Maryland Law Blog

An article published in the Northern Virginia Daily recently discusses the case of a Winchester man convicted of robbing a Maryland bank with his grandson. The 54-year-old must serve more than 56 years in prison for robbing one bank in 2007 and attempting to rob another lending institution a month later. The official sentence handed down by Judge Catherine C. Blake sentences the man to 56 years and eight months according to information provided in a press release issued by the office of U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

When the sentence was announced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, the accused made no statement. A federal jury found the man guilty of various firearms violations and armed bank robbery in March 2009 stemming from a robbery that occurred on October 22, 2007. According to the press release, the man robbed the M&T Bank in Hagerstown of $33,888. In the course of committing the robbery and fleeing the scene, the man fired a shotgun at a police vehicle, stole a handgun, and held a mother and daughter hostage at gunpoint for several hours while he eluded law enforcement officials.

According to testimony from the man’s trial, the 56-year-old enlisted his 18-year-old grandson to assist with the robbery. The grandson, who was 17 at the time the robbery took place, wore pantyhose to conceal his identity during the robbery while his grandfather wore a mask. The grandson was charged in connection with his role in the robbery but agreed to cooperate with investigators. Through a plea bargain with his criminal defense attorney and prosecutors, the grandson’s case was kept in juvenile court.

Continue reading " Maryland Bank Robber Sentenced to 56 Plus Years in Prison " »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense , Theft/Robbery , Weapons Charges

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A recent article in the Baltimore Sun claims that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s administration may be reluctantly considering the resumption of executions in the state after the governor’s efforts earlier this year failed to convince Maryland’s General Assembly to make capital punishment illegal. Earlier, O’Malley postponed proposed revisions to Maryland’s lethal injection protocols while he attempted to build support for repealing death penalty legislation in Maryland. Since December 2006, Maryland has had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment but some state lawmakers have been working to have it reinstated.

People on both sides of Maryland’s death penalty issue are watching developments very closely. Cindy Boersma, the legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union which opposes the death penalty, said, "This is the first step toward restarting the machinery of death in Maryland, which is unfortunate. But to the extent this is moving forward, it's moving forward the way it should—with the opportunity for public review and comment."

Death penalty supporters praised the state legislature for moving forward with the resumption of executions in the state. Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said the move "puts the death penalty in Maryland back on track" so that the executions of Maryland’s current five death-row inmates could proceed. "I truly believe in the old adage that justice delayed is justice denied," he said. "All of the inmates on death row have had numerous appeals and there's no question of their guilt."

Continue reading " Could the Death Penalty Be Reinstated in Maryland? " »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense , Homicide , Law & Information

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An employee of the Department of Economic Development was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol recently and faces additional charges of bribery for offering a police officer $5,000 to reduce her DUI charges to “lesser charges.” An article on Gazette.net said that the 51-year-old female employee was stopped by the police around seven in the morning on March 26, 2009, after they had been alerted by reports of an erratic driver near a fast-food restaurant in the 26400 block of Ridge Road in Damascus. She faces charges of:

• DUI in Maryland


• Driving while impaired by alcohol


• Driver failure to yield right of way while crossing a highway


• Violating a driver’s license restriction


• Possessing more than one driver’s license

A spokesperson for Howard County said that the woman was placed on paid leave from her position as a business development specialist immediately after her arrest but would not release any details about the woman’s work record as it is covered by Maryland’s privacy laws. Apparently, the woman was driving a county vehicle at the time of her Maryland DUI arrest even though she was not permitted to drive the county car after business hours. County policy does allow an employee to take a county vehicle home from work if they have county business to attend to early the next morning, but the spokesperson said that the employee had no such business on the morning of her arrest.

Court records indicate that this is not the woman’s first drunk driving arrest. She pleaded guilty on May 7, 2009, to driving under the influence in connection with DUI charges against her from October 2008. She was placed on probation for a year and her driver’s license was suspended for 275 days for the October DUI charges. Court records also indicated that the woman was convicted on DWI charges in 1992, 1995, 1996, and 2005 and convicted for DUI in 1988.

Continue reading " Howard County Employee Faces DUI and Bribery Charges " »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense , DUI/DWI

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Law enforcement authorities are looking for three men in connection with an armed robbery that took place on June 20, 2009. An article published in the University of Maryland’s independent daily student newspaper Diamondback Online, claims that three armed men robbed a dry cleaning business on Route 1 as the store was opening for business. According to a University of Maryland crime alert report, three men entered the rear door of the dry cleaner located in the 7200 block of Baltimore Avenue as it opened for business around 6:30 in the morning. The report said that each of the men displayed a handgun during the robbery, allegedly took money from the cash register and personal property from the employees, and then fled in a burgundy Jeep Cherokee with Maryland license plate 545M727.

At the time the article was published, law enforcement officials investigating the robbery had not yet found the Jeep Cherokee and did not know whether or not the Jeep had been stolen for the purpose of committing the robbery. They also did not release how much money had been taken from the dry cleaner’s register or what personal property had been stolen from the store’s employees. The suspects are described as 18-to 25-year-old black men around 5’8” to 5’10” in height wearing dark clothing with medium to dark complexions.

If apprehended, the men face very serious criminal charges and if they are convicted of committing the armed robbery, they could be subject to severe criminal penalties. Under criminal law, the men could receive the following criminal penalties for robbery and weapons charges in Maryland:

• Many years and even decades in prison


• The inability to lawfully own a firearm


• Probation


• Parole


• Steep fines


• The inability to obtain certain types of employment


• A permanent mark on their record that can have a negative impact for the rest of their life


• And other life-changing criminal penalties

Continue reading " Police Looking for Three Armed Men in Dry Cleaner Robbery " »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense , Theft/Robbery , Weapons Charges

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A recent article in the Maryland Coast Dispatch discusses the case of an Ocean City man who allegedly posed as a doctor and called in fake prescriptions to local pharmacies for painkillers. The article said that on June 11, 2009, officers with the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) narcotics unit began a pharmaceutical drug investigation of a man who had allegedly been calling in fake Hydrocodone prescriptions while posing as a doctor from Laurel, Maryland. The article said that the 38-year-old defendant in the Maryland drug crime case is from Ocean City, MD.

Detectives from the OCPD began their investigation of the man after receiving a tip from a pharmacist working for a pharmacy on 120th Street. Police officials said that the pharmacist suspected illegal activity from the way that the prescription drugs were being prescribed and the particular drug that was prescribed. In the course of conducting their investigation, OCPD detectives discovered that the person who the drugs were fraudulently prescribed for had recently been discharged as a patient from a Laurel, Maryland doctor’s office.

Supposedly, the man had been discharged from a doctor’s care due to repeated attempts to call in fraudulent prescriptions by posing as doctor. After allegedly phoning in a fraudulent prescription for Hydrocodone, the man was arrested as he attempted to pick up the prescription from the pharmacy on 120th Street. While police arrested the man, they also found marijuana in his possession. Police then charged him with:

• Obtaining a CDS prescription by fraud


• Obtaining a CDS prescription by impersonation


• Possession of marijuana


• And possession of drug paraphernalia

After his arrest, the man was taken before a District Court Commissioner and transferred to the county jail on a $5,000 bond. Hydrocodone is classified as a Schedule 3 controlled dangerous substance and is a potentially addictive painkiller also known by the brand name Vicodin.

Continue reading " Ocean City Man Posed as Doctor for Fraudulent Prescriptions " »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense , Drug Charges

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