Criminal justice

A 65-year-old man in a wheelchair is on trial for murder after an alleged fight over $70 worth of cigarettes led to a fatal shooting inside an East Baltimore senior complex.

The judge called the ex-FBI agent’s offenses, which included the rape and sexual assault of young women, “some of the most difficult and troubling circumstances I’ve ever heard.”

Akwalabeng Fontava, 29, was found killed in a North Bethesda apartment the morning of Sept. 21. According to court records, two people inside the apartment were then kidnapped, including Fontava’s girlfriend and a relative who was sleeping over.

Allison Green, chief of the Maryland attorney general’s office’s Independent Investigations Division, and her deputy, Renee Joy, have resigned, office spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said in a statement. Both will leave the office after this week.

Jaylen Prince, a teenager who was found guilty of shooting and killing a classmate inside a Maryland high school in 2024, was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison with all but 75 years suspended.

Melissa Tran, a Hagerstown mom and nail salon owner, was freed five months after being detained by ICE and jailed in Washington state. A federal judge ruled that U.S. officials had no basis for prolonging her detention.

Melissa Tran was freed Sunday after spending the last five months in an ICE detention facility more than 2,700 miles from her family.

Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said the only reason he’s included on a Brady list is a 1986 parking violation that cost the county $3.

“Honestly not that surprised I’ll be carrying out the mass execution of my peers in a couple,” Jackson Elliot Fleming wrote from his home in Chesterton, Indiana, according to federal prosecutors.

Preservation Maryland plans to restore the old Ellicott City jail while also not shying away from the jail’s racist past.

Maryland’s Department of Human Services repeatedly violated a policy mandating detailed reports on child deaths tied to suspected abuse or neglect. The Baltimore Banner uncovered the problem after requesting records for all such cases over five years and finding many reports didn’t exist.

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione asked a New York federal judge Saturday to dismiss some criminal charges, including the only count for which he could face the death penalty.

A ninth grader at Parkville High School has been charged as an adult on Friday after officers found the student in possession of a gun.

Robert Adams, 55, of Dundalk, was shot and killed in the 2100 block of Larkhall Road by responding Baltimore County Police officers.

Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., the first Black person to lead the agency, is out as Maryland State Police secretary, with a former Prince George’s County sheriff and state senator tapped as his replacement, Gov. Wes Moore announced.

Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie, cast members on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Potomac," allegedly lied about their house being burglarized in Carroll County.

Baltimore County Police responded to a shooting Wednesday night that turned into a barricade situation in Dundalk.

Former Black Guerrilla Family leader Ricky Evans has been waiting seven years to be sentenced. That's because he's spent that time helping authorities make other cases.

A stabbing at a Pikesville home Tuesday morning turned into a barricade situation, leaving two adults hospitalized and drawing a heavy police presence to the normally quiet suburb.

Baltimore County Police charged a 33-year-old man with attempted murder after an “extremely brutal” attack that lasted three minutes and left a woman critically injured with more than a dozen stab wounds.