Charlie Neeper, part 2
The story this week about Charlie Neeper, the homeless man who was killed in Veterans Park in Dundalk in 1986 and the arrest of a suspect 22 years later, is still bringing in e-mail. Here is one from Brett Schaffer, an attorney at Cohen, Snyder, Eisenberg & Katzenberg on North Charles Street. He was just starting out in the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office when Neeper made his frequent trips through the judicial system. He gave me permission to post this:
I really enjoyed your piece today on the late Charles (Charlie) Neeper. I would hazard a guess that not a single Assistant State's Attorney for Baltimore County who toiled in the District Court in the early 80s until his murder has forgotten Charlie.
I, like so many before me and after me, began their legal careers as a District Court prosecutor. My very first full docket without "training wheels" (a seasoned prosecutor by my side) was at the now defunct Dundalk District Court. The Dundalk venue was where Mr. Neeper was tried on every petty crime that could then be found in the criminal code or under the Common Law dating back to 1776. I was so green that I expected an individual charged as a "rogue and a vagabond" to be brought before the bar of justice costumed like the Scarlet Pimpernel attired in velvet, lace, hose and sporting a short dagger. That was NOT our dear Charlie. Charlie never owned anything made from velvet or lace. Charlie's roguish conduct was confined to the heinous crime of using a doorway as a bedroom or as a urinal. His photograph should accompany the Wikipedia article on vagrancy.
Poor old Charlie was always represented by the Public Defender. Charlie preferred the representation of Bruce Hill or Robert Armstrong, two "PDs" with a soft spot in their hearts for him. I imagine them walking the ethical line between a zealous defense and the realization that a weekend in the County jail was actually the best outcome for Mr. Neeper in a subzero February. But Bruce and Bob defended Charlie with total dignity and as if he was a Trump scion.
When lawyers sit around telling war stories, my favorite is about Charlie having just been convicted for the umpteenth time for vagrancy or loitering ... does it really matter? The Hon. Werner Schoeler (sp?), as frustrated as he could be with passing sentence on Charlie AGAIN, decided that a creative sentence was called for. The Judge announced that Charlie's sentence was that he be banished from Dundalk. Realizing that the sentence was unlawful and not the actual disposition of the matter, the Public Defender inquired of the Judge, "Your Honor. How long does my client have before the banishment begins?" Without missing a beat, His Honor proclaimed, "The usual time, Counsel. By sundown."
To the best of my knowledge, Charlie Neeper will be remembered by a legion of rookie prosecutors and Public Defenders as the last man in Baltimore County to be sentenced to banishment.
It's good that you remembered Charlie to your readers and I thank you for allowing me to recall my youth and initiation into the world of "real" law outside of the classroom.
