Joseph F Jr Vallario

Despite last-minute objections from Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, legislation to expand collection of DNA samples from suspects charged with violent crimes moved a step closer to final passage yesterday, as a House committee made only...

Facing a narrow defeat for the second year in a row, the sponsor of a plan to reduce penalties for low-level drug dealers withdrew the bill from consideration in the House of Delegates yesterday, effectively killing its chances for passage this year....

The House of Delegates gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill that would allow police to collect DNA samples from criminal suspects, though the O'Malley administration plan was amended to ease black lawmakers' concerns about how the biological...

The Baltimore state's attorney who has spent two years fighting for a witness intimidation bill said yesterday that she'd "rather have nothing at all" than the heavily amended version of the bill that lawmakers are now considering in Annapolis. "This...

Breaking a long-standing impasse, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bill to crack down on witness intimidation cleared a key House of Delegates committee yesterday and is expected to be on the House floor for a preliminary review today. Ehrlich announced...

He shuffles into his seat near the back of the House of Delegates chamber, a quiet, eccentric man, occasionally rising to explain a bill in his gravelly, barely comprehensible voice. Low-profile, he may appear, but Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr., chairman...

House Judiciary Committee members grilled supporters and opponents of a high-profile witness intimidation bill yesterday on a provision that would let witnesses make statements, in certain circumstances, without appearing in court. The scrutiny could...

The legislative effort to combat witness intimidation in Maryland is drawing support from a potentially powerful group: African-American ministers in some of Baltimore's toughest neighborhoods. "Good people are scared. The law does not protect them....

About 1,000 people huddled in front of the State House yesterday to call for a constitutional ban on gay marriage in Maryland, cheering a succession of preachers and politicians - including Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele - at what was called the Defend...

The woman in the light-green blazer, shaking and holding back tears, told a panel of senators yesterday that witness intimidation is "like a nightmare." "We've suffered," she said on behalf of her Baltimore family. "We're still suffering." Calling...