Today, a federal jury in Baltimore will begin deciding whether Patrick Byers deserves to die for ordering a hit on a witness in another murder he faced. He made the call from his prison cell, and Carl Lackl was killed outside his Rosedale home, highlighting two problems we face -- witness intimidation and using cell phones behind prison walls.

Over the past few days, we've seen the feds bust a large prison gang that smuggled in not just cell phones but lobster and crab, all while running prison and street gangs. And in Baltimore Circuit Court, a Bloods member is on trial in a murder case. Baltimore Sun reporter Tricia Bishop wrote a detailed story in Sunday's paper -- "Murder on Call" -- looking back on the Byers case and its implications for the future.

Maryland has all but put its death penalty on hold, but the feds haven't. Should Byers be killed for his crime? Would it stop others from reaching out and killing? I'm not sure what the answer is to stop retribution with stop snitching so ingrained in criminal society. The gang mentality is strong -- here' s just one chilling example from the recent federal gang bust:

An inmate at the city detention center had his throat slit and someone floated a rumor about a suspect, but that suspect insisted that not only did he not kill the man, he was more worried that his gang boss would think he had killed the man without getting permission. No where did it appear that the man was worried about the authorities. Of course, they're the ones who helped smuggle in lobster and crab.