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THERE ARE THE SAME OFFICERS THAT WRITE THE REPORTS THAT COULD ALTER LIFE AS YOU KNOW IT!

By Dan Morse and Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 4, 2010

Montgomery County sued one of its police officers Wednesday, alleging that he defrauded the county of $400,800 while running a company that provided firearms training to officers.

The courses lasted two days and typically cost $1,495, according to the lawsuit. Police officers have said the instructors have good reputations as firearms instructors.

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N.Y. man serving triple life sentence freed from downtown Baltimore facility

State prison officials said a 26-year-old New York man serving a triple life sentence for attempted murder was accidentally released from a downtown Baltimore prison Thursday.

Officials said Raymond Taylor, who was sentenced to life in prison on an attempted first-degree murder charge in 2005, was erroneously released at 2 p.m. from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center. The Baltimore Sun reported at the time that Taylor tried to kill his ex-girlfriend and her two daughters at their Pentland Drive home in Northeast Baltimore.

Taylor pleaded guilty to shooting Tammie Johnson and her teenage daughters, Cierra Johnson and Shatera Brooks. Each was shot multiple times in the head and body with a .22-caliber handgun, prosecutors said.

Taylor was arrested in New York City days after the shooting, police said. The victims survived but have had multiple surgeries.

Anyone with information on Taylor’s whereabouts is asked to immediately call 911. The Internal Investigative Unit of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is assisting law enforcement with the case and is conducting an investigation into the circumstances of Taylor’s release.

Correctional services spokesman Mark Vernarelli said it was unclear how Taylor was released.

“We’re working as hard as we can to find out,” he said.

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those lying eyes!

By: Gene Weingarten – Washington Post

In my mind, it came down to a simple, unsettling question: Is it worse to let a drug dealer go free, or to reward the police for lying under oath?

As it turned out, my question became moot. At the end of criminal trials in D.C. Superior Court, but before deliberations, the judge discloses to the 14-person jury which two of them had been randomly selected to be alternates. I was one of the two, so I was dismissed. I never got to do what I had planned, which was to hold out for acquittal. I’d assumed my stubbornness would hang the jury, because I assumed the others would want to convict. Manifestly, the guy did it.

The case involved a routine “buy-bust” operation; according to the testimony, hundreds of these occur each month in Washington under almost identical circumstances. In this case, an undercover officer drove to a street corner in Northeast D.C. that is known for being an open-air narcotics market. He was approached on the street by a woman who was acting as an intermediary for the dealer. She took his order and his money, and then walked away from the car to meet the dealer out of sight of the buyer. It’s a system designed to stymie any police surveillance.

For that reason, in buy-bust operations, at least one other undercover officer is usually staked out elsewhere in the vicinity; in police jargon, he is the “eyes.” His job is to try to see what happens out of sight of the purchaser. Once the eyes has witnessed the transaction and can identify the seller, he radios his description of the suspect to the arrest team, which then moves in to do its job.

That’s how it worked in this case: The arrest team descended, located someone matching the radioed description and cuffed him. In the suspect’s pocket was a $10 bill with the same serial number as the bill the undercover buyer had given the intermediary. Open and shut.

At trial, the defense didn’t deny that the defendant had been caught with the incriminating money. The explanation they offered was feeble: Moments before the arrest, the defense contended, someone had asked the defendant to make change for a $10 bill. This mystery person was named but never produced or further identified. The defendant never testified, which was his right, but the only person who gave him an alibi — and his only real character witness — was his best friend, who arrived in court in police custody and testified, unconvincingly, in an orange prison jumpsuit and manacled in chains, hand to foot.

As I saw it, the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But there was a complication.

The “eyes” officer in this case — the only person who claimed to have seen the cash and drugs change hands — testified that he had radioed the following description of the suspect: black male, black jacket, royal blue baseball hat, v-necked white t-shirt, sneakers, key on a chain around his neck, carrying a bottle of ginger ale. He said his view had been unobstructed, on a clear day, from a distance of 50 to 60 feet.

Defense lawyer Jon W. Norris produced aerial photographs to prove that this was wrong. Between the place that the eyes said he was sitting and the place the police said the transaction occurred was a full-length basketball court — 80 feet — plus a lot more pavement. Norris sent an investigator to the scene to measure the total distance: It was, the investigator testified, 172 feet. The prosecutor never contested this. He couldn’t. The discrepancy was verified by satellite imagery.

So the eyes had seen a ginger ale bottle at 172 feet? Really? That’s some set of eyes the eyes had.

One morning, my wife and I went out into the street, measured off 172 feet and stood at either end. My eyesight is 20-20 with glasses. Her eyesight is 20-20 without glasses. From that distance, I could not see a trace of the key I had hung around her neck. She could not begin to distinguish the Sprite bottle I carried from any other greenish bottle-shaped thing. From that distance, you couldn’t tell a v-neck from a crew neck or, for that matter, a T-shirt from a polo shirt.

I concluded that the eyes had lied about the specificity of his radioed description — and that he wasn’t the only one. Two other police officers who had been at the scene testified that they’d heard exactly that description, word for word, detail for detail, down to the ginger ale bottle. They said they were certain.

How could this be? Defense lawyer Norris offered a theory: The officers had colluded in a fabrication. To better justify the arrest, he said, they had improved upon what had probably been a much sketchier original description. Once they had all seen the defendant up close, in handcuffs, and examined photos of him taken at the scene, all the little details became clear: the v-neck, the key, the ginger ale bottle. Retroactively, Norris suggested, they produced a perfect description.

Hadn’t the initial description been tape-recorded? No. The D.C. police testified that they do not do that. Sending a radio message out over a recorded channel, they said, would risk that the message could be intercepted by the bad guys on a police scanner and alert them to the sting. I found myself wondering: If the police wanted to, couldn’t they just put a cheap recording device in the eyes’ car? Just for the record?

But they don’t. Possibly they don’t want the record.

As a juror, I was skeptical. As a citizen, I was angry. For one thing, I was mad about the whole case — the bewildering amount of police time and taxpayer money spent on prosecuting one guy for selling $10 worth of narcotics. But as a juror, I felt it was not my business to object to that. I would have been willing to convict a defendant despite those misgivings.

The police testimony was another matter. As witnesses, the officers had been supremely self-assured, even cocky; clearly, they’d been through this hundreds of times. As they passed the jury before and after testimony, they greeted us winningly. One of them winked at us, almost imperceptibly. Their testimony was clear, concise, professional and, in my view, dishonest.

I believe they feel themselves to be warriors fighting the good fight against bad people who have the system stacked in their favor. I believe they knew they had the right guy and were willing to cheat a little to assure a conviction.

I believe they had the right guy, too. But the willingness to cheat, I think, is a poisonous corruption of a system designed to protect the innocent at the risk of occasionally letting the guilty walk free. It’s a good system, fundamental to freedom. I think a police officer willing to cheat is more dangerous than a two-bit drug peddler.

In his charge to the jury, the judge made it clear that if we found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt — which I had — it was our duty to convict. I was prepared to defy these instructions and acquit, in the interest of a greater good. There is actually a term for this:  “jury nullification.” I was going to nullify. But I was pretty sure that in my absence, the remaining 12 would convict.

The first sign that I was wrong came just minutes after I was dismissed. The other alternate told me that she, too, felt that the defendant was guilty but that the police had lied; in her mind, the lying created reasonable doubt. She, too, would have acquitted.

Back home, I waited for word of a verdict. It didn’t come. At the end of the day, after four hours of deliberations over a $10 drug bust, the deadlocked jury was sent home for the night. They came back the next day and tried again. More hours passed. In the end, they pronounced themselves hopelessly hung. A mistrial was declared.

I later spoke with one of the jurors, who told me they had been split, 10 for acquittal and two for a guilty verdict. Many of them had simply mistrusted the eyes. They didn’t believe he could have possibly seen the ginger ale bottle or the v-neck or the key, and they felt his apparent willingness to lie had tainted the prosecution’s whole case.

The prosecution seemed to get the message. On Friday, they said they would not refile the charges. The defendant is now free.

I’m proud of our jury system. I can’t say the same about our police.

Gene Weingarten is a staff writer for The Washington Post.

WWW.FIGHTCOLLECTIONS.COM

Prestigious just to be nominated, and even a greater rarity to be so honored just one time, Jason has bestowed with this honor for the past three years in a row

For an unbelievable third year in a row, Jason A. Shapiro has been named one of the BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA.  Prestigious just to be nominated, and even a greater rarity to be so honored just one time, Jason has bestowed with this honor for the past three years in a row.  Furthermore, Jason is the only lawyer from Howard County to be recognized in the area of Criminal/DUI Defense.

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 16th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2010), is based on more than 2.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

Because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be included, a listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded within the legal profession as a signal honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For more than 25 years, Best Lawyers lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.

Big congratulations to Jason A. Shapiro for this great honor.

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW JASON’S COMPLETE BIO

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Please look at our website (http://www.shapiroandmack.com)and make a short video commercial using any means that you like.  The video can be all text, all audio, or have live actors – the creator has complete creative control.

The video must be sent to smvideocontest@gmail.com, and then video will be uploaded to youtube and posted on our facebook fan page. All video makers will remain anonymous unless and until we have permission to use your name. The only requirement is that the video must be about Howard County’s Premier Criminal Defense Firm, Shapiro & Mack.

David Zwanetz will pick the winner, using comments on the site and private polls, on January 20, 2010.

The $100.00 American Express Gift Card will be sent to the winner on January 20, 2010.

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After Devin “Devon” O’Brian Dixon was shot trying to rob a drug dealer in 2005, Nathaniel Quick came to his aid, driving his friend to the hospital in critical condition.

“He took him to the emergency room,” recalled Celestine Howard, Quick’s grandmother. “That was years ago. He hadn’t seen Devon for years.”

Over the weekend, according to county police, Dixon fired 21 bullets at a west Columbia house where a crowded Halloween party was in progress, striking and killing Aaron Brice, 19, of Silver Spring.

One of the bullets also hit Quick — paralyzing the young man who helped save Dixon four years earlier.

It wasn’t the first time police have accused Dixon, 22, of carrying a gun in quiet Howard County. It also wasn’t the first time Dixon has been charged with committing a crime against one of his friends.

But the Nov. 1 shooting in the 11500 block of Manorstone Lane was the most violent and serious of a series of charges against Dixon that include four separate convictions and three separate felony indictments.

Most recently, in late 2007, Dixon was sent away to prison on a three-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Had he not been released early for good behavior, he still would have been in prison at the time of the shooting.

“Can they get guns so fast?” Howard asked. “It’s unfortunate. I feel bad for the young man who died.

“I feel so sorry for them,” Howard added of Brice’s family. “They had to bury their child.”

Victim ‘a quiet child’

A Howard High graduate who is majoring in finance and business at Bowie State, Quick, 22, set off for the party on Halloween night with a friend, Howard said.

“He is a quiet child,” said his grandmother, who raised him. “He never causes trouble. I knew he was going to the party and I told him, ‘Be safe, Nathaniel.’ ”

But things turned ugly at the party. Police said an argument broke out, and, the next thing Quick knew, he heard gunfire and felt a pain in the back.

“All he knows is he got hit in the back,” Howard said. “He didn’t see Devon there. I don’t why Devon was there or what his problem was. To be shooting people outside? That’s a mystery to me.”

Howard said police told her that the bullet that struck her grandson ricocheted off a window and was not intended for Quick.

“He’s hanging in there,” she said of her grandson, whom she has visited every day at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. “He’s paralyzed from the waist down. He knows it, but it hasn’t really hit him.

“He used to walk every day. He loves to walk. He just bought two new pairs of sneakers. Now he says, ‘Grandma, I don’t have any legs. Grandma, my legs.’ ”

Howard said Dixon came to visit her shortly after the shooting. Upon learning that Quick was paralyzed, he looked distraught, she said.

“He asked, ‘How was Nathaniel,’ and I said, ‘Well, he’s paralyzed from the waist down.’ He just walked out, like he was so in pain or hurt,” Howard said.

Long criminal record

Dixon’s adult criminal record began only days after he became an adult. Less than one month after his 18th birthday, a Howard County police SWAT team was raiding his former residence in Columbia — the first of two times the tactical unit would be called to deal with Dixon.

In February of 2005, Howard County police suspected Dixon of being “in possession of a handgun,” and obtained a search warrant for his home in the 8800 block of Hayshed Lane, according to an investigation done by officers James Iacarino and Brian Tanhauser.
On Feb. 11, 2005, at 5:30 a.m., tactical officers rammed in the front door of the home, damaging the lock, and searched Dixon’s bedroom.

There, officers found 63 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition, a jar with marijuana residue and bags used for packaging drugs, police said. Dixon was charged with marijuana possession and struck a plea deal for probation later that year.

A few months later, Dixon was shot while attempting to rob a drug dealer working out of a barbershop.

On July 17, 2005, according to police, Dixon and another man entered the Barber King salon in the Long Reach Village Center  at 1 a.m. and attempted the robbery. Gunfire broke out and an unarmed Dixon was struck by a bullet. He was rushed to Howard County General Hospital by Quick, whom police described as a “friend.”

Dixon was sentenced to 110 days, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery.

Drug charges initially filed against Quick were dismissed because of insufficient evidence, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Out of jail, back in trouble

After serving several months in jail, Dixon was released and, court records show, went back to committing crimes.

On Aug. 20, 2006, he beat and robbed a man outside his Hayshed Lane house, causing the SWAT team to engage him in a “standoff,” according to police.

The victim in the case told police he was robbed by two suspects who struck him from behind and stole his cell phone. When the two ran into Dixon’s home, police used a tactical unit to “peacefully” talk them into surrendering, according to court records.

After a search of the house, police said they found empty gel capsules and other evidence of drug distribution.

“Dixon admitted to his involvement in the robbery,” wrote Cpl. Justin Baker in charging documents. “Dixon also admitted the pills and powder … was ecstasy. Dixon advised he had not sold (drugs) for a long period of time.”

He pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and was sentenced to three years in prison Aug. 28, 2007.

Before that sentencing, Dixon, who was out on bail, was charged with yet another crime.

On April 12, 2007, he was accused of burglarizing his friend’s house in the 8500 block of Winter Pasture Way, in Columbia. Dixon was friends with the family’s son, but that didn’t stop him from sneaking inside the house to steal the family’s PlayStation 3 video game system, according to charging documents.

On Dec. 12, 2007, Dixon was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft in the case.

Johns Hopkins criminologist Doug Ward said cases such as Dixon’s — which show escalating criminal behavior with no rehabilitation — present a problem for law enforcement all over the country.

“This is a big problem everywhere,” he said. “We call it a criminal justice system, but it’s not much of a system. There are competing interests here. You have police officers who are trying to build good cases …. and you have a so-called correctional system, where part of the goal is to keep them in prison and part is to get them out as quickly as possible to free up beds.”

Ward said oftentimes parole and probation agents — who are supposed to keep a close eye on newly released inmates — are too overwhelmed by large workloads to do an effective job of monitoring ex-cons.

“Parole and probation agents are supposed to keep watch over them,” he said. “In a lot of cases, it doesn’t happen, and this is one of them.”

Calls to Dixon’s residence, and the office of his former attorney, Ivan Bates, went unreturned.

Dixon, who now lives at the 8000 block of Paul Martin Drive, in Elkridge, is being held without bond at the Howard County Detention Center.

Dean Schroyer, 21, who lives with Dixon, is charged as an accessory to the murder after the fact and with a drug violation, according to police. Schroyer has been released on $50,000 bond. He has no previous criminal record.

Dixon has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 1 in Howard County District Court.