Trial Board

A Baltimore police officer with a troubled past has been fired, and another city officer has been recommended for termination for allegedly beating his wife three years ago in Harford County, department officials said yesterday.Christine P. Boyd, who patrolled North Baltimore, was found guilty by a three-member administrative hearing board of lying to officers who were investigating a complaint that she threatened a civilian.The panel found Boyd not guilty of swearing and threatening to beat up her Montpelier Street neighbor on May 7, 1996.

A fired Annapolis police officer who had been reprimanded and demoted previously has sued to get his job back.Patrol Officer Wilbert Strickland was fired by Police Chief Joseph S. Johnson Dec. 5 after a police trial board decided Nov. 19 that he had used excessive force and hit a prisoner in the forehead with his metal baton. The three-person board unanimously recommended firing him.Strickland filed the appeal of that decision Friday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court."It was one of those things.

A Baltimore police officer exonerated by an internal trial board of drug trafficking is being denied his gun and badge by department commanders who say they doubt his credibility and claim he has admitted in the past to dealing cocaine.In fact, police commanders say they may never return him to patrol.Officer Eric D. Paige, who has been answering non-emergency telephone lines since the charges surfaced in 1997, said he was vindicated at a public hearing Nov. 20 and he wants his old job back.

Annapolis police were correct in firing an officer who hit a prisoner in the forehead with a metal baton, an Anne Arundel County judge ruled yesterday."

A Baltimore police officer who was videotaped fatally shooting a man armed with a knife outside Lexington Market in August faces dismissal after a trial board found him guilty of shooting at his wife and another man in 1995.Officer Charles M. Smothers II, who has been on the force four years, was in tears yesterday after a trial board recommended that he be fired for the assault. He was suspended with pay, pending action by Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier.The trial board, a three-member panel of police officers, found Smothers guilty of three administrative charges stemming from a complaint that he fired his service weapon at Michael Scott, a Baltimore County police officer, and Smothers' then-girlfriend, Linda Callwood Smothers.

The union representing Baltimore officers is suing the police commissioner to prevent him from punishing officers exonerated administrative boards, particularly in cases involving patrol-car accidents."

An Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge yesterday upheld the firing of an Annapolis police officer accused of lying about how he and fellow officers responded to a drunken disturbance at the Cook-Pinkney American Legion Post 141 on Forest Drive.Judge Robert H. Heller Jr. ruled yesterday that there was sufficient evidence to support Chief Harold Robbins' dismissal of Officer Keith L. Brown, a 32-year-old officer assigned to the canine unit.Officer Brown was one of several officers who responded to a disturbance at the legion post March 16, 1992.

An Anne Arundel County police officer who admitted having sex with an informant has asked a Circuit Court judge to order the Police Department to set his penalty for that violation of department rules so he can decide whether to accept it or ask for a trial board.Sgt. Bret K. Ballam faces administrative charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and of violating department rules that bar narcotics officers from having sexual relationships with informants."Our position is, tell us what our punishment is going to be and let us know if we are going to need a trial board or not," Thomas A. Pavlinic, the sergeant's lawyer, told Judge Martin A. Wolff at a hearing Friday.

An Anne Arundel circuit judge has ruled that a county police officer, who has admitted having sex with an informant, must face a department disciplinary trial board Monday.Judge Martin A. Wolff's ruling yesterday clears the way for a hearing on complaints against Sgt. Bret K. Ballam, said Gail T. Watson, an assistant county attorney for the Police Department.Thomas A. Pavlinic, the officer's lawyer, asked Judge Wolff to postpone the trial board so that he could appeal the case to the Court of Appeals.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department does not have to recommend a punishment for a police sergeant who has admitted having sex with an informant and faces disciplinary action, a judge ruled Friday.Lawyers representing Sgt. Bret K. Ballam sued high-ranking police officers last month, demanding that the department set a penalty for his violation so that he can decide whether to accept it or ask for a hearing before a trial board.The sergeant charged that his rights were violated during the course of disciplinary action and called for all administrative charges to be dropped.

Attorneys who represent Baltimore police officers at disciplinary hearings say their clients are being treated unfairly because the department's top lawyer is prosecuting cases while simultaneously advising the independent panel judging the accused. At a hearing last week, the lawyer for a city officer found guilty of assault said the Police Department's legal affairs chief, Mark Grimes, repeatedly helped the hearing's chairman rule on defense motions during a proceeding called a trial board.

A city attorney resigned Thursday immediately after failing to persuade an internal disciplinary board to recommend firing a police officer convicted of administrative charges of assaulting a man outside a Federal Hill pizza shop in 2005. The attorney, Sandra Holmes, got a partial victory in her case against Officer Michael D. Brassell - an assault conviction and a recommendation to the police commissioner that Brassell be suspended 60 days without pay. But the board found the officer not guilty of lying to investigators, which carries an automatic termination.

Baltimore police Lt. Robert R. Richards, who has had a stormy relationship with the department, has been found guilty of several infractions by a trial board and is awaiting word on whether he will be fired. A three-member board, composed of a Baltimore County lieutenant and a captain and lieutenant with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, tried Richards on 14 charges this month. He was found guilty of nine, including making false statements and insubordination, said his attorney, Domenic Iamele.

In a ruling issued yesterday, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge backed the city Police Department's decision to fire a lieutenant who was caught at an underground strip show while on duty last year. Lawyers for Lt. John Mack had appealed the decision of a departmental trial board, which found the lieutenant guilty of 38 misconduct charges and urged his firing in October. Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris, who earlier had told a City Council hearing that Mack was in a "whorehouse on duty," fired the officer.

An Anne Arundel County police trial board recommended yesterday firing an officer for neglecting his duty when he did not seek medical attention for a drunken-driving suspect who died in police custody in December. The three-member board found Officer Charles R. Atwell II guilty of seven departmental charges, including failing to perform his duty and conduct unbecoming an officer in connection with the death Dec. 15. Philip A. Montgomery, 20, a Calvert County electrician's apprentice with a history of mental illness, died of antifreeze poisoning in a Southern District holding cell about six hours after Atwell mistakenly arrested him for drunken driving.

A Washington police officer testified yesterday at a trial board hearing that he told Anne Arundel police that a drunken-driving suspect - who later died in police custody - might have drunk antifreeze. Philip A. Montgomery died on the floor of a Southern District cell, more than six hours after he was arrested by Officer Charles R. Atwell II on drunken-driving charges. Whether Atwell heard the District of Columbia officer and didn't call for medical help is central to department charges lodged against the 14-year veteran of the force.

A Baltimore police trial board unanimously upheld yesterday the firing six years ago of a police sergeant accused of sexual harassment, closing for now a troublesome disciplinary case. Former Sgt. Leslie Edwards had twice won court orders to retry his misconduct case, which began a decade ago. Edwards, who is black, has argued that the department discriminated against him. Yesterday, after losing for a third time at a departmental trial board, Edwards vowed to sue the department again.

A former Baltimore police officer who was fired in 1998 after allegations she made false statements is being rehired after a department trial board cleared her of wrongdoing. Christine P. Boyd, 28, who had patrolled North Baltimore, was fired in February 1998 when a three-member administrative hearing board found her guilty of four counts of lying to officers. The officers were investigating a complaint that she threatened a civilian during a neighborhood dispute. Boyd, who was arrested three times during her four-year career, filed an appeal in Circuit Court after her dismissal.

A Baltimore police officer exonerated by an internal trial board of drug trafficking is being denied his gun and badge by department commanders who say they doubt his credibility and claim he has admitted in the past to dealing cocaine.In fact, police commanders say they may never return him to patrol.Officer Eric D. Paige, who has been answering non-emergency telephone lines since the charges surfaced in 1997, said he was vindicated at a public hearing Nov. 20 and he wants his old job back.

Annapolis police were correct in firing an officer who hit a prisoner in the forehead with a metal baton, an Anne Arundel County judge ruled yesterday."