Van Bavel

The lawyer for Eric Tirado, one of two men charged with killing a state trooper last year, has presented papers in Howard County Circuit Court alleging that Tirado's co-defendant talked about slaying a police officer.Mark Van Bavel, Tirado's public defender, told the court yesterday that a third man who was charged in the slaying of Cpl. Theodore D. Wolf has stated that the co-defendant, Francisco Rodriguez, held a gun and talked about killing someone an hour before Wolf was shot."He [Francisco Rodriguez]

The Howard County state's attorney filed legal papers yesterday asking New York correctional officials to return Eric Tirado to Maryland to stand trial in connection with the March 29 fatal shooting of state police Cpl. Theodore D. Wolf near Jessup.Deputy State's Attorney Dwight S. Thompson said Maryland intends to seek the death penalty for both Tirado, 26, and his co-defendant, Francisco Rodriguez, 20.Mr. Thompson said New York prison officials were asked to give Maryland temporary custody of Tirado so that he can be tried for the murder of Corporal Wolf.

After a hung jury had been declared yesterday in the Tonya Lucas arson and murder trial, Baltimore homicide detective Sgt. Gary Childs and defense attorney Mark A. Van Bavel went face to face in a courthouse hallway to loudly debate the evidence -- including evidence the jury never heard.For the first time, Sergeant Childs publicly accused the 29-year-old East Baltimore woman of setting her rowhouse on fire to kill her 2-year-old son, who weighed 10 pounds and showed other signs of child abuse.

On Tuesday, April 6, 2004, BERTHA WOLFOVITZ, loving wife of the late Samuel Wolfovitz, beloved mother of Martin Wolf and Sandra Teitelbaum both of Pikesville, devoted mother-in-law of Phyllis Wolf and Paul Teitelbaum, devoted sister of Beatrice Siegel of Baltimore, MD and the late Hyman Foss and Elsie Harrison. Loving grandmother of Stacy and Lee Caplan, Steven Wolf, Miles and Lea Teitelbaum, Neal and Wendy Teitelbaum, Scott and Keri Teitelbaum. Loving great-grandmother of Matthew, Marli and Blake Caplan and Samuel Teitelbaum Funeral Services and Interment at the Moses Montefiore-Woodmoor Hebrew Congregation Cemetery, 3901 Washington Blvd.

A Pikesville man was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in the killing of a 15-year-old girl whose body was then set on fire in Gwynnvale Park last year. Jason T. Richards of the 7400 block of Kathydale Road also was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Quartrina K. Johnson of Woodlawn, and of conspiracy to commit murder and second-degree rape; those charges were for crimes committed against Quartrina's 14-year-old foster sister. Richards, 25, stood expressionless in Baltimore County Circuit Court after the jury read its verdict.

One of two men accused in the slaying last March of state police Cpl.Theodore D. Wolf has denied involvement in a crime that his attorney says is completely out of step with the man's "gentlemanly" nature.Wolf, a Glen Burnie resident, was shot to death on a stretch of Interstate 95 in Howard County during what was apparently a routine traffic stop.In his first appearance in Howard County Circuit Court, Eric Tirado, 26, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a seven-count indictment that includes charges of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in commission of a felony, and being an accessory to murder.

During a 15-minute conversation in October with a Maryland State Police detective, Terrence Tolbert said, "I was there," but blamed a younger acquaintance for a fatal carjacking in the Annapolis Historic District a year ago, the detective testified yesterday. Tolbert, now 20, said he and a teen-ager he knew only as "B" - later identified as Leeander Jerome Blake - had been smoking PCP and were looking for a ride to Glen Burnie the evening of Sept. 19, said Cpl. Lloyd Edward White Jr. Tolbert and Blake are Annapolis residents.

During a 15-minute conversation in October with a Maryland State Police detective, Terrence Tolbert said, "I was there," but blamed a younger acquaintance for a fatal carjacking in the Annapolis Historic District a year ago, the detective testified yesterday. Tolbert, now 20, said he and a teen-ager he knew only as "B" -- later identified as Leeander Jerome Blake -- had been smoking PCP and were looking for a ride to Glen Burnie the evening of Sept. 19, said Cpl. Lloyd Edward White Jr. Tolbert and Blake are Annapolis residents.

Relatives of Eric Joseph Tirado, convicted last week of murdering a Maryland state trooper, today were to ask a Howard County jury to spare his life.The Circuit Court jury yesterday heard from the prosecution, which said aggravating circumstances in the March 1990 shooting were sufficient to bring a death sentence. The state concluded after submitting emotional written statements from Wolf's survivors, who apparently will not address the jury directly.Circuit Judge Raymond J. Kane Jr. said the jury could begin deliberating late today or Monday morning.

A man who described himself as a friend of Eric Joseph Tirado testified yesterday that Tirado told him he shot Cpl. Theodore D. Wolf twice after being pulled over for speeding on Interstate 95.Edgar Duvarie told the Howard County Circuit Court jury that he went to Tirado's house in the Bronx, N.Y., during the first week of April last year and that Tirado told him that "he had come from Virginia and on the highway he had shot a police officer."Tirado, 27, is accused of shooting Corporal Wolf March 29, 1990, as he sat in the trooper's car on the shoulder of I-95 in Jessup.