused of killing his brother-in-law last spring outside the neighborhood bar the victim owned has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, the third person to plead in the case, in which the bar owner's wife is also charged. Robert M. Garner, 28, was accused of shooting Lee Martin eight times with a .22-caliber handgun early in the morning on Saturday, May 22, outside Hops Inn, a bar Martin owned on Railway Avenue in Dundalk. Garner pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Monday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, said Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Dever, and was returned to the county Detention Center to await sentencing.

A federal judge in Baltimore has denied efforts by state Sen. Ulysses Currie and two former executives of Shoppers Food Warehouse to throw out bribery and extortion charges, leaving the prosecutor's case intact. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett ruled Friday that the government had correctly charged a case that alleges Currie was paid $245,000 in bribes over a five-year period for legislative favors and influence beneficial to the supermarket chain. Currie, a Democrat, is accused of using his influence as the chairman of a powerful Senate committee to do favors for Shoppers, a company headquartered in his Prince George's County district.

Even when he was imprisoned for two months as the chief suspect in a fatal New Year's Day shooting in his native Dominican Republic, Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon was confident that this day would come. Simon was activated from major league baseball's restricted list Saturday and was in the bullpen for the Orioles' afternoon game against the Washington Nationals. "Right now, I feel really happy I'm back with my teammates," said Simon, who went 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three rehabilitation starts for Double-A Bowie.

A 28-year-old Rosedale man who prosecutors said introduced a prospective hitman to a woman looking to have her husband killed was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder and two other counts in the murder-for-hire scheme. A jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Seamus A. Coyle guilty of participating in the March 1 murder of a Towson gas station owner, William Raymond Porter. Coyle was the first of six defendants to be tried, and faces a life sentence. "He was an important go-between," Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said outside the courthouse after the verdict.

IF AUGUSTO PINOCHET should be tried for any of the 3,197 deaths and disappearances of political opponents during his 17 years of rule in Chile, it should be there. Satisfaction greets the indictment of the 85-year-old former army commander and president by Judge Juan Guzman. This begs the question, of course, of whether the sick old man will be found competent to stand trial. This is not his only trouble. Argentina wants him extradited to stand trial for alleged complicity in a 1974 car-bomb murder of a Pinochet opponent, former army commander Carlos Prats, and his wife.

A former Greenmount community leader accused of fatally stabbing his estranged wife outside a Baltimore courthouse — shortly after she had secured a protective order — has been determined by a medical facility to be competent to stand trial, according to prosecutors. That finding was briefly mentioned in Baltimore City Circuit Court today, as the trial of Cleaven Williams Jr. was scheduled to begin. The finding still must be officially confirmed by the court. After the brief court proceeding today, Williams' trial was postponed.

A 55-year-old Howard County man - tentatively diagnosed last year as possibly too psychotic, suicidal and severely depressed to stand trial - pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to arson for setting fire to his Highland home and electronics recycling business on Halloween 2008. According to a statement of facts contained in Scott Daniel Wilson's plea agreement, he jumped into his Jeep after setting the blaze and "narrowly missed hitting a Howard County" firefighter responding to the fire.