Testify

Repair shop owner Alex Moreno said he was approached in 2008 by a Baltimore police officer with an idea to help boost sales at his fledgling Rosedale business: In exchange for a cut, officers would funnel cars to the shop. Soon, Majestic Auto Repair was getting customers almost exclusively from city police - he testified Tuesday in federal court that more than 60 officers would ultimately get in on the scheme , receiving $300 for each referral. Business grew so fast that he had to expand to new lots to store all the cars; the backlog was so deep that they paid for rental cars to keep customers from becoming frustrated by the wait.

There were multiple bruises on Yeardley Love's body when she died in May 2010, according to testimony from a medical examiner Monday in the murder trial of her former University of Virginia boyfriend, George Huguely V, who's accused of beating the 22-year-old to death in a drunken rage shortly before their graduation. Her calves and thighs were bruised, there were "major" contusions on her left forearm, and there was a large bruise over the knuckles of her left hand, according to William T. Gormley, Virginia's assistant chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.

They have the governor's backing and a rewritten bill, but advocates of legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland have made little progress in quieting the concerns of many faith leaders who adamantly oppose the legislation. "Society should protect and strengthen marriage and not undermine it," said the Rev. Derek McCoy, who heads the Maryland Marriage Alliance, a new coalition aimed at stopping the measure. "There are many Marylanders who believe marriage should be defined as between one woman and one man. " He was among a series of pastors who offered that message Tuesday at a packed hearing on Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

A prosecution witness in a prisoner's death penalty trial demonstrated Tuesday how a cell door from the now-closed Maryland House of Correction could be tampered with, and a fellow inmate called by the state said he watched a fatal attack on a correctional officer by a pair of prisoners who left their cells. The jury stood and watched an expert in jail cell locks manipulate the locking system on a door brought into the Anne Arundel County courtroom to show how he believes the locks on the cell doors of two state prisoners were jimmied, and testifying that nearly half of the cell door locks he checked barely functioned.

A principal named in a $1.3 million lawsuit alleging that the school system failed to protect two students against bullying took the stand Tuesday, saying that bullying "has become a buzz word" and acknowledging that two attacks on the students, including a special needs child, "may have been mentioned" to him by their parents. Sidney Twiggs, principal at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School, was the first witness called by school system lawyers to testify about events that Shawna and Edmund Sullivan allege occurred with their son and daughter, who attended the school in the 2008-2009 school year.

Turnout was lighter than in past years as County Executive Ken Ulman kicked off a budget-making process for next year that has officials cautiously optimistic that they can avoid painful cuts. Several people spoke before Ulman — who was flanked by budget director Raymond S. Wacks and chief administrative officer Lonnie Robbins — airing requests Wednesday for the next fiscal year at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City. County residents and officials spoke on behalf of groups that included the libraries and Howard Community College.

As I follow your coverage of the Paul Schurick voter suppression trial ("No plan to suppress the black vote, Schurick says," Nov. 3), I find I'm more amazed at the number of public officials willing to vouch, under oath, for the character of a man who clearly tried to mislead voters on election day, in effect attempting to steal their votes. That it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the election is immaterial. The deviousness and dishonesty of the ploy should have sent former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and the others running in the other direction when asked to testify on Mr. Schurick's behalf.

A Baltimore jury will hear opening statements Tuesday in a criminal case filed against a former gubernatorial aide charged with violating election laws by allegedly orchestrating a campaign to suppress black votes. The aide to former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., 55-year-old Paul Schurick, faces three counts of conspiracy and one count each of election fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accuse him of being behind anonymous, automated calls to voters made before polls closed in last year's contest between Ehrlich and Gov. Martin O'Malley to persuade Democrats, primarily blacks, to stay home.

About two dozen transgender citizens, their relatives and supporters on Monday night urged the Howard County Council to adopt a bill that would bar discrimination against transgender people. "We don't want to be special," said Howard resident Sharon Brackett, the co-chair of Gender Rights Maryland. "We want to be just like everyone else. " Brackett, who was born male, and others shared personal stories while testifying before the five-member council at a public hearing in Ellicott City.