Van Metre

Less than two months before his first-degree murder conviction was overturned, James Howard VanMetre III asked a judge to sentence him to death for the 1991 slaying."

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- James Howard VanMetre, who once was serving a sentence of life without parole for a Carroll County murder conviction until it was overturned, could be out of prison in 10 years after being sentenced yesterday in an unrelated rape case.Adams County Common Pleas Judge John D. Kuhn yesterday VTC imposed a 13- to 26-year sentence on VanMetre, 37, of East Berlin for the kidnapping and rape of a West Reading Township woman in September 1991.Since VanMetre's sentence was calculated to begin in October 1991 -- when he was arrested on the rape charge by Pennsylvania state troopers in Tennessee and then jailed -- he could be eligible for parole in 10 years, his attorney said.

Murderer's sentencing rescheduled for May 26James Howard VanMetre III, who was to be sentenced yesterday for a first-degree murder conviction, will instead be sentenced May 26, a Carroll Circuit judge ruled yesterday.In a brief postponement hearing, VanMetre's attorneys requested more time so their client could be evaluated by a psychologist. They said they also wanted to reschedule the sentencing because the psychologist will not be available to testify until May.Prosecutors did not object to the delay.

Pa. extradition expected for suspect in 1991 killingJames Howard VanMetre, who is in a Pennsylvania prison awaiting sentencing for rape and kidnapping convictions, could be extradited to Carroll County as early as today to face first-degree murder charges in the 1991 death of a woman whose body was found in Harney.VanMetre, 35, waived his right to an extradition hearing in Gettysburg, Pa., on Friday, clearing the way for his return to Maryland. He is being held at the State Correctional Institute at Camp Hill, near Harrisburg.

The U.S. attorney for Maryland is expected to seek a federal kidnapping indictment today against James A. VanMetre III, a Pennsylvania man whose sentence of life without parole for a Carroll County murder conviction was overturned by Maryland appellate courts.The move would end a nearly 10-month investigation of VanMetre by the U.S. attorney and the FBI.The 37-year-old former tree-trimmer from East Berlin, Pa., was convicted in April 1993 of the 1991 strangulation of Holly Ann Blake, a 28-year-old waitress with whom he was on his first date.

For more than two decades, State's Attorney Thomas E. Hickman has had tight control over criminal-justice operations in Carroll County. The time has come to replace him.After five terms in office, Mr. Hickman has developed an arrogance that hinders the effective prosecution of criminals. One needs to look no further than the case of James Howard VanMetre III, the confessed killer of Holly Blake, a Pennsylvania woman whose charred remains were found in a Carroll field in 1991. This convicted rapist and murderer could very well have been free because Mr. Hickman decided to ignore a basic, well-known Maryland rule of procedure.

Applying Maryland's trial-scheduling rule to defendants incarcerated out of state could result in hardened criminals being set free because of procedural problems, three former Carroll County prosecutors told the House Judiciary Committee on Friday.The scheduling rule requires trials to be scheduled within 180 days of an attorney's or the defendant's first appearance in court.A bill submitted by Carroll Republican Del. Nancy R. Stocksdale, inspired by the 1993 James Howard VanMetre III murder case, would set aside the rule until a defendant is brought to Maryland.

As expected, the state attorney general's office has asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to review the reversal of a first-degree murder conviction against a Pennsylvania man accused of strangling and burning a woman on a Carroll County farm.Gary E. Bair, chief of the attorney general's criminal appeals division, said yesterday that he filed a petition Friday asking the state's highest court to review the June 6 reversal decision by the Court of Special Appeals.The intermediate court threw out James Howard VanMetre III's conviction because Carroll prosecutors failed to follow the state's trial-scheduling rule.

The state attorney general's office will ask the Maryland Court of Appeals to review the reversal of a first-degree murder conviction against a Pennsylvania man accused of strangling and burning a woman on a Carroll County farm.Gary E. Bair, chief of the attorney general's criminal appeals division, said yesterday that he would prepare a brief within several weeks asking the state's highest court to review the June 6 reversal decision by the Court of Special Appeals.The intermediate court last week threw out James Howard VanMetre III's conviction because Carroll prosecutors failed to follow the state's trial-scheduling rule.

Many citizens may believe that the recent reversal of a murder conviction against James Howard VanMetre III for a 1991 killing in Carroll County was due to a technicality. Nothing could be further from the truth.Maryland's Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest tribunal, overturned the verdict because the Carroll County state's attorney's office arrogantly decided to write its own rules procedure rather abide by those that apply to everyone else in Maryland.If Carroll's prosecutors had handled this case properly, VanMetre would still be convicted and facing life without parole in a Maryland prison.