"Widespread Failure" To Report Considerations Unlikely To Improve

Something I missed from The Gazette last month: a followup article from Patricia Murret on the issue of sentence reconsiderations in Maryland and how judges in the state have consistently failed to report reconsiderations that have been granted to those convicted of violent crimes.

The latest news is not encouraging. The state's director of criminal sentencing, according to this article, believes it could be years before anyone has a real grip on the number of reconsiderations that are granted in Maryland.

The call for better reporting followed a strong push by Maryland State's Attorneys and others to overturn the law that allows such reductions.

The April 2008 murder of a Gaithersburg woman put the controversial process in the spotlight. The 12-year sentence of a Landover man who was in prison for slashing the throats of three upcounty residents in 1999 was shortened by two years in 2006. The man, Shawn M. Henderson, 27, shot and killed Lindsay Marie Harvey, 25, of Gaithersburg as she walked from her car to her home April [13]. He has been convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The usual issues regarding reconsideration -- which is unique to Maryland -- remain:

Victims' rights groups oppose the reconsideration law, saying it gives offenders a second shot at sentencing after the emotion of trial has passed. Proponents say the measure encourages rehabilitation of prisoners by inspiring them to stay on good behavior. Wardens have also said that without reduced jail sentences, jails would be overcrowded.

By the way, just to update all of you: Shawn Henderson has appealed his sentence, as is customary and automatic when prison sentences are handed down in Maryland. So far, according to the court records, Henderson and his attorneys have only received the transcripts of all the proceedings pertaining to his murder trial.

Unsolved Murder Goes Against Crime Trends in Silver Spring Community

As of this writing, Simone White's killer remains at large. Here is a followup story from the Gazette on her murder and how it apparently goes against a downward trend as far as violent crime in the area in which she lived.

Coincidentally, Rosa L. Vasquez, the 37-year-old woman who was allegedly killed by a teenage suspect, also lived in this community.

Teen With Violent History Charged With Murder

And so we have another violent criminal reaping the benefits of the land of endless second chances that is the Maryland criminal justice system. And this time a 35-year-old mother is the victim after her 17-year-old gang member killer somehow gets back on the street after assaulting his own mother and the mother of his child.

In the news: Repeat Offender Gets 185 Years for Child Rape

Something else the state of Maryland can learn from as it contemplates truth in sentencing. A Dundalk man has been sentenced to 185 years in prison for sexually abusing a young girl over a period of two years, beginning when the girl was 10.

The convicted rapist, William A. Geyer III, had previously been given a 10-year sentence for a third-degree sex offense against an 11-year-old girl. All but 18 months of that sentence were suspended.

Briggs Chaney Homicide Victim Identified

Details remain scant, but the Silver Spring woman who was found dead on an elevated walkway near her apartment building has been identified as 37-year-old Simone White. All we know at this point was that she was shot at least once. You can read about it here and here.

Woman Found Dead in Silver Spring Apartment Complex

Early this morning, a homicide occurred in an apartment complex in Silver Spring. So far, the details are eerily similar to those of Lindsay Harvey's death. Will post more information on this as it becomes available.

In the News: Brawl Prompts Addition of Cameras Montgomery County Facility

So, the issuance of diminution credits to violent inmates creates a safer environment in Maryland's prisons does it? Apparently, such credits are not exactly the safety net that defense attorneys would like us to believe, at least not in areas of the prisons where there are no cameras.

A Gazette article in today's edition reports on the installation of new cameras at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds, prompted by a July 13 fight involving 30 inmates.

Four Arrested in Cross-County Police Chase

I'm a little late with this, but here goes. Last Friday, a man and three teenagers were arrested following a robbery in Frederick County that had the police chasing them all the way from there to the Milestone area of Germantown. They were charged with armed robbery and attempted murder, among other things, after allegedly holding up a liquor store in Point of Rocks and firing shots at the store clerk.

Fortunately, no one was injured. This story was of particular interest to me because, at the time that this occurred, I happened to have been inside a building in the Milestone area that was on lockdown because of the chase that was taking place.

Far as I know, there is no word yet on the criminal records of the suspects involved. If any more information surfaces, I will post it here.