Trial

Why are we wasting taxpayer money on a show trial prosecution of state Sen. Ulysses S. Currie, when we all know he will get little more than a slap on the wrist, if that? Of course, if Mr. Currie were a Republican he would already be in jail, with the key thrown away. Gail Householder, Marriottsville

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.

Though just two Baltimore officers accused of taking kickbacks from Majestic Auto Repair are on trial this week in federal court, witnesses, prosecutors and attorneys have broadly described police behaving badly . One of the defendants falsified police reports to curry favor with a woman, and he let a drunken driver who had just crashed his car stumble into a liquor store, according to witnesses. Another officer, who previously pleaded guilty, falsely reported his personal vehicle stolen because he couldn't make the payments, according to one witness, while another officer used the Rosedale body shop for on-duty rendezvous with women, a defense attorney alleged.

Two mental health experts, one for the defense, the other for the prosecution, provided dueling assessments Thursday of the sanity of a 60-year-old woman accused of killing her husband a year ago. The defense witness, Bethany Brand, a psychologist on the faculty of Towson University, said that while Mary C. Koontz "did not seem overly psychotic," she showed some psychotic symptoms, including three types of so-called disassociation disorders, as...

Frank James MacArthur, the blogger known as the Baltimore Spectator, could go on trial in May after pleading not guilty Monday to gun and resisting-arrest charges that have kept him in jail for months. MacArthur is accused in connection with a December standoff as Baltimore police tried to arrest him on a probation violation charge. During the standoff, MacArthur protested his arrest on an online radio station and live-streamed his telephone discussions with a police negotiator over the Internet.

The trial of a 60-year-old Glen Arm woman accused of killing her husband continued in Baltimore County Circuit Court Thursday, with further testimony from their 17-year-old daughter. Defense attorney Richard M. Karceski got an earful from Kelsey Koontz, a Notre Dame Preparatory School graduate and the daughter of defendant Mary C. Koontz. Kelsey Koontz grew increasingly exasperated with the attorney's efforts to poke holes in her testimony. Karceski is trying to convince the jury that his client is mentally ill and therefore not responsible for her actions and that Kelsey and her father, Ronald G. Koontz, had treated the defendant with such disregard that they contributed to the "state of mind" that led to the shootings on June 19, 2009.

A Virginia judge has dismissed a petition by four news organizations to unseal a court order in the trial of the University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing fellow student and Cockeysville native Yeardley Love. The court order sealed the records of searches of apartments and student George Huguely, who is being tried for Love's murder. The order itself was sealed, so the reason for sealing those search results is unknown. The request, filed by the Charlottesville Daily Progress, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Washington Post and the Associated Press, sought to unseal the court's order but Judge Cheryl Higgins denied it Wednesday on procedural grounds, according to news reports.

The Obama administration strongly defended Wednesday its decision to try the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in a civilian New York court, but faced criticism from Republican senators who called it a "perversion" of justice that will risk freeing some of the world's most notorious terrorists. President Barack Obama supported such a trial in interviews with U.S. television networks before leaving Beijing for South Korea. Casting aside any pretense of assumption of innocence, Obama said those offended by the constitutional protections being given to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators ultimately won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."

A s she concluded the first week of an already contentious trial, Judge Gale E. Rasin remarked that she was still optimistic that civility could be taught. But then, one of her would-be students, who had left the courtroom after a brief and quite civil appearance, chose that moment to burst back in, her previous calm suddenly turned into righteous anger. "Excuse me," she declared to Rasin, "the detective man threw this in my face." She waved a pink slip of paper, which looked like the summons that had been handed to (not thrown at)

The trial of Raymont Hopewell, a Baltimore man charged in the killing five elderly women between 1999 and August last year, was postponed until Sept. 14 after a brief court hearing yesterday. Hopewell, 35, had been scheduled to stand trial next month. His attorney, Richard C.B. Woods, requested that Circuit Judge John M. Glynn postpone the trial, saying the defense's DNA expert needs more time to review the evidence. Assistant State's Attorney Matthew Fraling said the state was ready for trial but that he understood the need for a postponement.