Testify

A lawmaker who alleged possible "institutional dishonesty" at the Anne Arundel County Police Department said Monday that the police chief's response does not resolve whether officers caught up in a civil case against County Executive John R. Leopold may have lied. Councilman Jamie Benoit said he may subpoena Chief Larry W. Tolliver and police officers to testify before the County Council. He said he also may demand documents from a recently concluded internal affairs investigation into the affidavit one of the officers gave in the federal civil case.

Charges against a Whiteford man who allegedly used a lighter and Axe deodorant can to shoot flames at his kids were dropped this week so the children wouldn't have to testify, a Harford County prosecutor said. Steven Kenneth Helgason, 43, of the 1500 block of Kerr Road, had been charged with four counts of second-degree child abuse, four counts of second-degree assault and four counts of reckless endangerment after an alleged incident in November 2011 in which he allegedly used an aerosol can of Axe deodorant and a lighter to burn two of his children's hair.

Baltimore County residents sounded off Thursday on planned development in Owings Mills, an issue that has become highly contentious as the county considers whether to allow an upscale retail complex at the site of the former Solo Cup plant. A County Council hearing on zoning issues in District 2 focused on whether the manufacturing property off Reisterstown Road should be approved for retail use to make way for a 385,000-square-foot development called Foundry Row that would be anchored by a Wegmans supermarket.

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.

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.

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.

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.