Testify

Two teenage girls who told police that Lamont Davis mistakenly shot 5-year-old Raven Wyatt during a Baltimore street fight last summer were reluctant to repeat those statements in court Tuesday while the defendant and his supporters looked on. One of the girls changed her story completely, claiming police had pressured her into making a false identification, while the other had to be ordered to answer questions. The judge determined the former teen was lying and threatened the latter with contempt charges if she didn't comply, which she finally did after a long pause, describing Davis, 17, as the person she identified months ago. The judge ruled that the girls' identifications of Davis as the suspect can be admitted at trial.

The judge presiding over the trial of two brothers accused of assaulting a teen in Northwest Baltimore plans to give her ruling in the case Thursday afternoon. Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela J. White has heard a week of arguments in the bench trial of Eliyahu Werdesheim, 24, and his brother, Avi Werdesheim, 22. After the prosecutor and defense attorneys completed their closing statements Wednesday afternoon, White told them that she expects to issue her verdict at 3 p.m. Thursday.

The mother of one of the three elementary school-age children killed in a brutal attack two years ago testified yesterday that one of the defendants charged in the murder had expressed a romantic interest in her months before. Maria Andrea Espejo Quezada's nearly five-hour testimony was similar to the testimony she gave last year, when the trial for Policarpio Espinoza, 24, and Adan Canela, 19 - both charged with first-degree murder - ended in a mistrial. Quezada, the first witness to testify, said Canela told her that he had never had a girlfriend and that he "wanted to have his way with me," she said.

Baltimore's very own Trayvon Martin case, at least to some in the community, was thrown into peril on Wednesday when the victim stated from the witness stand he wanted charges dropped. The Sun's court reporter, Tricia Bishop, reports: "I been wanting to drop the charges all the time, I didn't even want to go through [this]. I feel like I was being pressured," said 16-year-old Corey Ausby, who took the stand  with tear tracks staining his face. "In my heart, I didn't want to testify.

Should people with multiple personalities be allowed to take the stand as witnesses in criminal trials?That's a key legal question ina Harford Circuit Court case in which a 10-year-old girl diagnosed with at least three personalities alleges that her father sexually abused her for two years.Paul F. Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor and expert in trial procedures, said courts nationwide are permitting witnesses with psychological disorders to testify, leaving it up to jurors to decide if the witness should be believed.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge denied yesterday a request by Philip F. Berrigan and three co-defendants to allow experts to testify at their trial on the legality of their arrests Dec. 19 at a Maryland Air National Guard base in Essex. Judge James T. Smith Jr. ruled that Berrigan, 76, of Baltimore; Susan Crane, 56, also of Baltimore; the Rev. Stephen Kelly, 50, a Jesuit priest from New York City; and Elizabeth Walz, 33, a Dominican nun from Philadelphia, may not have experts testify on laws regarding the use of depleted uranium in military weapons.

A Glen Burnie woman told an Anne Arundel Circuit Court yesterday that her daughter's former fiance seemed calm and rational when he showed up at her door one night last May -- and that he was still calm after he pumped three bullets into her daughter.Dorothy Shifflett said she heard gunshots about 5:30 p.m. May 17. She testified that she rushed out of her home in the 7800 block of Glen Ridge Drive and found her daughter, Loretta Lynn Shifflett, lying on the doorstep with a gunshot wound in her chest.

CHICAGO -- Since the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan began nearly four months ago, the jury has listened to the testimony of more than 70 witnesses, including a lottery winner and the head of homeland security in California under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But with the prosecution planning to wrap up its arguments this week, the defense is poised to put the one person on the stand who could make or break the case: George Ryan. Ryan, 71, and his attorneys have said that the pharmacist-turned-politician who spent more than three decades in elected office could take the stand late this week.

The woman managed to keep her composure on the witness stand. But after telling a Carroll Circuit Court judge yesterday that she wouldn't testify against her husband on charges that he raped her at gunpoint a month before their January wedding, she shed tears as she returned to her front-row seat.Her mother-in-law comforted her.The decision not to testify by the woman, who is five months pregnant with her husband's child, triggered a plea bargain that will allow him to avoid jail. Their names are being withheld to protect her privacy.

The ex-wife of a man on trial in the slaying of her boyfriend acknowledged yesterday that the couple remarried last week, hoping a Howard County judge would disqualify her from testifying against her husband.But Howard Circuit Judge Cornelius Sybert Jr. ordered the woman to testify at the trial of Adel George Hagez, saying he believes she only remarried the man to "hinder justice."Judge Sybert cited cases that permit judges to use their discretion to determine if they believe someone married a defendant to interfere with a trial.

After a morning of reluctant, mumbled testimony, 16-year-old Corey Ausby stood in court Wednesday afternoon and spoke clearly for the first time, announcing that he wanted to drop the criminal charges against Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim, the college students on trial for allegedly assaulting him while acting on behalf of a Jewish neighborhood watch group. "I been wanting to drop the charges all the time, I didn't even want to go through [this]. I feel like I was being pressured," said Ausby, who took the stand that morning with tear tracks staining his face.

Ray Lewis will not be called to testify in defense of Nate Webster, the former NFL linebacker charged with sex and intimidation crimes in Ohio. The Cincinnati Enquirer posted an update today saying the Ravens' Pro Bowl linebacker would not be asked to take the stand. It was never clear why Lewis had be subpoenaed. He and Webster both played at Miami, but not at the same time. A Ravens spokesman said he knew nothing about Lewis' involvement. Webster, who is charged with having sex with a 15-year-old (age of consent is 16 in Ohio)

A Severn woman broke down in tears several times Thursday in Baltimore Circuit Court as she testified that her boyfriend was driving the 2001 Lincoln that struck and killed two teenagers on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard last June. She said she switched seats in the car with him before they were stopped by police later that night. Kendra Myles spent an hour on the stand as a key witness in the trial of Reuben Dunn, 29, who is charged with two counts of automobile manslaughter and one count each of driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident.

The union that represents Anne Arundel County's upper police ranks plans to run a radio ad beginning Thursday in support of the department's second-in-command, who has called for a federal probe of the department and said the force is "dysfunctional. " The International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents Anne Arundel's police lieutenants and sergeants, paid for the ad that trumpets Deputy Police Chief Lt. Col. Emerson C. Davis as having taken a "brave stand" by testifying in front of the County Council about alleged improprieties by his superiors.

A key witness in the case against Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of burning a pit bull puppy named Phoenix, abruptly refused to testify Tuesday, causing a judge to sentence her to six months in jail. Tiera Goodman, 25, of the 800 block of Braddish Ave. witnessed Phoenix as she was fatally burned in 2009 and testified during the first trial that she saw the 20-year-old Johnson twins running from the scene. The case is being retried after the previous trial ended in a hung jury.

From Luke Broadwater: A key witness in the case against Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of burning a pit bull puppy named Phoenix, abruptly refused to testify Tuesday, causing a judge to sentence her to six months in jail. Tiera Goodman, 25, of the 800 block of Braddish Ave., witnessed Phoenix as she was fatally burned in 2009, and testified during the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, that she saw the 20-year-old Johnson twins running from the scene. But Goodman, who is incarcerated on unrelated charges and initially identified the Johnsons to receive a $1,000 reward, charged her attitude from helpful to obstinate Tuesday.

State prosecutors have subpoenaed local friends of Linda R. Tripp, a Newsweek editor, two Radio Shack employees and their own law clerk to testify next week in hearings that will determine whether they can use critical evidence in their wiretapping case against the Columbia resident.Tripp was indicted in July on two counts of violating Maryland's wiretapping law when she tape-recorded a Dec. 22, 1997, conversation with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The tapes led to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's investigation of Lewinsky's affair with President Clinton.

Prosecutors yesterday dropped a battery charge against Baltimore schools Superintendent Walter G. Amprey after his wife declined to testify against him in court.Amprey's wife, Freda Jones Amprey, herself an employee of the school system, charged Aug. 30 that the 51-year-old superintendent had knocked her down and struck her during an argument over money. She also filed for an order of protection against him, which a judge granted, and the couple reached an agreement to stay away from one another and settle their financial obligations.

Carroll County prosecutors have dropped reckless-endangerment charges against five former juvenile facility staff members in the death of a Baltimore teenager because the main detective on the case is being investigated for perjury. "It's devastating right now," said Felicia Wilson, the mother of Isaiah Simmons III. The 17-year-old died in 2007 at Bowling Brook Preparatory School, a facility for juvenile offenders in Keymar. The five defendants, whose trial was scheduled for May, were accused of pinning Simmons to the floor and delaying calls for help.

I guess if anything can distract from the lurid indictment of the Anne Arundel County executive, it would be the police chief forced before the council in handcuffs. But that's the scenario unfolding to the city's south. While a steady parade of Baltimore cops are heading off to federal prison for their role in a towing kickback scheme (the last remaining police defendant pleaded guilty on Thursday), it's Arundel's top cop, James Teare, who is in a showdown with elected leaders.