It's become a sport to scrutinize, and to criticize, plea bargains, and it's easy until you look closely at the case and can sometimes conclude that the prosecutor did the best he or she could under the circumstances. We talk about a deal with the Devil -- how about a deal with God?

But promise a mother she will be cleared of a child abuse conviction if her dead 2-year-old son is resurrected, as 22-year-old Ria Ramkissoon believes? Seems a pretty safe bet that this young woman will serve her full term (of course, she first has to cooperate with other suspects and fellow cult members).

This is one of those cases that ranks among the unbelievable -- a group led by a woman named Queen Antoinette is accused of withholding food and water from Javon Thompson because he refused to say Amen after meals. He died, and members of the group danced around his body in an East Baltimore rowhouse and then put his remains in a green suitcase and took it with them to Philadelphia. Here's a statement of facts for the plea.

The trial for the three others in the case has been postponed -- one still refuses an attorney. The mother got a 20 year prison sentence, with all but time served suspended. Her attorney said she still believes her son will come back to life. The deal was important to her, he told the Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton, because she believes if she gives up hope her son will never return.

In other crime news, Monday was a day of wrappping up old news. Kevin Gary, a member of the Bloods gang profiled by the Baltimore Sun last year and sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday to 30 years in prison, got more time imposed by the state for violating the terms of his probation. We profiled Gary to put a face on the city's gang problem. He cooperated because he said he wanted to turn the Bloods into a boy's club; police and prosecutors say he never really changed his ways. A statement from State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy:

This afternoon, Kevin Gary, 27, received the maximum possible sentence after being found guilty of violation of probation in state cases 200334048 and 2003362013, and was sentenced by Judge Kaye Allison to 8 years in prison consecutive to the 30-year federal sentence he received Friday. The violation of probation was prosecuted by Mark Florsheimer and Nancy Olin in the State's Attorney's Collateral Division with support from the US Attorney's Office and state probation agent Valerie Simpson. The defendant was entitled to 386 days credit to his sentence which reduced his possible sentence of 9 years to 8 years.

And in Baltimore County, police charged a man in the fatal beating of a long-time patron of Morsberger's Tavern in Catonsville. The suspect has a history of mental problems and apparently was angry that his date was flirting with another man. This story has got some wide attention, probably because the bar is so much of a neighborhood fixture -- one of those home-away-from-homes where people drink and argue and cuss but don't beat each other up too often.

From resurrection to a gang to a bar fight. And the week has just begun.