Verdict

It took jurors only about an hour Wednesday to find brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson not guilty of setting a pit bull on fire — a fraction of the 20 hours jurors spent in the twins' first trial, unable to agree on a verdict. Family members were overjoyed. But the not guilty verdicts on the four charges against each brother were bittersweet for the Johnsons and their relatives, who have maintained throughout the trials that the twins are innocent. "That they defamed someone's character at such a young age is very troubling," said Camille Mills, a cousin of the defendants who joined their mother and siblings in court.

George Huguely is guilty of murder. He went to the apartment of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, University of Virginia classmate Yeardley Love and, in a drunken rage, broke through her door, confronted her about infidelity, grabbed her, shook her, beat her and left her bruised and bloody. A jury in Charlottesville, Va., concluded that the killing was not premeditated, but jurors were not willing to accept the defense argument that it was an accident, or excused in any way by the 15 or more drinks Mr. Huguely had consumed that day. Jurors recommended that he be sent to prison for 26 years, longer than his life so far. That sentence may offer justice, but it brings no restitution.

— Outside the courthouse, the day went from spring-like sunshine and blustery winds to a dark night of cold, hard rain. Inside, a jury plowed straight through a marathon day of deliberations Wednesday — nine hours to find George Huguely V guilty of second-degree murder and grand larceny, two more to recommend he serve 26 years in prison for the death of Yeardley Love. It was a workmanlike resolution to a case that had seemed like anything but, a compressed day of behind-the-scenes activity for a high-profile crime — the May 2010 murder of the 22-year-old Love, who grew up in Cockeysville and was fulfilling her childhood dream of playing lacrosse at the University of Virginia.

The last thing George Huguely V's lawyer said as he left the courthouse at the end of his client's murder trial this week was that he looked "forward to some corrections on what happened here. " It is unclear whether he thought mistakes had been made by the jury - which found Huguely, 24, guilty of second-degree murder and grand larceny in the beating death of Yeardley Love, recommending a 26-year prison term - or by the legal teams. The lawyer, Francis McQ. Lawrence, did not respond to a request for comment.

While the guilty verdict against former Gov. Robert Ehrlich's ex-campaign aide Paul Schurick is still fresh in people's minds, I'd like to remind readers that his conviction is not a referendum on our political persuasions ("Schurick convicted," Dec. 7). I am not alone in saying that Mr. Schurick's attempt to disenfranchise African-American voters was disgraceful. In my view, the jury responded swiftly and reasonably. Unfortunately, instead of restoring our confidence in the system and reminding us that his dirty campaign style and misconduct have no place in Maryland politics, many people seem to be taking out their score cards.

The reaction of former Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. to the guilty verdict against his former aide, Paul Schurick, reveals in just a few carefully well-chosen words the political views that led to his failure as governor ("Schurick convicted: Former Gov. Ehrlich's ex-campaign manager guilty in robocall case," Dec. 7). Mr. Ehrlich's emphasis that his disagreement was with the decision "from a Baltimore City jury," not just with the jury, implies a nasty bias that is consistent with the unchecked partisanship that dominated his four years as governor.

The expressions on the faces of Sen. Ulysses Currie and his lawyers as they left the federal courthouse following the not guilty verdict are of pure joy and amazement ("Currie not guilty," Nov. 9). Much like that of a six-year-old who has watched a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat! Fred Derrick, Glen Arm

State Sen. Ulysses Currie may have walked out of Baltimore's federal courthouse Tuesday a free man, but it was hardly the clean sweep that the jurors' verdict of not guilty on all counts might indicate. Jurors said after emerging from the courthouse that there seemed to be a conflict of interest or unethical behavior stemming from Currie's dual roles as Shoppers Food Warehouse's man in Annapolis at the same time that he chaired the Senate's powerful Budget and Taxation Committee.

What does it take to get a bribery conviction in Maryland? State Sen. Ulysses Currie, who took a quarter-million dollars from a grocery store chain to advocate on its behalf, and who told no one about the arrangement, was just found not guilty on several counts of bribery by a federal jury in Baltimore. Apparently, corrupt public officials need not take paper bags of cash under the table anymore; they can just get their lucre by direct deposit. If this is to become the new standard in Maryland, a lot of lobbyists are about to be out of a job. Why bother hiring them when corporations can simply put lawmakers on the payroll?

Jurors had yet to reach a verdict Friday, after their first full day of deliberation, in the bribery trial against Maryland Sen. Ulysses S. Currie and two retired executives from Shoppers Food Warehouse, who are accused of paying the Prince George's County politician $246,000 over five years for legislative favors. They began deliberation about 10 a.m. and left for the day at 5 p.m. with instructions to return Monday morning. Most attorneys involved in the case said they had cleared their schedules through at least Tuesday in anticipation of a days-long deliberation.