Two Witnesses

Two witnesses for Pfc. Bradley Manning described a chaotic work environment with lax supervision as the defense presented its case Wednesday for the former security analyst charged with turning over classified documents to WikiLeaks. Both witnesses worked with Manning in Iraq. They testified to an office environment where those working with classified information listened to music, watched movies and played computer games in the secured areas. The lawyers defending Manning rested their case after calling the two witnesses; they had requested nearly three dozen others but the court would not allow the testimony.

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.

Two witnesses to a bank robbery in Millersville yesterday helped police arrest a 16-year-old suspect who, police said, later implicated himself in six other armed robberies in Anne Arundel County.Andre Lamar Evans of the 400 block of Glen Mar Circle, Glen Burnie, was charged last night as an adult with one count of armed robbery. Police said evidence on the other robberies will be presented to a grand jury.The Washington Savings Bank in the 600 block of Old Mill Road was held up by a male armed with an unknown type of weapon about noon yesterday, police said.

Two witnesses for Pfc. Bradley Manning described a chaotic work environment with lax supervision as the defense presented its case Wednesday for the former security analyst charged with turning over classified documents to WikiLeaks. Both witnesses worked with Manning in Iraq. They testified to an office environment where those working with classified information listened to music, watched movies and played computer games in the secured areas. The lawyers defending Manning rested their case after calling the two witnesses; they had requested nearly three dozen others but the court would not allow the testimony.

Jailed and awaiting trial on armed robbery and attempted murder charges, a 19-year-old Middle River man is facing new charges that he arranged to have two witnesses in that case killed. Joshua Anthony Mumford was arrested Monday night and charged with two counts of soliciting first-degree murder, court records show. Police persuaded Mumford's cellmate at the Baltimore County Detention Center to wear a digital recording device, which captured Mumford refusing suggestions that the witnesses could be kidnapped and held for a while rather than killed, according to court documents.

City prosecutors dropped murder charges yesterday in Circuit Court against three Baltimore men after failing to produce their star witness. Wesley Howard Harris, 19, of the 2400 block of Lauretta Ave., Reginald Dorsey, 21, of the 600 block of Claymont Ave., and Jarrod Anderson, 23, of the 5200 block of Cromarty Road, were accused in the death a year ago of Nathaniel Snuggs, 18, whose body was found in an alley in the 1900 block of Harlem Ave. Snuggs had...

County police have arrested a Baltimore man on charges of beating a Brooklyn Park man to death last month.Rufus Robert Edwards, 20, of the 900 block of Jack St. was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Thomas Jackson Partain, 38, of the 200 block of Southerly Road in Brooklyn Park.Edwards was ordered held without bail after a hearing yesterday in District Court in Annapolis.Police said officers who were called to an alley in the 5100 block of Kramme Ave. in Brooklyn Park about 2: 20 p.m April 27 found Partain unconscious on the ground.

Anne Arundel County police have charged a Lothian teen-ager with second-degree murder in the April 3 rock-throwing incident that killed a Deale father of three as he was on his way home from work.Homicide detectives spent more than two months chasing down hundreds of leads in the death of Kevin Michael Gallagher, 38, before they arrested Jason Wayne Wyvill, 16, who lives in Lyons Creek Mobile Estates.Anne Arundel detectives and Hampton, Va., police arrested the youth at a drug rehabilitation center in Hampton late Tuesday and charged him as an adult, said Anne Arundel police Lt. Harry Collier.

A 41-year-old Severna Park woman was robbed of $200 at an automated teller machine at the First National Bank in the 500 block of Ritchie Highway Wednesday night by a man who approached her from behind and demanded money, police said.Witnesses managed to get the getaway car's license tag number, however, and within hours two brothers were arrested at their Annapolis home and charged.Katie Dowd of Brandywine Avenue had just completed an ATM transaction about 6:20 p.m. when the robber came up from behind her, police said.

Howard County police will not reopen their investigation into the second of two Harper's Choice shootings in September even though the Baltimore man acquitted last week in that case testified that another man pulled the trigger.Police maintain that Robert Joseph Manning, 18, of the 5100 block of Dickey Hill Road fired the shot that wounded John Gordon Jackson, 38, formerly of Columbia, near his apartment on Harpers Farm Road on Sept. 21, police spokesman Sgt. Morris Carroll said yesterday.

WASHINGTON -- The sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui was supposed to have been the government's best opportunity to hold someone accountable for the deaths on Sept. 11, 2001. But after federal prosecutors finished laying out their case this week, even those who strongly supported an aggressive prosecution may wonder whether the trial has shed as much light on Moussaoui's culpability as it has on the missteps and mistakes by law enforcement agencies. The testimony of two prosecution witnesses, in particular, has brought renewed and unwelcome attention to how the FBI dealt with early warning signs.

A Howard County teenager accused in the shooting of a 4-year-old Columbia boy as he colored behind his family's living room couch two weeks ago was being held at the Howard County Detention Center yesterday on charges of first- and second-degree attempted murder and assault and of reckless endangerment. A judge denied bail yesterday to Tion Jamaar Bell, 18, of the 8800 block of Tamar Drive in Columbia, who surrendered Wednesday evening in the wounding Jan. 20 of Fahad Islam, a pre-kindergartner at Phelps Luck Elementary.

Jailed and awaiting trial on armed robbery and attempted murder charges, a 19-year-old Middle River man is facing new charges that he arranged to have two witnesses in that case killed. Joshua Anthony Mumford was arrested Monday night and charged with two counts of soliciting first-degree murder, court records show. Police persuaded Mumford's cellmate at the Baltimore County Detention Center to wear a digital recording device, which captured Mumford refusing suggestions that the witnesses could be kidnapped and held for a while rather than killed, according to court documents.

A Baltimore man recently acquitted of state murder charges was indicted in federal court yesterday in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme targeting a 10-year-old girl. Prosecutors say DeAndre Whitehead, 20, tried to contract a hit on the girl and her mother, who were the only witnesses in the shooting death last year of Russell Peterson, the girl's father and woman's husband. The indictments come almost four months after a Baltimore jury acquitted Whitehead of Peterson's murder - a verdict that state prosecutors and the dead man's family described as devastating and dangerous.

Nathan A. Chapman's defense team has apparently decided not to put the Baltimore investment banker on the stand as it winds up its case in his marathon federal fraud trial. The decision comes in spite of a ruling yesterday by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles that essentially told Chapman's lawyers they could raise a key line of defense only by letting their client testify. After a day of testimony that left both sides' mathematical skills in question, Chapman attorney William R. "Billy" Martin told Quarles the defense would wrap up its case today with testimony from two witnesses -- neither of them Chapman.

Baltimore County police are seeking two potential witnesses to a killing June 6 outside a Woodlawn tavern, as well as a woman who was seen arguing with the victim shortly before he was shot. Police say that Damian Ramon Drew, 25, of the 3300 block of Milford Mill Road was involved in an argument with a woman inside the Milford Inn that spilled onto the parking lot about 2:45 a.m. June 6. About 15 minutes later, police said, two cars pulled into the lot and approached Drew, who was waiting for a ride home.

A 20-year-old Baltimore man was convicted yesterday of beating a Brooklyn Park man to death last year.Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Clayton Greene Jr. found Rufus Robert Edwards of the 900 block of Jack St. guilty of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after a nonjury trial.Edwards is to be sentenced Jan. 9 in the death of Thomas J. Partain, 38, of the 200 block of Southerly Road in Brooklyn Park. Edwards is being held at the county detention center."I applaud Judge Greene's time and consideration he gave to the case," said Assistant State's Attorney Warren W. Davis III. "I think it was a fair and just verdict.

WASHINGTON -- The sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui was supposed to have been the government's best opportunity to hold someone accountable for the deaths on Sept. 11, 2001. But after federal prosecutors finished laying out their case this week, even those who strongly supported an aggressive prosecution may wonder whether the trial has shed as much light on Moussaoui's culpability as it has on the missteps and mistakes by law enforcement agencies. The testimony of two prosecution witnesses, in particular, has brought renewed and unwelcome attention to how the FBI dealt with early warning signs.

City prosecutors dropped murder charges yesterday in Circuit Court against three Baltimore men after failing to produce their star witness. Wesley Howard Harris, 19, of the 2400 block of Lauretta Ave., Reginald Dorsey, 21, of the 600 block of Claymont Ave., and Jarrod Anderson, 23, of the 5200 block of Cromarty Road, were accused in the death a year ago of Nathaniel Snuggs, 18, whose body was found in an alley in the 1900 block of Harlem Ave. Snuggs had...

A Baltimore jury acquitted a 22-year-old man yesterday in a case that exemplifies how extreme witness problems can undermine murder prosecutions in the city. Keko O. Worrell of the 1300 block of N. Caroline St. was on trial in the killing last August of Michael Lockett, 16, who was shot three times in the back in an East Baltimore parking lot as he was riding a bicycle. City prosecutor Gerald Volatile began the trial Tuesday with three witnesses - two of whom had been arrested for being uncooperative and were under court supervision.