New:
@GovLarryHogan
still won't release $3.5 million in funding to train medical professionals to perform abortions, a decision that means the money won't be allocated until July 2023. Lawmakers want him to release the $ early, especially in light of today's SCOTUS decision.
Breaking: The Maryland Attorney General's Office identified 158 priests accused of sexual abuse, including 43 that have never been identified by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, in a 456-page investigative report.
Guilty plea: A Catonsville woman accused of planning attacks on Baltimore's power grid as part of a white-supremacist plot involving a Florida-based neo-Nazi leader pleaded guilty this morning. Story:
🚨BREAKING: The owner of the ship that toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge has initiated a limitation of liability action in federal court. Maritime lawyers say the company will seek to cap the amount of damages it has to pay in the deadly crash.
I'm so excited to finally share the story of Clarence Jones, a Baltimore County father who spent 18 years in prison for murder based on a "shaken baby syndrome" prosecution. Today he's in court seeking compensation for the time he lost. Story:
Hey folks, some personal news! Friday was my last day at
@MDDailyRecord
. I’m starting a new job covering criminal justice at the
@baltimoresun
. I’m thrilled to join a team of reporters that does amazing, thoughtful coverage of the criminal justice system. New email TK!
I know no one is going to read this today, but a federal judge ruled that it's unconstitutional for landlords to immediately take possession of tenants' belongings after an eviction:
Here's my mini-investigation: A Baltimore Co. sheriff's deputy who was charged in 2020 with raping a detainee got an unusual and advantageous plea deal that scrubbed most of his criminal case from Maryland's public case search system. STORY:
Baltimore news outlets BETTER be fairly compensating their Spanish-speaking reporters for all of the heartbreaking extra work they’ve been putting in over the last two weeks 🤨
Just saw two young squeegee professionals help move a broken-down SUV out of traffic downtown. Then they told me I need to get with the times and download cashapp 😌
BREAKING: a judge has sided with the Maryland Attorney General’s office in its dispute with the Harford County sheriff over an investigation into a police shooting this month. The AG’s office has primary investigative authority, the judge found.
Oh my god we clapped at our trivia host because he came in late and then a Baltimore city elected official (who shall remain nameless!) came in AT THE SAME MOMENT and thought we were clapping for him and waved at everyone 😳
BREAKING: Judge Nugent DENIES Keith Davis Jr.'s request to dismiss his 2015 homicide case but finds "a presumption of vindictiveness" in attempted murder charges stemming from a 2020 jail fight and schedules an evidentiary hearing.
I spent this week sitting in on the new citation docket, which is where low-level quality-of-life crimes are being handled since
@BaltimoreSAO
announced last month it would begin prosecuting them again. Here’s what I saw:
Marilyn Mosby’s lawyer said in this interview that “the government released the indictment to the press” and I would just like the record to show that I got the indictment first because I’m on PACER *constantly,* not because anyone handed it to me 😌
🚨 Adding to the Roy McGrath mystery: A book called "Betrayed: The True Story of Roy McGrath" is set to release to Kindle on Wednesday. The author is identified as Ryan Cooper. Check out the description:
NEW: The lawyers for Keith Davis Jr. are asking for State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to be held in contempt because she made comments about the case during a WYPR interview after a judge issued a gag order last week. Story:
Gov. Larry Hogan bans TikTok in state government: “As the cyber capital of America, Maryland has taken bold and decisive actions to prepare for and address cybersecurity threats."
NEW: Adam Chaudry, the former Baltimore city prosecutor who is accused of using his position to stalk and harass former partners, has been federally indicted on 10 counts of fraudulently obtaining confidential phone records.
This is, of course, terrible for Baltimore and accountability in general, but more importantly it is terrible for my wonderful, talented friends who work at the Sun and deserve better.
This industry just has a way of pummeling you and it is hard to stay hopeful these days.
I generally agree that “true-crime advocacy journalism” is often poorly done and results-driven rather than fact-driven, but there is something so stunning about David Simon not seeing his own career lionizing homicide detectives as a form of advocacy journalism!
Some career news! I'm leaving Gannett and will be joining
@MDDailyRecord
as a legal reporter next month! Excited to annoy
@bpsears
on the daily. See you in October!
Ok folks, I have read the Roy McGrath book. I don't have the bandwidth to fact-check 51 pages of Annapolis mudslinging (there are other reporters who are way more qualified to do that!) so I'll focus on what the book says about McGrath's criminal case, plus some observations 🧵
I think this anecdote from my story really captures what I saw in court this week. Critics of the citation docket are worried about unequal application of the law, and an example of that happened right in front of me.
"Fitzgerald, who is Black, said he was cited for an open container on Eutaw St near Lexington Market. On the same day Fitzgerald appeared in court, a reporter saw white baseball fans openly drinking beers on Baltimore’s light rail. There were no police in sight."
How about that!
New from me: Since 2019, Baltimore has paid $5.3 million to a Chicago-based law firm that uses aggressive — some say ruthless — tactics to defend city police officers in wrongful conviction lawsuits.
A little personal news: This is my last week at
@GoErie
before I start a new adventure as the Maryland statehouse reporter for the USA Today network. I'm so excited, but also so sad to be leaving my amazing colleagues here. Erie is so lucky to have them.
Defendants said that being cited over minor crimes — selling water without a license, open container — gave police license to harass them.
One man put it this way: “Putting law abiding citizens in unnecessary danger with police interaction’s over water.”
In an Instagram post, former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby described herself as the “managing partner” of Mahogany Elite Enterprises and invited professional women of color to a spirituality retreat in Jamaica from Oct. 5-9, three weeks before her federal trial.
To be clear: It's REALLY UNUSUAL for a judge to make a finding of vindictiveness against prosecutors, and the ruling means the State's Attorney's Office will have to turn over evidence to prove they aren't acting vindictively w/ the 2020 charges.
Interesting tidbit from this morning: Deputy sheriffs are giving out these bags to kids who come into the Mitchell Courthouse. The bags, coloring books, stickers and little fake badges are all branded with the name of Sheriff John W. Anderson, who is up for re-election.
I didn’t go to journalism school, but personally I think j school would probably serve students better if it taught lessons like “solidarity with your fellow reporters always comes before your relationship with management” instead of how to write a nut graf 🤷🏼♀️
The victim in the case said this was a non-consensual encounter. Her lawyer called the plea deal "an inexplicable and unwarranted gift" that allowed Winkler to avoid jail and registering as a sex offender.
New:
@BALTLegal
and
@OpenJusticeBalt
have sued State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and two members of her staff, claiming that they have “willfully ignored” and “actively obstructed” public records requests related to police misconduct. Full story:
Wow. The Appellate Court of Maryland reinstates Adnan Syed's conviction and sentence because the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office violated the rights of the victim's family by not offering them a chance to be present. Opinion:
Morton Winkler entered an Alford plea to a misdemeanor that relates to consensual sex between an officer and a detainee (something many people consider impossible). His rape charge was not only dismissed but hidden from public view using an unusual expungement mechanism.
Winkler's lawyer worked out a deal that involved prosecutors dismissing the entire case against Winkler and then re-filing only the lesser charge (the misdemeanor) so the first docket, which included the rape charge, could be wiped out of public records.
Judge Nugent has ruled that State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby willfully violated the gag order in Keith Davis Jr.’s case when she made a comment on Instagram last month. He fined her $1,500 but she can avoid paying by making no public statements about the case for 90 days.
I’m at Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby’s election night watch party, where about 35 people have gathered in a back room. Nick Mosby is here, I’m told, but he hasn’t come out to the main party yet.
NEW: Paul Madison has been exonerated in the 1991 murder of William Richardson. Madison was convicted based on the testimony of a single eyewitness who got felony charges dropped in exchange for her testimony. Story coming soon.
After a couple weeks that were really hard on my mental health, today I’m celebrating getting my laundry done and buying enough groceries to feed myself 🤗
The ship owner places the current value of the ship and its freight at about $43 million. If the limitation of liability action is successful, that's the amount at which damages against the owner would be capped. It's FAR less than would be needed to cover bridge repairs.
I’m really not trying to start shit on a Saturday night but… how many of those clearances were based on illegal tactics and how many of those convictions were wrong
NEW: Marilyn Mosby will face trial again BEFORE she gets sentenced for perjury, according to a telephone conference happening now. She still has two pending counts of mortgage fraud after they were split off from the perjury charges. Story tk
BREAKING:
@JohnsHopkins
released its draft MOU with
@BaltimorePolice
today, a big step for the university's private armed police force. I just finished reading the 21-page document and will update this story link, so stay tuned
In the last few minutes of the legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that would bar police officers from using the smell of marijuana alone to justify stops and searches. Here's a look at what that means:
Heads up: I’ve contacted Amazon and a person purporting to be Ryan Cooper in an effort to verify what’s happening here, but haven’t heard back. I don’t know very much right now so please use caution if you decide to pre-order this mysterious … item
🚨 Adding to the Roy McGrath mystery: A book called "Betrayed: The True Story of Roy McGrath" is set to release to Kindle on Wednesday. The author is identified as Ryan Cooper. Check out the description:
BREAKING: A new lawsuit claims that police officers with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police exchanged racist and extremist text messages in group chats, including references to a coming race war and to killing BLM protesters.
A Black police officer with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police was subjected to racist and abusive messages sent in a group text with fellow officers, a new lawsuit claims. By
@MaddiONeill
:
But what I saw was much like any other court proceeding. Several defendants told me they’d been cited in error, but felt pressured to take the community service because they worried the consequences would get worse if they fought the charge.
Ok new 🧵 on the list of 90 officers who won’t be called to testify because they’re not credible. The SAO’s office now says that’s different from the list of 305 officers with *potential* credibility issues that they disclose to defense lawyers.
Maryland's ban on the broadcast of court audio recordings will officially be history on Jan. 1 after the state Supreme Court approved new
@MaddiONeill
:
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was scheduled to be a guest speaker at this morning’s meeting of the Baltimore City House Delegation, but she didn’t appear and no explanation was offered.
New from me: a Baltimore man who served 25 years in prison for a 1991 murder won a writ of actual innocence and had has case dropped last month. A key witness said he’d been pressured by police to ID their suspect:
NEW: A Baltimore circuit judge slammed the State's Attorney's Office in a new opinion, calling its handling of a high-profile conspiracy case "egregious" and pointing to serious staffing issues:
The story has been updated to include a quote from Mosby’s pardon application: “While pardon applications generally express remorse and regret, what happens when justice was not served and in fact, denied? No such remorse and regret is appropriate in this case.”
BREAKING: Marilyn Mosby has officially applied for a presidential pardon, according to a new letter from the Congressional Black Caucus to President Biden obtained by the
@baltimoresun
. Story:
The Telemarketers documentary on HBO was incredible from start to finish but my favorite part by far was this guy who did his interview in an Orioles hat and popped open a beer on camera
I hope you'll give this story a read. It's about how flawed science can fill in the gaps in a criminal justice system that demands proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And it's about fatherhood and the years that Clarence lost.
NEW: In a superseding indictment filed against Marilyn Mosby, federal prosecutors allege Mosby falsely claimed she spent 70 days living in Florida in a letter to a mortgage company. She is also accused of falsely claiming a $5k payment was a gift to lock in a lower mortgage rate.
Sinclair Broadcast Group is facing another EEOC lawsuit (this is the second one in a week), this one claiming the company paid a Black woman significantly less than her white counterparts working in IT. Complaint:
BREAKING: Adnan Syed’s murder conviction in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee has been vacated and he has been released on his own recognizance pending a new trial.