The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page A2

2 THE BALTIMORE NEWS Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, who is running a write-in campaign to keep her seat in the Nov. 8 election, accused the city elections board Tuesday of committing by mailing out incorrect absentee ballots to 7th District voters. Conaway said she has confirmed that at least seven voters in her district received 6th District absentee ballots in the mail, and worries that the problem could be more widespread. Conaway said she sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Eric H.

Holder asking him to intervene in the administration of the election. believe all of the absentee ballots from the 7th District might be similarly she said at a news conference outside the elections board, where she was joined by supporters who carried signs that said City Tricked and City Voter Armstead B.C. Jones, the election director, said no voters had complained to him. He said he would investigate now that he has learned about the issue. A spokesperson for the U.S.

Department of Justice respond to a request for comment. Conaway said absentee voters among her supporters could not successfully vote for her using 6th District ballots, though she also acknowledged that other candidates running for the 7th District council seat would be hurt if their supporters received the wrong ballots. people of Baltimore are faced with the question of whether the defective absentee ballots are a deliberate effort to steal votes or whether they are simply the result of gross she said. This primary and general elections are the first in which city residents are voting in newly drawn districts. Some of the new lines changed the boundaries between the 6th and 7th districts.

The city elections board has disseminated erroneous information before. In August, the board sent out sample ballots that listed an incorrect date for the primary election. Conaway lost the Sept. 13 Democratic primary to Nick Mosby a political newcomer supported by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake by about 650 votes. Conaway is waging a write-in campaign to keep her seat.

A Republican, Michael John Bradley, also is running. Mosby said he had not heard of the problem and would ask residents about it while campaigning. luke.broadwater@baltsun.com twitter.com/lukebroadwater julie.scharper@baltsun.com twitter.com/juliemore Conaway alleges fraud over absentee ballots in city vote By Luke Broadwater and Julie Scharper The Baltimore Sun The man convicted of killing a Towson gas station owner for money apologized Tuesday in Harford County Circuit Court to the family and friends, saying sorry to the last fiber of my The apology came shortly before a jury was to begin deliberating whether Walter P. Bishop Jr. will be sentenced to death or life in prison.

Bishop, 29, of Baltimore County, stood at the defense table in a black suit and a lavender shirt open at the collar, his hands clasped before him, his face turning red as he told those close to William Porter that he did not expect they would forgive him. But, he said, sorry you lost your son, your loved one because of what I did with my own Bishop, facing the death penalty for shooting Porter in a Hess station on East Joppa Road on March 1, 2010, said he relives the events of that day every morning and every night. a day will go by that I will not relive this and regret said Bishop, who spoke for two minutes during the sentencing phase of his trial. Bishop was convicted last week of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy and a handgun offense one of six people who have been implicated in the killing, including wife, Karla Porter, who is scheduled to be tried next year. trial was moved out of Baltimore County at the request of the defense.

The case is the first courtroom test of two-year-old revised capital punishment law, which sets restrictive standards on the types of evidence required for a defendant to be subject to the death penalty. In this case, prosecutors can seek the death penalty because they have a video recording of a detailed confession Bishop gave to Baltimore County homicide detectives when he was arrested five days after the killing. The jury decided last week that the confession was and meets the state standard. remarks in court his first statements since the trial began were part of the attempt to persuade the jury to decide against the death penalty. StefanieM.

McArdle of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender acknowledged that Bishop had committed a crime, but she argued that several mitigating factors about life and the crime weigh against the death penalty in this case. is not to be judged solely on what happened that McArdle said. There is no dispute that one of several legal mitigating factors applies in this case: that Bishop had not previously been convicted of a violent crime. But Assistant Attorney John P. Cox argued that no mitigating factors are sufficient to outweigh the aggravating factor that allows the death penalty in this case: that Bishop shot Porter on a promise of being paid.

Bishop told police that wife offered him $9,000 to kill her husband. During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors presented one witness, younger brother, Rick Porter, of Baltimore County, who talked about his brother, a father of four, and the impact the crime has had on the family. The defense presented 12 witnesses, including parents, his friends, a psychologist, social worker and psychiatrist who interviewed Bishop. According to testimony, Bishop was 4 years old when his parents split up, his father had little time for him and his stepfather suffered from a disability and drug addiction.Witnesses testified that Bishop had never been in trouble with the law as an adult, but when he was 14 he was charged with a third-degree sex offense in an incident involving an 8- or 9-year-old girl who was a relative. McArdle argued that the evidence shows Bishop would not be a danger to others in prison, and he was induced to shoot Porter by Karla Porter.

never, ever would have conceived of this on his said McArdle. ask, if ever had mercy for anyone, have mercy for Walter Cox argued that Bishop had the gun for days before shooting Porter and had plenty of time to consider his decision. Cox countered the defense portrayal of Bishop as remorseful, reminding the jury that Bishop first tried to deny his involvement in the killing, then claimed that he had his before shooting Porter in the gas station office. eyes were open the whole said Cox. shot in the face up through his forehead.

Then he stood above him and pumped a round into the side of his head. Weigh that against anything heard in this arthur.hirsch@baltsun.com Killer for hire voices regret Apology comes before jury deliberates on whether Bishop gets the death sentence By Arthur Hirsch The Baltimore Sun Walter Bishop Baltimore added a third line to its free Charm City Circulator service Tuesday, with the launch of the new Green Route at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Green line will run from Hopkins Hospital through Fells Point and Harbor East before heading north to City Hall and the Fallsway. It will then head back to Hopkins along the same route. The Green joins the east-west Orange Route, launched in January 2010 as one of the last acts of Mayor Sheila administration, and the north-south Purple Route, which got its start later that year.

The Orange runs from Hollins Market to Central Avenue, while the Purple goes from South Baltimore to Penn Station. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined city officials and representatives of Hopkins Hospital and East Baltimore Development which are helping to underwrite the costs of the Green Line service. She said the circulator, which has carried nearly 3 million riders since its creation, has been a success. continue to get rave reviews about this she said. Christopher Shea, president of East Baltimore Development, said the new service is critical to the success of the 20-story residential tower under construction at the medical campus.

He said the projected 550 residents mostly young adults will depend on the Green Route for access to retail services until shopping can be developed closer to campus. is, as I see it, the connection to the rest of Peterson said. Ronald R. Peterson, president of Johns Hopkins Health System, said the service will be important to thousands of Hopkins employees. our 10,000 parking spaces in East Baltimore, doing our fair he said.

The Circulator service is financed through the parking tax a source of financing that has prompted some grumbling from suburban commuters. But Dorothy Powell, a retiree who lives at the Parkview at Ashland complex just north of the Hopkins medical complex, came out to celebrate the new service, which will stop a block and a half from her door. real good. You get to go to the Harbor and all she said. love the galleries.

I love the restaurants down The new line will directly interconnect with the Orange Route at Harbor East, but reaching the Purple Route will require about a three-block walk. City officials said the routes quite match up. just going to work hooking up the Green Route with the Purple said Barry Robinson, the city Department of marine and transit services chief. The Green Route also interconnects with the Metro at Hopkins Hospital and the Shot Place stations and with the water taxi to Canton and Tide Point at Maritime Park in Fells Point. The city plans to launch a fourth line, from the Inner Harbor visitors center to Fort McHenry, in May.

Robinson said the city also plans to add a third free water taxi route, this one from Harbor East to Harbor View, in April. The two current routes serve Maritime Park in Fells Point, Tide Point and Canton Waterfront park. The Circulator begins its winter schedule Tuesday, during which it will run Monday-Thursday 6:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.; Friday: 6:30 a.m.-midnight; Saturday: 9:00 a.m.-midnight, and Sunday: 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. With the launch of the Green, the city has discontinued running its temporary East Side Shuttle service, which ran as an extension of the Orange Route connecting at Harbor East. Robinson said ridership on the two Circulator routes has exceeded an average of 9,000 far beyond the original expectations with the majority of riders taking the Purple Route He said the department is projecting ridership of 2,500 aday on the Green Route.

surprise us as much on the Green Route as the Purple Route Robinson said. Aboard one of the first Green Route buses, Anita Linn of West Chester, was touring the city as her partner took part in a conference downtown. I did the Orange and the Purple. Today doing the she said. Linn said she learned about the new service by doing a computer search on local bus routes.

Taking the bus, she said, let her get around without moving her car from the Hilton parking garage. think a great she said. think it will help with the traffic down Pat Tracey, who works at the hospital doing community outreach on environmental health, said she was trying out the route to see where it goes and whether it gets there as fast as the Metro. Tracey said the thought use the new service to get from Hopkins to Fells Point. so much easier than trying to take your car and find a parking she said.

in Baltimore is getting to be like New michael.dresser@baltsun.com Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, right, with Johns Hopkins Health System President Ronald R. Peterson, left, and others, celebrates the opening of the Green Route. AMY SUN PHOTO Free bus service adds line from Hopkins Hospital to downtown Inner Harbor 40 83 The newest route of the Charm City Circulator began service Tuesday. Circulator Green Route BALTIMORE SUN GRAPHIC Charm City Green Route is its third By Michael Dresser The Baltimore Sun.