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Jury rejects death penalty for Stephens
One week ago, defense attorney Gary Proctor had begged the jurors to spare the life of his client. He reminded them that a life sentence would mean just that: Lee E. Stephens, already incarcerated for another murder, would die behind bars in a cell the size of a bathroom. “He will pay and pay dearly,” […]
Top 5: ‘We like big cases’
Jury deliberations in an Anne Arundel County capital murder case and a pioneering change in Maryland corporate law are among the most-read legal affairs stories of the week. The list also includes to titans of the Baltimore legal scene teaming up to take on Facebook and a Court of Appeals ruling on DNA evidence. The […]
Week in review – 2/24/12: Grand Prix deal gets OK
Grand Prix deal gets OK Baltimore’s Board of Estimates voted 3-2 Wednesday to approve a contract with Downforce Racing LLC for the right to run the Baltimore Grand Prix for the next five years. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, City Solicitor George A. Nilson and Director of Public Works Alfred H. Foxx voted to approve the contract; Comptroller […]
Stephens’ death sentence clears DNA hurdle
An Anne Arundel jury on Monday moved one step closer to handing down the death penalty against Lee E. Stephens, an inmate convicted of ambushing and murdering a corrections officer at the now-closed Maryland House of Correction in 2006. The case now moves into a second phase of sentencing where aggravating and mitigating factors will […]
Stephens guilty of first-degree murder; sentencing starts Monday
ANNAPOLIS — Lee E. Stephens was convicted Thursday of the first-degree murder of a corrections officer at the now-closed Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. He faces the death penalty when sentencing begins next week. An Anne Arundel County jury deliberated for nearly 40 hours over whether Stephens killed Cpl. David McGuinn in an ambush […]
Jurors get accused killer’s capital murder case
ANNAPOLIS — Depending on who was talking, the prosecution’s star witness in the death penalty case against Lee E. Stephens was either a courageous observer who faced the wrath of his fellow inmates or a brazen gangster who only came forward to shave time off his sentence in an unrelated case. Stephens is accused, along […]
Week in review: 1/13/12
Apartments at Tremont Baltimore’s Tremont Plaza Hotel will soon convert back to its original purpose: apartments. The owners of the 390-suite property said Monday the rooms would soon be altered into apartments and long-term stay places. Sales tax increase proposed Gov. Martin O’Malley floated a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax on Wednesday as […]
Jury hears opening statements in trial over guard’s stabbing
Opening statements in the death penalty case against Lee E. Stephens started Wednesday morning in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, laying the groundwork for a trial that is expected to last six weeks. As a group, the 12 jurors and five alternates are racially diverse but mostly female, with three white men, seven black women […]
Capital murder trial starts in prison guard’s stabbing
Opening statements are set to begin this week in the capital murder trial of Lee E. Stephens, 32, who is accused of murdering a prison guard in 2006 at the now-closed Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup. Stephens’ case marks the fifth time in about 15 years that Anne Arundel prosecutors have sought the death […]
Prison guard’s accused killer loses battle over mental-health records
The mental health treatment records of an inmate who is accused of killing a correctional officer must be turned over to a circuit court judge, the state’s highest court has said. Defense lawyers in the capital case against Lamar C. Harris say the records are privileged, but the Court of Appeals on Friday said the […]
Court: Death-penalty trial can proceed
ANNAPOLIS — The death-penalty trial of a man accused of stabbing a Jessup prison guard to death can proceed, Maryland’s top court said Tuesday. The Court of Appeals, in a one-sentence order, lifted a stay it issued, pending appeal, in January preventing the trial of Lee E. Stephens from beginning in Anne Arundel County Circuit […]
