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Today in Baltimore City Circuit Court bail reviews: Judge Jones is presiding. She reads the usual warning about recording.
CASE 1: parties have agreed to ROR with pretrial services supervision. Judge Jones orders same.
CASE 2: a man who has been in jail for 4 months. Since his arrest, state has dropped multiple charges, leaving only misdemeanors. His atty has obtained video that "seriously undermine" the complaining witness account (it also implicates the CW). Video has been given to the state.
Defense atty says the assigned ASA has told her they will agree to private home detention, but defense request is ROR. He has children at home, a job, and a stable place to live. ASA Seidel says "I agree with everything" defense said and that state will agree to ROR.
Pretrial recommends ROR. Judge Jones orders ROR with pretrial services supervision.
CASE 3: a woman in her 50s who has conditions that require several medications. Her atty is working on finding her an inpatient treatment placement. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 4: a man with asthma who has 4 children at home. He is asking to be released to inpatient treatment. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts, including mentions of pictures they saw while stalking the man on IG. State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 5: a young man who was on home detention but was alleged to have violated the terms because he went to a relative's house to pick up medication and was rearrested. The underlying incident for which he was charged was one in which he was the victim of a shooting.
The state had offered him a plea, but he doesn't want to plead guilty to possession of something that had several other people's DNA on it. He would already have been home by now if he'd taken the plea.
He was on home detention for 9 months with no issues and his mom was paying the fees. He had been critically injured in the shooting (which killed another person) and still requires ongoing hospital-based treatment.
Prior to his rearrest, his atty had prepared a motion to modify his status to ROR because the home detention fees were becoming prohibitive. All told between home detention and jail time, he has a year in on a case where he hasn't had a trial.
His dr has recently informed his atty that he needs surgery. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends private home detention. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 6: a young man who is alleged to have violated his probation by incurring new charges in another jurisdiction. That jurisdiction has dropped some of the charges and placed him on home detention for the remaining one.
He's asking to be released on the VOP here. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. The other jurisdiction's pretrial agent is on the line and says they aren't making a recommendation. Baltimore City pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 7: a man whose trial was originally scheduled for January but was postponed due to COVID and will probably not happen until late 2021/early 2022, by which time he will have been in jail around 18 months. He's asking to be released to inpatient treatment.
ASA Hammond recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 8: a young man with a small child at home. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 9: a young man with a small child at home. He has asthma that has required infirmary stays while in jail. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts and makes a comment to Jones about how he's sure she remembers something from her time as a prosecutor. State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders private home detention.
CASE 10: a young man who's been in jail for over a year. Last year his atty worked with DJS to get him into one of their programs but then COVID hit and they couldn't take him. His mental health is declining in jail. ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
CASE 11: a man who has been in jail for over a year in a case where he has a strong self-defense argument, which is confirmed by facts contained in discovery materials provided by the state that the cops had left out of the statement of charges.
ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts, and uses the man's homelessness against him. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial was going to recommend home detention but since he can't afford it, they will recommend ROR (then why not recommend it in the first place?).
Judge Jones asks if the OPD social workers can coordinate housing and a phone, atty says yes, Judge Jones orders ROR with pretrial services supervision.
CASE 12: a man who has been in jail for well over a year. He has two small kids at home, including one born during his incarceration. He has asthma and other conditions that make him vulnerable to COVID. The state has made a plea offer.
ASA Seidel recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jones orders HWOB.
That's the end of the docket. Please be safe, get vaccinated, be aware of BPD stalking half the town on instagram, and don't call the cops on your neighbors. And if you still need something to do after all that, see the top tweet in this thread and send us a DM!
