Sword

City prosecutors ruled Thursday that a Johns Hopkins student who killed an intruder by slicing him with a samurai sword was justified in his actions, according to a letter sent to homicide investigators. State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said prosecutors determined the student, John Pontolillo, "reasonably believed he was in danger of imminent death or serious bodily injury" and was justified in striking Donald Rice, a 49-year-old repeat offender who is believed to have broken into the student's home earlier in the night.

After two preseason games and almost three weeks worth of practices, it seems that the Ravens still don't have their starting offensive line solidified. The line in Monday's practice was significantly different than the line in Friday's preseason game against the Detroit Lions, and it will probably be different again next week. On Friday, Michael Oher was at left tackle, Bobbie Williams was at left guard, Matt Birk was at center, Marshal Yanda was at right guard, and Kelechi Osemele was at right tackle.

Maryland State Police said they shot and killed a Cecil County man Friday night after he confronted troopers, pulling out a sword and carrying what appeared to be a rifle and a handgun. According to a police news release, Jason E. Honaker, 25, of the 700 block of W. Pulaski Highway in Elkton, was pronounced dead after undergoing surgery at Christiana Hospital in Wilmington, Del. State police said the man pulled a short, curved martial arts-type sword while he was less than 10 feet from troopers, and one officer, fearing for his life, shot him with a handgun.

A member of Baltimore County's tactical unit was identified Monday as the officer who killed a Reisterstown man last week when police attempted to search his home for suspects in a Howard County shooting. The officer, Carlos Artson, was previously involved in a civil suit after he fatally shot a woman during a 2005 raid in Dundalk. On Thursday night, Artson fatally shot Ronald Cox, who police say attacked officers with a sword, damaging Artson's protective shield. Artson, a 17-year veteran of the police force, remains on administrative duty with pay pending a review by the department.

City prosecutors ruled Thursday that a Johns Hopkins student who killed an intruder last fall by using a samurai sword was justified in his actions, according to a letter sent to homicide investigators. State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said prosecutors determined that the student, John Pontolillo, "reasonably believed he was in danger of imminent death or serious bodily injury" and was justified in striking Donald Rice, a 49-year-old repeat offender who is believed to have broken into the student's home earlier in the night.

When Leslie Lewis Sword, daughter of business tycoon Reginald F. Lewis, told her father when she was young that she wanted to be an actor, he gave her advice she still thinks about today: "You don't just have to be an actor. You can be a director. A producer. You can own the theater." This week, Sword - now an actress, writer, producer and businesswoman - will perform 10 roles in Miracle in Rwanda, a one-woman play she created with Edward Vilga. Her performance at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture will kick off a celebration weekend to honor what would have been her father's 65th birthday.

Washington. -- Millions of Americans, especially those who didn't vote for him, sincerely wished good health to the president after the flu floored him in Tokyo. Not the least of their reasons was the vice president.Every time a president has a serious illness, or just looks sick, the nation and the world cannot help but think of what would happen if he did not survive.That was true when Franklin Roosevelt declined so visibly, then when a stroke killed him in the spring of 1945. Harry Truman had been vice president only 82 days, and the country knew very little about him. We were lucky.

Baltimore County police have charged a 54-year-old Randallstown man with first-degree murder, alleging he stabbed his girlfriend's son to death Sunday night with a "sword-type weapon. " James Thomas Haywood, 54, of the 3800 block of Pikeswood Drive in Randallstown, is accused of killing Andrew Maurice Fisher, 28, of the 7000 block of Windsor Mill Road in Lochearn. Court records show that Haywood was convicted in 1990 of attempted murder and in 2010 of misdemeanor theft. On Sunday, officers responded to the 3800 block of Pikeswood Drive for a report of a stabbing at around 10 p.m., said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Detective Cathy Batton.

A 44-year-old Edgewater man was arrested early Wednesday after swinging a sword at law enforcement officers during an eight-hour standoff that began when a sheriff's deputy attempted to serve a court order, authorities said. Michael R. Beach, who according to Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman was "well-known" to his deputies and police, was being served with a protective order filed by his mother, Martha Beach, who wanted to have her son removed from her home, a spokesman for the sheriff's office said . It was the second time in three years that she had filed a protective order against her son, according to electronic court records.

The FBI announced yesterday plans to return a historic sword that once belonged to a Civil War captain to the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, where it was housed until it was reported missing in 1931. Bureau officials will be in Annapolis on Monday to return the sword, a gift from the state of New York to Capt. John Lorimer Worden. He commanded the USS Monitor in the 1862 naval battle with the CSS Virginia, a Confederate warship better known as the Merrimack. Worden died in 1897, leaving the Tiffany & Co. sword to his son. He donated it to the museum in 1912.

Sterling Watts, the Reisterstown teen at the center of an attempted murder investigation in which Baltimore County police killed a sword-wielding man Friday, is in stable condition with a bullet lodged in his brain, his father said Saturday. Watts hasn't spoken with police about Friday's incident, his father, Randolph Watts, said. Ronald Melvin Cox, the uncle of one of Sterling Watts' accused attackers, swung a large sword at police executing a search warrant in Reisterstown.

A Baltimore County police officer shot and killed the sword-wielding uncle of an attempted-murder suspect Thursday, authorities said, in a bizarre end to a case that began when a teen was found in a Howard County field last month with a gunshot wound to the head. Police said the man, Ronald Melvin Cox, 48, swung a large sword at tactical officers as they entered an upstairs bedroom in his home in the 400 block of Highmeadow Road in Reisterstown. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Ninja Gaiden 3" Developer: Team Ninja Publisher: Tecmo Koei Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Score: 5/10 "Sometimes I forget you're a ninja. " - Mizuki, "Ninja Gaiden 3" The irony of "Ninja Gaiden 3" is that it's supposed to be a story about Ryu Hayabusa's connection to humanity, when in fact the game possesses a glaring lack of soul. The "Ninja Gaiden" series has been stripped down to basics, but not in a way that pays homage to 1988's original.

Baltimore County police have charged a 54-year-old Randallstown man with first-degree murder, alleging he stabbed his girlfriend's son to death Sunday night with a "sword-type weapon. " James Thomas Haywood, 54, of the 3800 block of Pikeswood Drive in Randallstown, is accused of killing Andrew Maurice Fisher, 28, of the 7000 block of Windsor Mill Road in Lochearn. Court records show that Haywood was convicted in 1990 of attempted murder and in 2010 of misdemeanor theft. On Sunday, officers responded to the 3800 block of Pikeswood Drive for a report of a stabbing at around 10 p.m., said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Detective Cathy Batton.

Harford County sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police report: Aberdeen Steven Ryan Dalmida, 47, of the 800 block of Oxford Avenue, was arrested on two bench warrants Thursday in cases he was charged with paraphernalia possession and two counts of marijuana possession. Timothy S. Mauck, 20, of the 100 block of Poplar Hill Road, was charged Thursday with marijuana possession and possession with intent to distribute. Derek Edwin Snidow, 20, of the 1400 block of Old Philadelphia Road, was charged Friday with being a rogue and vagabond.

The closing of an old city church is an emotional event. The final Masses were held at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church at Wolfe and Lombard streets in late July. Then, last week, the auctioneer arrived and sold off much of the contents of the Butchers Hill church established in 1845. It was the church where my great-grandparents were married before moving to their Aisquith Street home. Blessedly, I did not know about the recent auction. I have observed these grim proceedings in the past and had the same response as Elizabeth Disney, who wrote this to me: "Being present at the sale was like watching the decline and fall of an empire.

A 19-year-old Parkville man who nearly decapitated an acquaintance with a samurai sword at a party four months ago has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Baltimore County Circuit Court.Allen Leroy Hilton entered the guilty plea Tuesday afternoon, just before prosecution and defense lawyers were to begin picking a jury. Judge Barbara Kerr Howe immediately gave him the maximum sentence, 30 years in prison.Hilton told Judge Howe the same thing he had told police, that he was too intoxicated to remember what happened at the party Oct. 9.Noel M. Franke, 25, a drywall finisher who lived in the 7900 block of Marfield Place in Parkville, was killed after he tried to calm Hilton, who had become agitated at the party they were attending.

County police arrested a man Tuesday night at the Cape Saint Claire shopping center and accused him of chasing a man while wielding a 3 1/2 -foot samurai sword, a police report said.A deputy county sheriff radioed county police shortly after 11 p.m. and told them he had seen a man chasing another with what looked like a pool cue.The deputy detained the man until Officer Sharon McCallister of the Eastern District arrived, police said.Police said the man had pulled the sword from his car during an argument with another man and chased him with it.Christopher John Panasuk, 19, of the 200 block of Saint James Drive, Glen Burnie, was charged with assault and carrying a deadly weapon with the intent to do harm, police said.

Six months after narrowly missing out on the Maryland head coaching job, controversial former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is back in the news. This week, Leach, who was fired at Texas Tech following alleged player misconduct during the 2009 season, released a tell-all book titled  Swing Your Sword. Leach’s firing stemmed from his punishment of Adam James, the son of former NFL running back and ESPN broadcaster Craig James. Leach writes that while the Red Raiders coaching staff had originally gone out on a limb by offering James a scholarship, they quickly grew fed up with his lack of effort.

A 44-year-old Edgewater man was arrested early Wednesday after swinging a sword at law enforcement officers during an eight-hour standoff that began when a sheriff's deputy attempted to serve a court order, authorities said. Michael R. Beach, who according to Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman was "well-known" to his deputies and police, was being served with a protective order filed by his mother, Martha Beach, who wanted to have her son removed from her home, a spokesman for the sheriff's office said . It was the second time in three years that she had filed a protective order against her son, according to electronic court records.