Inmates carve ‘RAT’ into jail informant’s back

Guards have found a Baltimore County Detention Center inmate beaten and with the word “rat” cut into his back again. The inmate had worn a wire for prosecutors.   According to internal reports, last month Timothy Bryce was found face down, his head bruised and his hands tied. “RAT” had been scraped into his back. A spoon with an attached note had been shoved into his rectum.   On July 18, a guard found Bryce on the ground with wounds to his head and back, including “RAT” cut into his... More

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 →

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

Letter to the Editor

To be frank, I was shocked that “How many ticking time bombs are out there” appeared in a legal newspaper [August’s  Exhibit A]. Dan Dreibelbis, a professor and retired FBI agent, condemns the recent Supreme Court decision which granted habeas corpus rights to the Gitmo detainees. How can anyone in the United States be opposed to our Bill of Rights? Possibly the most important right of all is due process. Without due process, we have no justice system. The professor lamely argues that the... More

How an FBI informant took down a crooked city politician

The word “informant” conjures up equal amounts of pride and angst in law enforcement officers. Frequently referred to as the lifeblood of investigations, an informant is a vital resource for investigators at every level.  I saw many different types of informants during my 25-year tenure as a Special Agent with the FBI. I was fortunate to deal with informants who made cases for me or my fellow agents. But I also saw how informants can be clever, ruthless people who can walk between raindrops... More

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