Report suggests mixing city and county jurors

A study that found major differences in the verdicts of juries in Baltimore and those in Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Howard counties has officially been released. Officials in the city didn’t like the draft they saw last spring, but the draft and report were similar in conclusions and recommendations.    The Abell Foundation report by Shawn M. Flower of Choice Research Associates said county juries were 30 times more likely than city juries to convict defendants on their most serious charge.... More

Beauty queen shows why she’s no Miss Congeniality

When Christie Ganoe won the title of Miss Washington County in February, her platform was to educate people about the evils of bullying. She’ll have a chance to discuss this in court Oct. 20, where she’ll face a charge of second-degree assault. Ganoe, 22, was arrested at her ex-boyfriend’s house after she punched a woman there, Frostburg Police Cpl. Irvin Buskirk said. The other woman didn’t require medical attention, but she was holding a package of frozen peas against her head, Buskirk... More

Divorce by download: cheap or even free

My mission: Test-drive commercial computer software that generates legal documents.  Step 1: Prowl the Internet for the software. Step 2: Put the car keys away. You can download forms to fill out on a computer and print for the courthouse files. More  Read More →

Do-it-yourself law: You might save money, but don’t count on it

Wandering the Internet can leave people with the heady feeling that they can do anything. In the cyber realm, after all, anyone can book airline reservations, file income tax returns or diagnose an illness and everyone is a political pundit. Computers help thousands of Marylanders every year take their divorces,... More

Milwaukee man faces jail time for shooting lawnmower

A Milwaukee man is facing more than six years in jail after he attacked his lawnmower with a sawed-off shotgun. Keith Walendowski, 57, said he became “pissed” when his 21-inch Lawn-Boy wouldn’t start and believes he did nothing wrong.  “I can do that.  It’s my lawnmower and my yard, so I can shoot it if I want,” he said. But police charged him with felony weapons possession and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct while armed. Dick Wagner, a local lawnmower... More

Woman threatens lawsuit over dog obituary

A Florida woman is threatening to bring a discrimination lawsuit against a local newspaper because it refuses to run an obituary for her dog. When Kimberly DeWolf’s 12-year-old pup Bailey passed away, she took a week of bereavement leave and submitted an obituary to the West Orange Times.  But the paper refused to run the announcement based on a policy that death notices are limited to human beings. But DeWolf insists that Bailey is “not a dog: he’s my child.  They’re discriminating... More

Paris Hilton sued for not generating enough publicity

Paris Hilton is being taken to court for not getting enough attention.  The ubiquitous hotel heiress was paid $1 million for her role in the movie “National Lampoon’s Pledge This!” in which she appeared as a sorority president at South Beach University.  In addition to her display of acting talent, Hilton was credited as executive producer and agreed to provide “reasonable promotion and publicity” for the film. But Hilton “failed to attend any talk shows”... More

Trick or Treat! Do you have a lawyer?

What is the color of albumin? If your house has ever been egged on Halloween (or its evil twin, Mischief Night), you would know. It’s a slimy shade of egg white that inevitably becomes mixed with yellow streaks of egg yolk and a mosaic of eggshell shards. And it’s often impossible to remove. Get out the power washer, hire a painter, get really angry; but think twice about taking the brats who did it to court. The Halloween season of pranks and misdemeanors is upon us, and Baltimore attorney T.... More

Flawed evidence puts legal process on trial

Roland Walker has been practicing law since 1952. You’d think he’d seen it all, but he said his faith in the system was rattled to an unusual degree recently. More  Read More →

Think hard before buying a gun for your home

If you’re a homeowner, should you get a handgun to protect yourself? You may be asking this question in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the D.C. law restricting handguns has led to an upsurge of interest in guns for protection. The instance of a Baltimore resident defending his house against a burglar also captured a lot... More

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