Verdict

A Baltimore County man was found guilty Wednesday of shooting a Towson gas station owner to death in the first case to test Maryland's revised capital punishment law. Walter P. Bishop Jr., 29, was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in the killing-for-hire of William "Ray" Porter and faces the penalty portion of the trial Thursday n Harford County Circuit Court. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. Wearing a dark suit and a lavender shirt open at the collar, Bishop showed no reaction when the foreman of the five-man, seven-woman jury announced the guilty verdicts.

For the third time in a dozen years, a Baltimore jury has convicted Tony Williams in the 1998 shooting death of his fiancee, finding him guilty of first-degree murder and using a handgun in a crime of violence. But no one can say yet whether the ruling, handed down Tuesday, will stick. Two earlier convictions - along with two life sentences - were overturned by state appellate courts, which found that prosecutors and police withheld significant information during separate trials conducted eight years apart.

After five hours of deliberation, a federal jury convicted Antonio "Mack" Hall on Thursday in the retaliation murder of an FBI informant, who told investigators that Hall liked to "bang the gun" and was connected to several drug-related killings in the city. Jurors also found Hall guilty of weapons violations and participating in a seven-year conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the tiny southern Baltimore community of Westport, where both he and his victim lived. Hall, 30, shot Kareem Kelly Guest a half-dozen times in September 2009 as Guest pleaded for mercy.

I found Susan Reimer 's column about the Casey Anthony verdict extremely disappointing ("Anthony trial is over but verdict is still out," July 7). She seemed to want the worst for Casey Anthony, and I cannot understand why. I suspect the jurors in the case knew more about the details than Ms. Reimer did. She mentions Nancy Grace, who has been irresponsibly cruel in some of her broadcasts. I hope Ms. Reimer will not imitate her negative spirit in the future. Robert J. Jones, Washington, D.C.

It's sometimes amazing how some Republicans blame everything wrong on President Obama, but some Democrats are just as guilty of such behavior. Case in point: Liberal comedian Bill Maher last night on HBO inexplicably linked the Casey Anthony acquittal to "Republican thinking," arguing that the same thinking that leads people to vote for Republicans also leads people to acquit those Maher believes are guilty of murder.  Apparently, according to Maher, if people didn't think like Republicans, Anthony would be remaining behind bars for a long time.  "And before you accuse me of equating the Casey Anthony verdict with Republican thinking, save your breath.

It was O.J. all over again. A jury ignores a mountain of evidence against an arrogant defendant accused of murder, and the public is first shocked, then outraged. When word came that the verdict was imminent, crowds gathered outside the Orlando, Fla., courthouse and at the site where little Caylee Anthony's body was found and in front of televisions across the country. As was the case with Simpson, the jury had deliberated for less than a day. Certainly the verdict would be guilty.

Cheney Mason, one of Casey Anthony's defense attorneys, blasted the media Tuesday in the wake of her non-guilty verdict for what he termed "media assassination" of his client before and during the trial. HLN show host Nancy Grace was one target of his wrath, according to Jeffrey Toobin, a legal analyst on CNN, HLN's sister channel. Grace contemptuously dubbed Anthony "tot mom. " The other target of Mason's ire: the lawyers who went on shows like Grace's and pronounced his client guilty.

A Baltimore County jury has ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay more than $495 million to compensate a group of Jacksonville families and businesses for claims of lost property value, emotional distress and medical monitoring resulting from a 2006 underground gasoline leak - and damages could continue to grow. The Circuit Court jury was scheduled to continue working Thursday to decide an amount to award the 160 families and businesses in punitive damages, which could be several times higher.

ExxonMobil Corp. has lost its bid to avoid paying punitive damages in a case stemming from an underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County in 2006, but how much the international company will have to pay remains to be seen as the case continues in Circuit Court on Wednesday. A six-member civil jury retired for the day Tuesday after returning a sealed judgment intended to compensate families and businesses for damages - plaintiffs had claimed lost property values, medical monitoring and emotional stress.

Meet Edward R.K. Hargadon, Baltimore Circuit judge and, as I've now come to think of him, Trial Whisperer. Hargadon presided over the non-jury trial of Gahiji Tshamba, the Baltimore police officer, and on Thursday found him guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a Marine veteran last year outside a Mount Vernon bar. Beyond the verdict itself, what's remarkable is the five-page narrative that Hargadon wrote in which he basically takes...