News Summary

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Sep 4, 2007

Former Maryland star Baxter sentenced in gun case

GREENBELT -- A federal judge on Friday sentenced former University of Maryland basketball star Lonny Baxter to 60 days in prison for illegally shipping firearms.

The decision could affect Baxter's upcoming season with a Spanish league team.

U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said he wasn't making an example of Baxter because he's a professional athlete. Rather, he said, Baxter's history with firearms and his actions in the case warranted some prison time.

"You are in a sense on injured reserve," Messitte told Baxter. "You have in effect injured yourself."

Baxter apologized to Messitte before the sentencing, saying he had an "obsession" with guns.

"I took full responsibility and now I have to deal with the situation," Baxter told reporters after the sentencing.

Baxter, 28, had pleaded guilty to sending three handguns and a rifle from Houston to College Park using Federal Express in July 2006. Federal law requires senders to inform shippers if a delivery contains firearms.

He paid for the four guns but had a female friend fill out the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives registration form. He then shipped the guns to another friend in College Park, picking them up later.

Baxter made a similar gun buy in February 2006, paying for the weapons but having a friend fill out the registration forms.

In August 2006, Baxter was arrested by the Secret Service for firing off a Glock handgun in the air near the White House. The gun was one of the four from the July shipment.

Agents investigating that case later uncovered the gun delivery. Baxter pleaded guilty to gun charges and was sentenced to two months in prison.

Baxter helped lead Maryland to the NCAA national title in 2002 and was selected in the second round of the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls later that year.

But he struggled as a professional, moving between several NBA teams before signing with the Italian team Montepaschi Siena last year as a forward.

Baxter is scheduled to report to prison by Oct. 1, but he already has started training with DKV Joventut de Badalona, based outside of Barcelona.

When asked whether his new contract would be at risk, Baxter said: "That's always a possibility."

- The Associated Press

Defamation defendant seeks retribution

A Baltimore woman is seeking $3.5 million in punitive damages from the attorney and individuals she claims brought an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against her "with malice and without probable cause." Anna Nji, through her attorney Robert Feinberg, filed suit on Tuesday alleging malicious use and abuse of civil process against lawyer Mark R. Millstein, of Millstein and Shin, and the five plaintiffs in the June 2005 defamation suit. Nji's complaint, filed last week in Baltimore City Circuit Court, alleged that the defamation suit was an attempt to extort money from her. Nji also alleged that Millstein had a duty not to pursue false claims, and should have dismissed the case after discovery failed to yield any evidence to support the defamation claim.

According to Nji's complaint, the defamation suit alleged that she had written and published letters claiming the plaintiffs engaged in murder, embezzlement and immigration fraud. After a three- day trial, a jury deliberated for 15 minutes in August 2006 before finding in favor of Nji, her complaint says.

DOE sued for breach of lease

A Baltimore landlord is suing the state of Maryland for $270,000, claiming the Department of Education's Division of Rehabilitation Services reneged on a lease of more than 2,400 square feet. Garwyn Medical Center LLC, by its attorney Randall J. Craig Jr., of Craig and Henderson LLC, filed the complaint last week in Baltimore City Circuit Court. According to the pleadings, the parties entered into a lease agreement in August 2006. However, the complaint alleges, the defendant has failed to occupy the premises, pay rent or reimburse Garwyn for the agreed-upon improvements to the property at 2300 Garrison Ave.

OSHA seeks comment on new whistleblower rules

WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued new regulations for handling whistleblower claims brought under several federal environmental laws.

The new rules, which amend the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Energy Reorganization Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and several other federal environmental statutes, were issued "in the interest of consistency to conform to the regulations implementing the employee protection provisions" of the amended statutes.

The previous rules permitted whistleblowers to file suit in federal court, but only after exhausting administrative procedures within the Department of Labor, and only if the Labor Department failed to reach a final determination in the case within one year. Federal claims could not be barred unless the employee delayed the administrative process in "bad faith."

The new rules require OSHA to complete an investigation within 30 days of the complaint being filed. The rules would also in some cases limit an employee's right to file in federal court pending the review of a case before a Labor Department Administrative Review Board.