On the Record

The FBI has released audio excerpts from phone conversations between former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife, Leslie Johnson.

Jack Johnson

Have you forgotten about the Johnsons already? Perhaps these partial transcripts will “refresh your recollection” as to why these conversations — and this story — made national news almost exactly a year ago.

Here’s s a partial transcript from the first clip.

Leslie Johnson: “What do you want me to do with this money? They are banging! What do you want me to…”

Jack Johnson: “Put it… put it in your panties and walk out of the house.”

LJ: “No! But I mean all this cash, Jack! I got the one from down…”

JJ: “Put it in your panties, Leslie.”

LJ: “Oh my god. Okay.”

Click here to listen to the first clip (mp3)

And here’s a partial transcript from the second clip:

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I’ve received a phone call once or twice from an interview subject asking to omit a background detail from a story.

Whether the detail remains or gets cut often depends on how it relates to the story as a whole. But, in general, a story about someone involved in criminal proceedings includes some reference to his or her criminal record, even if it is only to say there is no record.

Which brings us to a Massachusetts courtroom Wednesday, where Joanna Snyder appeared for a scheduling hearing in a drug case. Snyder asked the judge to order a Salem News reporter to stop writing about her.

It seems the stories would include “details about Snyder’s long criminal history,” details “that upset her and her 19-year-old daughter, who recently had a baby.”

The judge told Snyder people upset with a newspaper story usually write a letter to the editor.

“I have no authority to control the press,” the judge said.

News of the court hearing was reported in the Salem News by Julie Manganis — the same Julie Manganis who wrote the other stories about Snyder. And somehow I don’t think Wednesday’s story on Snyder will be Manganis’ last.

(HT: Romenesko)

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Thomas Maettig says Millersville con man Bill Hillar’s U.S. Army Special Forces impersonation scheme wasn’t necessarily as sophisticated as one would expect, given that he fooled at least 24 organizations — including the FBI — over a period of 12 years.

Hillar, whose real military experience consisted of eight years in the Coast Guard Reserves, was sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to wire fraud for using fake credentials to make $170,000 teaching counter-terrorism and human trafficking courses to colleges, universities and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and DEA.

He got away with it until a real special forces veteran obtained Hillar’s military records and outed him online in October 2010.

But Maettig, who took Hillar’s one-credit counter-terrorism course at the Monterey Institute for International Studies in 2007, said there were warning signs long before that.

“Red flags — yes, many,” Maettig wrote in an email from Nigeria, where he now works for a German non-profit. ”His course was absolutely devoid of content. He spent hours requesting our expectations and ideas about what we would like to discuss in the following 1.5 days and didn’t get back to it at all. He wasted time. He had us conduct a pointless self-assessment test and spent hours talking about his personal experience. Basically, the class had no content and no structure.”

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Enjoy today’s sunshine while you can… looks like Maryland’s going to have a doozy of a weather week. And, if you’re technologically inclined, head outside and catch up on these legal links.

• Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher had the name, address and photo of the guy who burgled his home, after the guy posted pictures of himself on Fisher’s son’s Facebook page, wearing Fisher’s new winter coat, natch. It took police a lot longer to nab the guy, because, in the their words, burglaries just aren’t taken seriously. Even more surprising to Fisher was that it’s rare for thieves to do serious time.
• The first FOIA suit seeking photos of Osama bin Laden after his capture and death has been filed.]
• Catching up with Hogan Lovells one year after the merger that created the super-sized firm.
• Your case will be heard in The Daily Record Courtroom #2. Not likely.
• On the job bullying.
• The former management company of reality TV star Bethenny Frankel (left) wants the $12 million it says she owes the company for helping her develop her Skinnygirl Cocktail brand, which she just sold for a cool $120 million.
• Do the hopes and dreams of non-legal majors come down to this reality in today’s job market?

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As one of our website commenters noted this week, who hasn’t wanted to stick it to the man? Many people equate beating a traffic ticket with just that, and James Liskow’s story of finding a typo in a 5-year-old statute struck a chord with Daily Record readers, making it the most-read story this week by the paper’s legal affairs reporting team.

1. Speed camera ticket tossed over typo in Md. law – by Danny Jacobs
James Liskow beat his speed camera ticket literally by a letter in the law.

2. Md. disbars estate-planning lawyer over forgeries – by Danielle Ulman
The state’s top court has disbarred a Virginia lawyer also admitted to practice in Maryland after he allowed a woman to forge her terminally ill mother’s signature on estate documents.

3. Jolivet’s son convicted of theft, plans appeal – by Brendan Kearney
The son of Maryland Minority Contractors Association President Arnold M. Jolivet has been convicted of theft for charging more than $4,000 in car rental bills over several months to his state-issued credit card.

4. Top court sides with trial lawyer in separate cases decided on same day – by Danielle Ulman
Workdays don’t get much better than the one criminal lawyer Andrew V. Jezic had last Tuesday.

5. Judge acquits 3rd Baltimore officer of misconduct – Brendan Kearney
In his first trial as Baltimore City state’s attorney, Gregg L. Bernstein convinced the jury but not the judge.

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Verdicts, settlements and a big-ticket donation dominated the legal news this week. Here are the most-read stories by members of The Daily Record’s legal affairs reporting team.

1. Lockheed’s loss was the Maryland State Law Library’s gain – by Steve Lash
Bernice G. Bernstein began her career before Maryland had a state law library — or an intermediate appellate court.

2. Walk-out earns Frederick lawyer 60-day suspension – by Barbara Grzincic
An attorney who walked out of district court after a judge refused to put his client’s case on the stet docket will be suspended from the practice of law for 60 days, the state’s highest court has held.

3. Baltimore can proceed with suit against Wells Fargo – by Brendan Kearney
It took more than three years and three major edits, but Baltimore’s mortgage discrimination lawsuit against banking giant Wells Fargo has finally survived a defense motion to dismiss the case.

4. Lawyer, child win $3M verdict against police – by Danielle Ulman
The jury found officers Patricia A. Poulos and Shon P. Barr violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of William E. Wallace III and his daughter Georgiana Wallace, who was 3 years old at the time of the incident in December 2007.

5. UMd. School of Law receives $30 million donation – by Danny Jacobs
The $30 million buzzword floating around the University of Maryland School of Law on Monday was “transformative.” News of the W.P. Carey Foundation’s record gift made an immediate impact — the school has officially changed its name to the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

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A few notes from day two of Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein’s first trial as top prosecutor.

-My story today alluded to two, 55-inch flat screen TVs that were unused during the first day of the trial. Today, they briefly were used by defense lawyer Ken Ravenell to show a still of surveillance video of the West Baltimore corner where the three police officers are accused of kidnapping two teenagers.

-Ravenell finished up his cross-examination of one of the teens, Shawnquin Woodland, which lasted approximately three hours over two days. Most of the interactions followed the same pattern: Ravenell would restate something Woodland told the jury under direct examination; Ravenell would show Woodland the transcript of a statement the teenager gave during previous interviews with police or prosecutors that contradicted what he told jurors; Woodland would deny ever saying what was in the transcript.

Bernstein, when it was his turn to re-direct the witness, re-read portions of the transcript aloud with Woodland and concluded by getting Woodland to confirm, over defense attorney objections, he was telling jurors the truth.

Woodland seemed to give a lot of contradictory answers depending on who was asking the questions, but he always sounded certain in whatever answer he gave. In other words, he sounded like the 17-year-old kid he is. I can imagine the following exchange would resonate with the parents of any teenager:

Ravenell: Did he ask you about the transcript?

Woodland: Yes.

Ravenell: What did he ask you?

Woodland: Nothing.

-What I was most interested to see today were the actions of defense lawyer Dave Irwin, whose client is the only one who opted for a bench trial. Both Ravenell and Michael Belsky, who represented the third officer, hammered Woodland about his seemingly contradictory statements. But Irwin declined to cross-examine Woodland when given the chance and also turned down Judge Timothy J. Doory’s offer to ask questions following Bernstein’s re-direct.

While Ravenell and Belsky loudly and repeatedly objected during Bernstein’s re-direct, Irwin remained silent, occasionally jotting down notes. We’ll keep tabs on the bench trial/jury trial dynamic as the trial moves forward.

The prosecution will continue with its case Thursday afternoon.

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On a day Baltimore (and beyond) remembers William Donald Schaefer, perhaps it’s fitting a comprehensive, statistical report about the city he loved was released.

The verdict of the Baltimore Neighborhood Alliance-Jacobs France Institute at the University of Baltimore? The city is “right-sizing.” I’ll let Matthew Kachura, the author of “Vital Signs 9,” explain:

“Right-sizing” means that the city’s expectations are in line with what can and should be expected of it. Baltimore’s population is not going to bounce back to its post-war highs, and the kind of industry boom we saw here in the 1940s and ’50s is not going to return. Instead, we’re showing resiliency by strengthening our neighborhoods in ways that improve the quality of life, whether it’s a program to rehab vacant houses or an effort to encourage high school students to graduate on time. In an era of limited resources, the city has managed to stay viable by these and dozens of other strategic investments. Based on what we’re seeing in the data, Baltimore has been experiencing some improvements during these tough times.

Not sure how the former mayor would feel about that assessment. Nevertheless, here are some of the numbers from the report:

• The city’s population was more than 635,000 in 2009, down 2.4 percent from 2000.
• The number of homes in foreclosure jumped 60 percent between 2008 and 2009, and the total is double the number from 2005.
• The teen birthrate fell from 83.3 teens out of 1,000 in 2000 to 60.1 teens per 1,000 in 2009.
• Median household income increased nearly 30 percent between 2000 and 2009, although it fell between 2008 and 2009 to just under $39,000.
• The violent crime rate fell, from 26.2 violent offenses per 1,000 people in 2000 to 15.3 in 2009.
• Juvenile arrests on drug charges declined between 2000 and 2009, as did the number of high school students who dropped out of high school.

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Good morning. Here are some law links for you on this balmy Monday:

• The Washington Post goes over the same-sex marriage vote in Maryland’s House through the eyes of Speaker Michael E. Busch.
• NPR takes us back to 1980, when then-attorney general Ben Civiletti (at left) wrote the legal opinion that Congress must say yes to the federal budget to avoid a government shutdown.
• Local-ish lawyers in love.
• For ef’s sake sounds about right.
• The moral of the story? Don’t put suggestive screen savers on your coworker’s computer, and, whatever you do, don’t put feminine products on her keyring.
• Another name emerges in the legal insider-trading scheme that has rocked D.C. and New York firms.

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Still wish you were on vacation? Most of your co-workers out for week? Here’s some “work” you can do to pass the time:

• The strange (and sad) story of Ravens rookie Sergio Kindle takes another wrong turn.
• Morris L. Cohen, one of the nation’s leading law librarians, dies at 83. (HT: Above the Law)
• The title says it all: “Male nurse who was a former stripper failed to make out claims that he was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment.”
• OK, “Matlock” fans, stand up for your show’s egregiously-low ranking. (HT: Volokh Conspiracy)
• It’s still better than a lump of coal, right?

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