Verdict

WASHINGTON -- Moving again to rein in large verdicts that punish companies, the Supreme Court set aside yesterday a San Diego jury's award of $55 million to penalize Ford Motor Co. for a rollover accident involving its popular Ford Explorer. In a one-line order, the justices told a California state appeals court to reconsider the amount of the punitive verdict. The ruling does not affect the $28 million in compensatory damages that were awarded to the 51-year-old mother of two who was paralyzed after her sport utility vehicle rolled over in 2002.

WASHINGTON -- Two Marine Corps officers in the jury pool for the sexual misconduct military trial of a former Naval Academy football player said yesterday that they believe the school's superintendent wants a guilty verdict in the case. "I think he's already made up his mind," said one officer, who added that he suspected Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt had brought charges to make an example out of Kenny Ray Morrison, 24. After declaring that his perception would not influence him as a juror, the officer was added to the panel.

Melvin "Little Melvin" Williams -- who once dominated the city's heroin trade with an organization that employed more than 200 street-level dealers -- was convicted yesterday by a federal court jury in Baltimore of felony possession of a handgun.The conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. In addition, Williams, 58, could face additional time for violating his parole from a mid-1980s federal heroin trafficking sentence.Williams was first tried on the charge in September, but that trial ended in a mistrial when jurors deadlocked on a verdict.

LARGO, Fla. -- The head of the United States' largest black religious organization was found guilty yesterday of swindling millions of dollars from companies trying to do business with its members and of stealing donations intended to rebuild churches in the South destroyed by arson.The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, the powerful president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was convicted of racketeering and grand theft in Pinellas County Circuit Court yesterday afternoon after a monthlong trial that mixed law and religion and, his lawyers said, was an attack on the separation of church and state.

A federal jury in New York City made history last night, finding some of America's largest firearms manufacturers responsible for three shooting crimes in a landmark verdict that might lead to greater controls on the flow of guns into cities such as Baltimore.Despite hundreds of civil claims filed against gun makers over the past two decades, no gun maker has been found liable for damages in a lawsuit deriving from the criminal use of firearms -- until yesterday. In fact, the case, brought by the families of seven New York shooting victims against 15 gun companies, was one of the few to survive dismissal motions and reach a jury.

The Senate acquitted President Clinton yesterday, and Marylanders said it's about time.Tonya Berkley, owner of Kente Rose, a Baltimore flowers-and-balloons gift shop, was standing beside her delivery van at Lexington Market soon after the Senate vote.She had been following the trial closely but said, "It's not like we were holding our breath, waiting to see what would happen."They wasted our time," she said of Congress. "We've known this for days, and I'm happy that it's finally over. The president can finally get on with running the country.

In a decision with national implications, a Baltimore federal court jury found that Maryland State Police illegally discriminated against a veteran trooper by denying him extended leave to care for his newborn daughter because he is a man.After about three hours of deliberation, a U.S. District Court jury found that the state police violated the federal Family and Medical Leave Act and state law and awarded Trooper 1st Class Howard Kevin Knussman $375,000 in...

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Marine Corps Capt. Richard J. Ashby was acquitted yesterday of all criminal charges in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps, a verdict that brought members of his family leaping to their feet and relatives of the dead to tears.Ashby, 31, an eight-year veteran Marine who yearned to fly while growing up near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California, stood at rigid attention when the verdict of not guilty on all charges was read.The pilot from Mission Viejo, Calif.

ROCKVILLE -- A Montgomery County jury took only two hours yesterday to convict Garrett Eldred Wilson of what prosecutors called "the most unspeakable crime you can do" -- smothering his infant son for insurance money.The former piano salesman was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1987 death of 5-month-old Garrett Michael Wilson. Wilson, 43, faces trial in Prince George's County in September on charges that he murdered 2-month-old Brandi Jean Wilson in a virtually identical fashion in 1981.

THE EXONERATION of Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney on charges of sexual misconduct -- though surprising, given that six females independently claimed he groped and crudely propositioned them -- may be seen as a bad moment for women, but it should not necessarily be viewed as a step backward for women in the armed services.The Army took this case seriously, suspending McKinney, its highest-ranking enlisted man, when complaints were lodged. Then it prosecuted him in a court-martial it called the most important in 20 years.

A Baltimore County teenager was convicted Monday of killing a 23-year-old man in Middle River last summer. A Circuit Court jury found Avar Cornell Tunstall, 18, of the 4200 block of Maple Path Circle near White Marsh guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Terrell Scott in the first block of Maple Drive. Tunstall was also convicted of two handgun charges. Donald Daneman, Tunstall's attorney, said he would file a motion for a new trial, which must be done within 10 days. Sentencing is scheduled Oct. 6. Prosecutors said they plan to seek life without parole.

A jury awarded more than $150 million yesterday to the neighbors of a northern Baltimore County service station, finding Exxon Mobil Corp. liable for the damage caused when thousands of gallons of gasoline seeped into the groundwater from a leaking pipe. The Baltimore County jury's verdict - delivered after five months of testimony and nearly two weeks of deliberations - directs the oil giant to compensate about 90 Jacksonville families for the lost value of their homes. It also requires Exxon to pay for cancer screenings, and it acknowledges the upheaval caused by the huge spill by awarding millions of dollars for emotional distress.

A couple accused of beating and starving their son were found guilty yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. John J. Griffin and Susan J. Griffin, both 39, will be sentenced March 27 for their roles in the death of the boy, Andrew Patrick Griffin, who was almost 3 when his father took the unresponsive child to a Towson emergency room. Hospital staff described the boy's condition as "shocking." Each of the charges calls for a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

A Baltimore judge has thrown out a city jury's murder conviction and ordered a new trial in the case of a man accused of stabbing a friend with whom he was peddling stolen tools. Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin told a stunned prosecutor last week that she was setting aside the jury's Sept. 19 verdict at the defense's request because the witnesses had radically changed their stories from one hearing to the next - a fact that the jurors couldn't grasp without watching a recording of the previous hearing.

The verdict in the most recent O.J. Simpson trial came and went in the dark of night in a Las Vegas courtroom. The proceedings might not have been breathlessly awaited, but the outcome still provoked strong emotions through Los Angeles, a city indelibly marked by the first Simpson trial 13 years ago. This latest verdict was seen by many as a sad epilogue: Either Simpson is getting what he deserves or can't figure out how to stay out of trouble - or...

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - A military jury convicted Osama bin Laden's driver yesterday of providing material support to terrorism but acquitted him of the more serious charge of conspiracy. Salim Hamdan quietly collapsed in tears at the defense table, where he had sat through three weeks of government testimony about his involvement with al-Qaida, mostly gleaned from at least 40 interrogations by U.S. federal agents. The Navy captain presiding over the six-person jury slowly read out the verdict on each of 10 separate counts, announcing first that the 38-year-old Yemeni with a fourth-grade education was not guilty on both counts of conspiracy.

Monti Mantrice Fleming, a Columbia 16-year-old who stood trial as an adult on murder charges, was found guilty yesterday in the shooting death of another teen in 2006 and faces the possibility of life in prison without parole. A jury handed down the verdict yesterday - a day before the victim's 20th birthday - in Howard County Circuit Court after about four hours of deliberation. Fleming was found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Shawn Edward Powell, 18, of Columbia after a fight at a Columbia housing complex in August 2006.

Ben Clyburn leaves his $7,000 Armani shoes at home when he goes begging the General Assembly on behalf of state courts. But the chief judge of Maryland's District Court won't say just where in the house he keeps those cap-toed alligator lace-ups. "I have one hidden in one part of the house and another in another part of the house," he said. "I had to put a special rider on my insurance policy." Clyburn didn't buy that fancy footwear on his judge's salary. He didn't buy it at all. He has a son in the fashion industry who interned with Armani while he was a design-school student at Parsons in New York.

Westboro verdict is likely to stand With due respect to the constitutional scholars quoted in "Reversal likely in protest verdict" (Nov. 2), I think the verdict in the Snyder family's suit against the Westboro Baptist Church is likely to withstand a First Amendment free speech challenge, although the $10.9 million damage award may be reduced. Unlike many of the Supreme Court's free speech precedents, the Snyder case does not involve a public figure, a criminal prosecution or prior restraint on speech by the government.

WASHINGTON -- Moving again to rein in large verdicts that punish companies, the Supreme Court set aside yesterday a San Diego jury's award of $55 million to penalize Ford Motor Co. for a rollover accident involving its popular Ford Explorer. In a one-line order, the justices told a California state appeals court to reconsider the amount of the punitive verdict. The ruling does not affect the $28 million in compensatory damages that were awarded to the 51-year-old mother of two who was paralyzed after her sport utility vehicle rolled over in 2002.