US Attorney’s Office

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or

MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
August 23, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md

BALTIMORE MAN EXILED TO OVER 10 YEARS IN PRISON
FOR TWO ARMED CARJACKINGS

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Dennis Hairston, age 20, of Baltimore, today to 130 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit carjacking and possession of a gun in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Baltimore Field Division; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy; and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.

According to Hairston’s plea agreement, on June 11, 2009, the Baltimore City Police Department received a call reporting an armed carjacking that occurred in the 3600 block of Elmora Avenue in Baltimore. The victim reported that two men armed with handguns ordered the victim out of his car. The men got in and drove away in the vehicle. Soon thereafter, the victim’s vehicle was involved in an armed robbery. Upon further investigation of the robbery, police detectives identified one of the two suspects involved in the robbery and constructed a photo array for the carjacking victim. The victim identified Hairston, and a warrant was issued for Hairston’s arrest.

Four days later on June 15 another armed carjacking was reported, this time of a black Tahoe in the area of the 4500 block of Frederick Avenue in Baltimore. The victim stated that a man, later identified as Hairston, approached the victim asking for a ride, and the victim complied. Hairston removed a gun from his waist, cocked the hammer and pointed it at the victim’s head. Hairston told the victim to leave his wallet and cell phone in the vehicle and stated that “if you call anybody, I know where you live.” Hairston ordered the victim to exit the vehicle. The victim ran away, flagged down a motorist and called the police.

Following a police city-wide broadcast of the vehicle description, police detectives were at the intersection of N. Pulaski Street and Mulberry Avenue when they observed two suspects in the stolen vehicle. A car chase ensued and concluded when Hairston lost control of the vehicle and skidded into the front of 10 S. Exeter Street. A police helicopter, which entered the pursuit earlier, observed the two suspects flee on foot and directed the assisting police units to the suspects. Both Hairston and the passenger were apprehended shortly thereafter. Officers in the helicopter also observed one of the subjects throwing an object underneath a vehicle during the foot chase. Detectives recovered a duffle bag under a car parked near S. Exeter Street containing a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and 14 rounds of ammunition.

The detectives obtained a search warrant for the stolen vehicle and recovered a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol loaded with nine rounds of ammunition.

Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Sippel, Jr., who prosecuted this case.

DCist

As originally reported on DCist last month, the Maryland Terrapins and Texas Longhorns have agreed to face one another in a home-and-home series. Original reports were for 2014 and 2015, with games to be respectively held at FedEx Field and Texas Memorial Stadium. However, The Austin American-Statesman has now confirmed that the games will take place in Austin in 2017 and in the Washington area in 2018. Looks like Terp and Longhorn fans residing in the region will now have to wait an additional four years to attend this out of conference matchup.

Back in 2009, we told you about this possibility.

NBC Washington

The first school in the D.C. area named after the current president opens Monday morning as the school year begins in Prince George’s County.

Barack Obama Elementary School opens its doors in Upper Marlboro, Md., for the first time Monday. The school is being touted as being an environmentally friendly “green” school. There have been other schools named after President Obama in the country, but this will be a first in his own backyard in the D.C. region.

Center Maryland via Maryland Politics

Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Brian Murphy may have boosted the Republican gubernatorial long-shot’s efforts at attracting attention from the media, but it appears to do more harm than good among likely GOP primary voters, according to a new poll released Monday.

The Center Maryland / OpinionWorks telephone poll of likely Maryland voters found that former Gov. Robert Ehrlich holds a commanding lead over Murphy among Republican primary voters, 75 percent to 13 percent. (Click here to see the question and results.)

But with 11 percent of likely Republican primary voters still undecided, it’s possible that Murphy could break through Maryland’s “Fustero line” – the 20 percent threshold that political observers suggest might represent a weakness in Ehrlich’s hold over his party base.

“Brian Murphy has a distinct message, and if he gets out there, he might improve those numbers a bit,” said Steve Raabe, president and founder of the Annapolis-based OpinionWorks, which conducted the poll in conjunction with the non-profit Center Maryland. “As it stands today, Murphy may end up in the low 20s.

“I don’t see any signs that Ehrlich is in any trouble in the primary,” said Raabe, whose firm has extensive experience polling in Maryland political races, including for the Baltimore Sun during recent campaigns. “Murphy’s real impact is to hurt Ehrlich in the longer run by raising concerns about his fiscal record as Governor.”

The Center Maryland / OpinionWorks Statewide Voter Survey was conducted August 13-18, 2010. The telephone survey questioned 600 likely General Election voters statewide, and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The sample was balanced by region of the state, political party, age, gender, and race/ethnicity to reflect the characteristics of Maryland’s likely voter population.

After our previous posts on the first Sonic opening in Baltimore and reports that Landsdowne and Ellicott City might be the next locations the chain expands to in the area, we received a comment from a local blogger (Spam) who indicated that:

A friend of mine was told by a reliable source that other locations are coming to Middle River, Cockeysville/Hunt Valley, and “I think Owings Mills”.