The D.C. sniper attacks were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002 in the District of Columbia,Maryland,and Virginia. Ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia.
John Allen Muhammad was an American convicted murderer from Baton Rouge,Louisiana. He,along with his partner and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo,a native of Kingston,Jamaica,carried out the D.C. sniper attacks of October 2002,killing 10 people. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24,2002,following tips from alert citizens. Although the actions of the two individuals were classified by the media as psychopathy attributable to serial killer characteristics,whether or not their psychopathy meets this classification or as a spree killer is debated by researchers.
Ex parte Merryman,17 F. Cas. 144 (No. 9487),is a well-known and controversial U.S. federal court case that arose out of the American Civil War. It was a test of the authority of the President to suspend "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus" under the Constitution's Suspension Clause,when Congress was in recess and therefore unavailable to do so itself. More generally,the case raised questions about the ability of the executive branch to decline enforcement of judicial decisions when the executive believes them to be erroneous and harmful to its own legal powers.
Lee Boyd Malvo,also known as John Lee Malvo,is a convicted murderer who,along with John Allen Muhammad,committed murders in connection with the Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington Metropolitan Area over a three-week period in October 2002. Malvo was aged 16–17 during the span of the shootings. Currently,he is serving multiple life sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia,a supermax prison. Muhammad was executed in 2009.
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport,tourist attraction,and landmark of the city of Baltimore,Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". The Inner Harbor is located at the mouth of Jones Falls,creating the wide and short northwest branch of the Patapsco River. The district includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum.
The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) provides police services to the city of Baltimore,Maryland. The department is organized into ten districts;nine geographical and the Public Housing Section. It polices 80.9 square miles (210 km2) of land and 11.1 square miles (29 km2) of waterways. The department is sometimes referred to as the Baltimore City Police Department to distinguish it from the Baltimore County Police Department.
Edward T. Norris is an American radio host and former law enforcement officer in Maryland. He is the cohost of a talk show on WJZ-FM in Baltimore,Maryland. Norris,a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department,served as Police Commissioner for Baltimore from 2000 to late 2002 and Superintendent of the Maryland State Police in 2003. Norris was later convicted of a felony and spent six months in federal prison.
Douglas Friend Gansler is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 45th Attorney General of Maryland. Gansler previously served as the State's Attorney for Montgomery County,Maryland from 1999 to 2007. He won nomination in the state Democratic primary election for Attorney General and defeated Republican Scott Rolle in the 2006 general election,taking 61% of the vote. He was re-elected unopposed in the 2010 election. Gansler lost the Democratic Primary race for Governor of Maryland on June 24,2014 to Anthony G. Brown.
Jill P. Carter is an American politician who represents Maryland's 41st legislative district of Baltimore City in the Maryland State Senate. She previously represented the same district in the Maryland House of Delegates. She was elected to the Maryland legislature in 2002 and took office in January 2003,resigning in 2017. She was appointed to the state Senate on May 4,2018. She won the 2018 primary election,receiving 54% of the vote,handily defeating Martin O’Malley's son-in-law,educator J.D Merrill and former senator Nathaniel T. Oaks and faced no opposition in the 2018 general election.
Law enforcement is an integral part of the HBO drama series The Wire. The show has numerous characters in this field and their roles range from those enforcing the law at street level up to those setting laws citywide. The Baltimore City Police Department has been explored in detail from street level characters to the upper echelons of command. The show has also examined those setting laws in city politics and touched upon the FBI,the correctional system and the family of police officers.
On December 7,2006,the George W. Bush Administration's Department of Justice ordered the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States attorneys. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage. Allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters. The U.S. attorneys were replaced with interim appointees,under provisions in the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization.
Thomas Edward Perez is an American politician and attorney who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 until January 2021. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (2009–2013) and United States Secretary of Labor (2013–2017). He was a GU Politics Fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service in 2021.
This article about dismissed U.S. attorneys summarizes the circumstances surrounding a number of U.S. attorneys dismissed from office in the United States Department of Justice in 2006. Eight were dismissed In December 2006,and others may have been forced out of office under similar circumstances in 2005 and 2006. The manner of the firings,the congressional response to them,and the explanations offered by Bush administration officials are aspects of a political controversy starting in the first quarter of 2007. As of May 2007 a clear explanation of why the attorneys were dismissed had not been put forward by the Bush administration or the Department of Justice leadership. There are in total 93 U.S. attorneys that serve 94 Federal district courts.
Thomas L. Bromwell is a former Democratic state senator in Maryland,United States.
Brian E. Frosh is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Attorney General of Maryland. He also served five terms in the Maryland State Senate,representing Maryland's District 16 in Montgomery County. Prior to serving in the Senate,Frosh also represented District 16 in the Maryland House of Delegates,serving two four-year terms.
CASA de Maryland (CASA) is a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization based in Maryland. It is active throughout the state,but has major foci in Prince George's County,Montgomery County and Baltimore. CASA influences Maryland politics on a wide range of policies,ranging from law-enforcement to education.
Rod Jay Rosenstein is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment,he served as a United States attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General in April 2017,he was the nation's longest-serving U.S. attorney. Rosenstein had also been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2007,but his nomination was never considered by the U.S. Senate.
Baltimore,Maryland,U.S. is notorious for its significantly high crime rate,including a violent crime rate that ranks high above the national average. Violent crime spiked in 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray on April 19,2015,which touched off riots and an increase in murders. The city recorded 348 homicides in 2019,a number second only to the number recorded in 1993 when the population was nearly 125,000 higher.
On April 12,2015,Freddie Carlos Gray Jr.,a 25-year-old African American,was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department over possessing a knife. While being transported in a police van,Gray sustained injuries and was taken to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. Gray died on April 19,2015;his death was ascribed to injuries to his spinal cord. On April 21,2015,pending an investigation of the incident,six Baltimore police officers were suspended. The circumstances of the injuries were initially unclear;eyewitness accounts suggested that the officers involved used unnecessary force against Gray during the arrest—a claim denied by all officers involved. Commissioner Anthony W. Batts reported that,contrary to department policy,the officers did not secure Gray inside the van while driving to the police station;this policy had been put into effect six days prior to Gray's arrest,following review of other transport-related injuries sustained during police custody in the city,and elsewhere in the country during the preceding years. The medical investigation found that Gray had sustained the injuries while in transport. The medical examiner's office concluded that Gray's death could not be ruled an accident,and was instead a homicide,because officers failed to follow safety procedures "through acts of omission." On May 1,2015,the Baltimore City State's Attorney,Marilyn Mosby,announced her office had filed charges against six police officers after the medical examiner's report ruled Gray's death a homicide.
Thiruvendran "Thiru" Vignarajah is an American lawyer and politician. He previously was Deputy Attorney General of Maryland. He has also been a federal prosecutor,clerked for Justice Stephen G. Breyer,and was President of the Harvard Law Review. He is now a litigation partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Baltimore. He has also been the lead attorney for the State of Maryland in the post-conviction appeals of Adnan Syed,who was convicted of the high-profile 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee.
