The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A2

2 THE BALTIMORE SUN NEWS SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2020 The three leading candidates for Balti- more City Council president each have amassed more than $50,000 in campaign funds ahead of the first competitive race for the position in nearly a decade. day for the first time this election cycle, showed13thDistrictCouncilwomanShan- non Sneed with more than $122,000 on hand, thanks in part to a financial boost from several of her fellow council mem- bers and organized labor. Del. Nick J. Mosby, a former city councilmanandcandidate for theposition, as of the fundraising deadline, while represents the 7th District, trailed with $56,783 on hand.

report appeared to show con- flicting figures. Her cash balance was reported as $146,898, about $24,000 more than her bank account balance. Campaign officials said Friday they were working with the state to resolve the issue. With Council President Brandon Scott running for mayor, the council president seat is due to be vacated. The 2020 Democratic primary will be the first time sitting elected officials have faced off against each other for council president since Stephanie Rawlings-Blake won the seat in 2007.

CurrentMayorBernardC. held the council president position for the better part of the decade. He was selected for the job in 2010 to replace Rawlings- Blakewhen she becamemayor. Mosby, Pinkett and Sneed are all Democrats. CouncilmembersRyanDorsey (District 3) andMary Pat Clarke (District 14) gave a combined $1,750 to Sneed, a former journalist from East Baltimore who has served on council since 2016.

Sneed, who raised a total of $141,879, also collected substantial donations from organized la- bor, Steamfitters Local 486, $6,000 from the Baltimore Washington Construction Public Employees Laborers and $2,000 from the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. Jackson Haden of the Baltimore Recy- cling Center and a donor to mayoral candidate Sheila Dixon, gave $3,000 to Sneed and another $2,000 toMosby. Mosby, an electrical engineer and Balti- more Polytechnic Institute graduate who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2016, receivedhis largest donation, $6,000, from the campaign account of his wife, Balti- more Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby. When he announced his campaign for the number-two elected position in December, Mosby directly addressed his stake in the power couple.

know that to awomanwho sharesmy passion for equal opportunity and he said in an announcement video. other top donors included Jeffrey Clary of Lutherville-Timonium who gave $3,000 and Yinka Fadiora of Pikesville, executive director of Hope Health Systems, who gave $4,000. Mosby raised a total of $85,360. Pinkett, a former economic devel- opment official in the office, is servinghis first termoncouncil represent- ingWest Baltimore. Hewas the first of the three candidates to announce a bid for council president.His topdonors included Inc.with$4,500andAnnie Umbricht of Towson with $3,000.

Pinkett raised a total of $75,134. Council president may be the second- highest elected position in Baltimore, but the race for comptroller, a citywide office that handles audits and has a seat on the Board of Estimates that oversees city spending, has proven to be a higher dollar contest. Incumbent Comptroller Joan theposition since1995, has $365,463 on hand, finance reports show.ChallengerBillHenry, a councilman from the 4thDistrict, has $104,551. Pratt, who had no primary challenger from 1999 to 2016, entered the race with substantial cash and raised an additional $104,850. Contracting, managed by presidentPlessB.

Jones, gavePratt $2,000. Jones is a past donor tomayoral candidate Sheila Dixon and gave her $6,000 this cycle. Henry, who has represented North and Northeast Baltimore on the council since 2007, raised more than $172,000. His top contributors included developer Jim gave firm, French Development, gave an additional $1,000. Helm Real Estate Holdings of Baltimore contributed as did ScottHelm, the generalmanager.

JamesDeGraffenreidt, past chairmanof the Maryland State Board of Education and former CEOof the parent company of Washington Gas, gave Henry $3,000. DeGraffenreidt was one the top donors to mayoral candidate and state Sen. Mary Washington. Steve Silverman, attorney for former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, gaveHenry $1,000. Cash flows into contests Races for City Council president, comptroller drawing top dollar By Emily Opilo An Anne Arundel County jury found twomembersof theAryanBrotherhood guilty of second-degree murder for their part in a deadly gang attack at a prison in Jessup.

John Albert 43, of Pasa- dena, died after three members of the white supremacist gang stabbed and slashed him more than 50 times with prison-made knives. The leader of the Aryan Brotherhood in Maryland is alleged to have ordered a hit on who was a member of rival gangDeadMan Inc. The jury did not find that the actions of Vincent Bunner, 26, and Calvin Lockner, 38, were premeditated. The panel also found theywere not guilty of conspiring to commit murder. Prose- cutors dropped gang charges against the twomen.

Attorney Anne Colt Leitess asked the jury to find Bunner and Lockner guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She said it was clear they, among others, planned the attack and carried it out in heinous fashion. She told jurors there were no mitigating circumstances that justified the actions. Leitessdeclined tocomment through a spokeswoman. But defense lawyers urged the jury to find that Bunner and Lockner were under duress when they killed van, and because of that they were not responsible, or at the very least only guilty of voluntary manslaughter an intentional killing with a reduced level of guilt from murder, according to Judge Stacy instructions for the jury.

Public defender Bridget Elis, Bun- attorney, and Brandon Patterson, explained that both their clients found themselves in prison from a young age and turned to the gang for their own safety. But toearn theprotectionof thegang, they had to prove their worth. Among to carry out a hit on ordered by Joseph Leissler, the leader of the brotherhood. Their own lives were at risk if they kill the defense team argued. They said Leissler called the shots and those that abide were facedwith the harsh reality of death.

Neither Elis nor Patterson could immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon. The jury split the difference. With a conviction of second-degree murder, the jury believed Bunner and Lockner caused death though there was hardly ever doubt about this fact, considering prison cameras cap- tured the attack and that they intended tokill himor to inflict somuch harm that death would be likely. With its verdict, the jury found their were no factors that justified their actions. It was the second time Bunner and Lockner stood trial for death.

In March, McCormack declared a mistrial after two weeks of jury selection and testimony. nowbeen convicted ofmurder three times by AnneArundel County juries, is slated to be sentenced on April 2. Online court records do not list a date for sentencing. Bunner and Lockner face a maxi- mumof30additional yearsbehindbars. But Bunner was serving life in prison at the time of the attack after, at 17 years old, he killed two men during two botched robberies in Glen Burnie.

Lockner was serving a 31-year prison sentence for a racially motivated attack on an elderly black fisherman in Balti- more. He got a year extra in prison for assaulting a correctional employee. Their cases are at different stages. Brian Hare, 31, the third participant in the fatal stabbing, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last February for his part in the killing. Meanwhile, Leissler, 50, is slated to stand trial in July.

In addition to first-degreemurder, he faces charges of commanding a violent gang re- sponsible for the death of another inmate. Calvin Lockner, left, and Vincent Ethan Bunner were found guilty of murder while in prison. HANDOUT Jury finds 2 guilty in prison murder Aryan Brotherhood members stabbed, slashed inmate in gang attack By AlexMann The city of Baltimore will formally name a courthouse after the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings in the first half of 2020.

Democratic Mayor Bernard C. Young unveiled renderings Friday of bronze plaques that will be affixed to the exterior of Courthouse East of the Balti- more Circuit Court. One includes an image and biography of the congressman, and the other reads E. Cummings The powerful Democratic congress- manandcivil rights championdiedOct.17 at age 68. He had encom- passes a large portion of the city of Baltimore, as well as areas of Baltimore andHoward counties, since1996.

Cummings graduated from the Uni- versity of Maryland School of Law and practiced in Baltimore. was a son of Baltimore. He was proud of his widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, said during the unveiling ceremony. career as a legal professional started in this career spanned decades in Maryland politics. He rose through the ranksof theMarylandHouseofDelegates beforewinning his congressional seat in a special election to replaceKweisiMfume, who left to lead the Baltimore-based NAACP.

Cummings was re-elected in 2018with of the vote. Rockeymoore Cummings, Mfume and 30 other candidates are vying in a special primary Feb. 4 for the Democratic nomi- nation to run in a special April 28 election to fill the rest of term. Young spokesman James Bentley said the plaques will be installed in the spring or early summer after the city receives approval from the U.S. Department of Interior because the courthouse is a federalbuilding.

Itwasoriginallya federal courthouse, and still contains a post office. Architect Steve Ziger, whose firm designed the signs, said the building opened in 1932. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the same year it became part of the Circuit Court. Baltimore courthouse will be named after Cummings Associated Press A rendering presented by Mayor Jack Young shows what Courthouse East will look like when it is renamed for the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings.

HANDOUT Not too cold for a plunge South River High School special education teacher Mary Kokosko is a Super Plunger for the eighth time this year. She and others were taking part in the Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge Super Plunge for Special Olympics Maryland at Sandy Point State Park. PAUL W. SUN MEDIA.