Tag: maryland

Audit finds dozens of police custody deaths in Maryland should have been ruled homicides

An audit of past rulings by a controversial medical examiner found that 36 cases of police custody deaths deemed accidents should have instead been classified as homicides. 

The comprehensive review of 87 determinations regarding deaths resulting from police use of force stretched back 16 years from 2003 to 2019. It highlights the often questionable conclusions the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) used to determine that police were not culpable.  

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, whose agency managed the audit of former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler, said the audit was disturbing and that the reclassified cases warranted further scrutiny. 

“These findings are of great concern and demand further review,” Brown wrote in the preface of the report. 

The report is simply an audit. It does not formally reclassify any of the cases that have been reviewed. Normally, changing an autopsy determination requires a hearing in front of a judge.

The push to examine Fowler’s past rulings came after he testified at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was charged with murder after video surfaced of him sitting on George Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes. Floyd later died at a nearby hospital.  

The case sparked outrage and nationwide protests.  

Fowler testified that Floyd did not die from positional asphyxiation, the result of the downward pressure of Chauvin’s knee. Instead, he attributed carbon monoxide poisoning from a nearby tailpipe to be the primary cause. 

The testimony sent shockwaves through the medical community. An open letter penned by roughly 450 medical experts called for a review of Fowler’s rulings in light of his testimony. The pushback prompted the state to undertake a comprehensive audit, the findings of which were released in a 90-page report. 

But prior to Fowler’s testimony and the subsequent review of his rulings, family members of victims and activists had been calling attention to his determinations. TRNN also consulted an independent pathologist to review Fowler’s cases. 

Among them is the death of a 19-year-old Eastern Shore resident, Anton Black. 

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Maryland governor vetoes reparations bill

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) says he has vetoed a state-approved bill to create a commission to study and recommend reparations for slavery and racial discrimination. 

In his veto letter sent Friday, Moore pointed to several commissions the state has already approved, including the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the State Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of the History and Legacy of Slavery in Maryland. 

“I will always protect and defend the full history of African Americans in our state and country,” Moore wrote in his letter. “But in light of the many important studies that have taken place on this issue over nearly three decades, now is the time to focus on the work itself: Narrowing the racial wealth gap, expanding homeownership, uplifting entrepreneurs of color, and closing the foundational disparities that lead to inequality — from food insecurity to education.”

Moore, the state’s first Black governor and the nation’s only sitting Black governor, also pointed to the rise of Black politicians in recent years, including Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D), who is Maryland’s first Black female senator, and noted the state has a Black attorney general, Black state House Speaker and Black treasurer.

“We have moved in partnership with leaders across the state to uplift Black families and address racial disparities in our communities,” Moore said. “That is the context in which I’ve made this difficult decision. Because while I appreciate the work that went into this legislation, I strongly believe now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”

The bill, a top priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, detailed a host of potential reparations, including official statements of apology, financial compensation, assistance with making a down payment on a home, debt forgiveness and tuition payment waivers for higher education.

The bill passed last month with a 101-36 vote in the state’s House.  

The Legislative Black Caucus condemned Moore’s veto Friday.

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HHS to reexamine massive $89 billion contract awarded to California nonprofit: Report

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reportedly reconsidering a massive contract the National Cancer Institute awarded to a California nonprofit in January to operate a cancer research lab in Maryland.

The $89 billion award was given to the Alliance for Advancing Biomedical Research on January 17, just three days before former President Joe Biden left office. The nonprofit is also considered untested because it has not received or spent a penny since its inception in 2022, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday.

The HHS notified the Government Accountability Office earlier this month that it is reevaluating all the original bids for the contract, which means it could give the money to another company.

The organization is also tied to the University of California system, which Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has accused of using 40% of its federal funding for administrative purposes, and criticized for allegedly being vulnerable to China.

“It’s outrageous Biden’s NIH shoved a nearly $90 billion contract out the door just days before President Trump returned to office,” Grassley told the Free Beacon. “Even worse, the money would have flowed to an organization that can’t clearly protect itself from adversaries like China. 

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Maryland Governor Signs Marijuana Bills To Legalize Homemade Concentrates, Set Consumption Lounge Rules And Shield Conviction Records

The governor of Maryland has signed a series of cannabis bills, including one that will require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday also gave final approval to a separate bill meant to clear up policies around on-site marijuana consumption businesses, lay out the plan for a second cannabis licensing lottery round and allow business owners to sell their companies to employees ahead of a current five-year waiting period.

And he further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use.

“Marylanders who have served their time and turned their lives around are being unfairly blocked from jobs, housing and opportunity—and that doesn’t just hurt them, it hurts all of us,” Moore said ahead of the expungement bill signing.

“I want to be very clear: This is not about letting criminals or repeat offenders off the hook. It’s about common sense,” he said. “The people who will be helped out by this reform are our neighbors and our parents, even people in our congregation. They’re people who just want to move forward but keep hitting a wall made of paperwork.”

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Attorney General Releases Police Records Detailing Abrego Garcia’s Criminal History

On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released police records showing Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the “Maryland man” who was deported to his native El Salvador by the Trump administration, was in fact a member of MS-13 and was in the United States illegally.

Contrary to the assertions of Garcia’s lawyers (and many in the corporate press) that there’s no evidence he’s a member of MS-13 and that the cops just made it all up, the police affidavit from Garcia’s arrest in March 2019 shows that Garcia was arrested with multiple other confirmed MS-13 gang members, was wearing clothing associated with the gang, and was identified by a confidential police informant as a confirmed MS-13 gang member with a rank and a moniker.

Here’s what the police record said. Garcia and three other men were arrested outside a Home Depot by Hyattsville City Police in Maryland, and as police approached them, “two of the individuals reached into their waistbands and discarded several unknown items under a parked vehicle,” according to the affidavit. One of the men, Christhyan Hernandez-Romero, was immediately recognized by police as a member of the MS-13 Sailors Clique. Hernandez-Romero, police said, “has an extensive criminal history for multiple assault, concealing dangerous weapon, burglary and many other offenses.” They even knew his rank and moniker, which was “Bimbo.”

Another of the men, Jose Guillermo Dominguez, was covered in MS-13 gang tattoos and was identified by “a past proven and reliable source” as an active MS-13 gang member with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Maniaco.”

As for Garcia, police recognized his clothing as “indicative of Hispanic gang culture,” and that he was a “member in good standing with the MS-13.” The same confidential informant told police that Garcia had the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele.” In addition, the arrest record shows that Garcia was by his own admission an illegal alien from El Salvador who had entered the U.S. by walking across the border near McAllen, Texas, in March 2012. At the time of his arrest in Maryland while loitering outside a Home Depot, he had $1,178 in cash on him. Several plastic bottles containing marijuana were also found near the men after their arrest. 

The fourth man was released after police were unable to determine his gang affiliation, which calls into serious question the claim by Garcia’s lawyers that the cops were just making up his affiliation with MS-13. If so, why didn’t they do so with this fourth man?

This police record is likely what multiple immigration judges, as well as the Board of Immigration Appeals, relied on when finding that “the evidence shows that he [Garcia] is a verified member of MS-13.”

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The ‘Maryland Man’ Hoax Is Designed To Criminalize Immigration Enforcement

The propaganda press’s latest manufactured sob story isn’t just another hit piece targeting President Donald Trump — it’s part of a manufactured, strategic campaign to guilt Americans out of supporting immigration enforcement and delegitimize the very concept of national borders.

Last month the Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member from El Salvador — to a prison in El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia crossed the border illegally in 2011 and was detained in March of 2019. He was charged with removability and was later denied bond when an immigration judge concluded that evidence “show[ed] [Abrego Garcia] is a verified member of MS-13” and found that he failed to prove “that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others.” As explained by Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article 3 Project, Abrego filed an asylum claim six months later. In turn, a judge ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador. As Chamberlain explained, “Any third country would be sufficient.”

Following legal challenges, “The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison,” as reported by Fox News.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said he had no plans to send Garcia back to the United States. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele told reporters on Monday. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”

But reading the headlines from the left-wing media, one would think the administration snatched a soccer dad off the streets of Baltimore.

The Associated Press’s Seung Min Kim and Marcos Alemán wrote, “El Salvador President Bukele says he won’t be releasing a Maryland man back to the US.” Politico’s Myah Ward and Eli Stokols wrote, “El Salvador won’t return wrongly deported Maryland man.” The New York Times’ Zolan Kanno-Youngs wrote, “El Salvador’s Leader Says He Won’t Return Wrongly Deported Maryland Man.” And NBC News ran the headline “El Salvador won’t return Maryland man to the U.S …”

This “reporting” wasn’t sloppy journalism; it was a deliberate reframing designed to erase the distinction between criminal deportation and family separation, between illegal alien and U.S. citizen. And it isn’t just the left-wing legacy media spreading the misinformation — Democrats joined in, treating the alleged MS-13 member like some long-lost neighbor.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he “intend[s] to go to El Salvador this week to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s condition and discuss his release.”

“Kilmar was illegally ABDUCTED and deported by the Trump admin. He must be brought home NOW.”

But it was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s post on X that said the quiet part out loud: “If President Trump can wrongly deport a Maryland father to a prison in El Salvador and then defy a 9-0 Supreme Court order to facilitate bringing him home, who’s next?”

“This threatens the rights and freedoms of everyone in the United States,” she continued.

And there it is. The entire “Maryland man” hoax isn’t about the single deportation of an illegal alien illegally residing in the United States — it’s simply being exploited by the left in their psychological operation designed to gin up opposition to Trump and terrify Americans into ceding their right to reclaim their sovereignty and deport foreign nationals.

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Maryland Bill To Shield Records For Pardoned Marijuana Offenses From Public Access Heads To Governor’s Desk

Maryland lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

The legislation from Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) cleared the Senate last month and passed the House in a 101-38 vote last week. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Wes Moore (D), who requested that the measure be filed at the beginning of the session.

Under the proposal, the Maryland Judiciary Case Search could no longer “in any way refer to the existence of records of a charge of possession of cannabis in a case with electronic records if the charge resulted in a conviction that was later pardoned by the Governor.”

Last year, Moore granted a mass pardon of more than 175,000 convictions around cannabis and paraphernalia offenses, the records of which would be blocked from public access under the bill that’s been sent to his desk. Pardons represent formal forgiveness from the executive, but such relief doesn’t remove the records.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a blog post on Tuesday.

“Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that elected officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization,” he said.

According to NORML, more than 350,000 cannabis-related pardons and over two million expungements have been processed nationwide since 2018.

In February, the governor discussed the bill the legislature has now passed, stressing that it would expand opportunities for people to have their criminal records for marijuana expunged by allowing people who violated terms of their parole or probation to petition courts to erase those records.

“A cornerstone of our effort this year will be helping ensure that we confront this myth that every single sentence needs to be treated like a life sentence,” the governor said, “and that is why this session I have introduced legislation to build on the historic cannabis pardons that I signed into law last year, the largest state pardon in our nation’s history.”

The legislation would expand the range of offenses eligible for expungement and remove a requirement that people satisfy “parole, probation, or mandatory supervision” before petitioning a court to expunge their criminal records.

Instead, the proposal would require only that people complete the sentence and wait a certain number of years, depending on the nature of the conviction.

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Maryland Bill To Let Adults Make Marijuana Edibles And Concentrates At Home Heads To The Governor

A Maryland House bill that would allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use is officially heading to the governor. And a Senate companion version of the measure is also advancing through the legislature.

On Wednesday, the Senate gave final approval to the House-passed legislation from Dels. David Moon (D) and Luke Clippinger (D), voting 38-9 to send it to Gov. Wes Moore (D). The companion from Sen. William Smith (D), meanwhile, cleared the Senate in a 35-8 vote last week and now pending before the House of Delegates Rules and Executive Nominations Committee.

While the state’s cannabis law already allows adults to cultivate their own plants, the measures  would expand their options to account for non-flower marijuana products that can be made at home.

However, they would continue to prohibit the use of volatile solvents to create cannabis concentrates.

Under the legislation, possession, cultivation and distribution of high-volume cannabis in excess of 50 pounds would no longer be considered a felony punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. Instead, it would be a misdemeanor carrying a maximum 10 year sentence and/or a $50,000 fine.

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Maryland Democrats Pass “Sleep Tax” – Is A Thinking Tax Next?

Maryland lawmakers are scrambling to address a staggering $3.3 billion budget shortfall.

To close the gap, far-left Governor Wes Moore and activist Democrats have proposed a wave of tax hikes that would hit Marylanders’ wallets the hardest amid a deepening affordability crisis. 

With power bills already skyrocketing to record highs for many folks due to backfiring and disastrous green energy policies, these same progressive lawmakers are creating even more nightmares for taxpayers—this time by proposing a tax that effectively targets sleep.

A small but vocal group of conservative Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates were stunned on Friday when far-left Democrats pushed through HB 858—a bill that establishes a mattress stewardship program under the guise of promoting safe disposal and recycling. This is another tax on Marylanders as the state sinks into financial turmoil and elevated credit downgrade risks. The new 6% tax on mattresses is on top of the existing 6% sales tax. 

Del. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert), one of the leaders of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, blasted the “Sleep Tax” and asked if there would be a “snoring surcharge.”

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Disney’s Kermit the Frog Invited as Commencement Speaker at University of Maryland

Famed Sesame Street puppet Kermit the Frog has been scheduled as the 2025 commencement speaker for the University of Maryland, reports say.

Jim Henson’s popular puppet character debuted during a local TV series in Washington D.C. in 1955 and later on Henson’s popular kids’ show, Sesame Street — before breaking out as the star of The Muppet Show. Henson, who died in 1990 of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, graduated the university in 1960.

The university published a biography of their puppet speaker, claiming Kermit is an “environmental advocate, a Peabody Award Winner, best-selling author, and international superstar,” according to CBS News.

“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” UMD President Darryll Pines said in a statement. “Our pride in Jim Henson knows no bounds, and it is an honor to welcome Kermit the Frog to our campus, 65 years after Mr. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland.”

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