Forty-one-year-old Vincent Brown pleaded guilty to a heroin charge in Howard County in 2003 and was allowed to remain free on bail until sentencing. Six days after the plea, Baltimore police say Brown raped and nearly killed a prostitute. Another woman was raped and murdered in the days before the sentencing two months later.

Prosecutors asked for prison time for the drug charge, but now-retired Judge Dennis Sweeney placed Brown on probation and delayed imposing a prison sentence as an incentive for Brown to stay out of trouble. The following March, police say Brown raped and killed a 15-year-old girl.