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March 11, 2010

Convicted murderer busted in drug case

You don't remember Dwight "Knight" Gilmore, but back in 1991 he was a fairly big deal.

He got charged in a drug-related murder, got bailed out, then promptly got charged with shooting another man 10 times. At the time, police said they suspected him in another double shooting that left a man dead, again, allegedly committed while he was on bail. And, while free on bail, Gilmore became a victim, getting shot, and he appeared at one court hearing bandaged and braced.

Back then, he was an example of Baltimore's revolving door justice. Now, he's just a blur -- more horrific examples have repeatedly surfaced over the years. Convicted felons returning to crime after brief stints in prison hardly seems news anymore.

But Dwight "Knight" Gilmore is back, charged on Wednesday in a new drug case after Baltimore cops raided his home in Southwest Baltimore. Here's a brief tease of his record:

* In 1982, at age 16, convicted in the killing of a security guard during a holdup at Westside Shopping Center (conviction overturned due to a judge's error during trial).

* In 1990, charged with killing a man in a dispute over drug money, released on bail, charged with shooting another man 10 times, suspected in another murder, and shot and wounded himself during an argument.

* In 1991, convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Charges in the shooting dropped when witness recants; never charged in other homicide.

* In 2006, convicted on first-degree assault and sentenced to 12 years in prison (details not immediately available)

* In January 2010, already out of prison, charged with drug possession but put on the inactive docket

* On Wednesday, charged in a drug bust at his home in Southwest Baltimore.

He's older now, 45, but he still lives in the same place he did when he was charged with murder nearly 20 years ago -- 2504 Emerson St. in Southwest Baltimore.

Wednesday night, Baltimore police said they raided that house and chased Gilmore. Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said members of the Southwestern District Drug Enforcement Unit caught Gilmore with 100 bags of cocaine and a 1/2 ounce of crack. He was charged with numerous drug counts and Guglielmi said the suspect "is a person of interest in several shootings in the SWD."

A check of Baltimore Sun clips reveals we have written about Gilmore before. David Simon -- of Wire fame -- penned an article on May 23, 1991, which began:

A Baltimore man who was granted bail by a District Court judge after being charged in a 1989 homicide has once again been indicted by a grand jury, this time for allegedly shooting a man 10 times last October while free pending trial on the murder charge.

This month's indictment of 26-year-old Dwight "Knight" Gilmore marks yet another instance in which a district judge's decision to grant bail in a drug-related murder has frustrated city prosecutors and police detectives, who say they are accustomed to seeing most homicide defendants held without bond.

"We didn't know that [Gilmore] was out on bail," said Ilene Nathan, a veteran prosecutor in the violent crimes unit of the Baltimore state's attorney's office. "We only found that out when the second shooting occurred."

At the time, District Court judges were more regularly releasing murder suspect on bail, outraging homicide cops. One man had been freed on $2,500 bail after charged with killing a rival dealer in which 70 bullets were fired.

Gilmore had been charged in the killing of Reginald Robinson after an argument over money for drug dealing. He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced on June 4, 1991, to 10 years in prison. That sentenced was modified in 2008.

Court records show he was convicted again, in July 2006, of first-degree assault, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. I'll check state prison records later today to see when he got out, but city police told me he's on probation. UPDATE: The head of the state parole and probation office told me that Gilmore was released on March 27, 2008, but is NOT on parole or probation. Just how he got out of prison after having served just two years of a 12 year sentence? No one has been able to tell me yet.

Back in 1991, prosecutors said they didn't even know Gilmore had been bailed out on the murder charge when police arrested him again in connection with shooting of David Jones, 20, who was wounded 10 times. By then, Gilmore already had an impressive record, having been convicted of murder at the age of 16 for participating in the killing of a grocery market security guard at the Westside Shopping center in 1982.

Simon wrote that conviction was overturned because of a judge gave faulty instructions to the jury, and charges in the shooting of Jones were dropped when a key witness refused to testify.

The police spokesman Guglielmi said Gilmore is listed as one of the Southwestern District's most violent offenders.

Some things just never change.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:50 AM | | Comments (10)
Categories: Breaking news, Courts and the justice system, Prisons
        

Comments

Unreal. screw the healthcare system. put the money in the courts and legal system and clean up this crap. Build more prisons, hire more people to support it, more cops and make judges acountable.

How can we begin to whole the courts responsible! They are making terrible errors in judgement! They are costing innocent people lose their lives. Why are we one of the most voilet cities in ammerica with one of the most lenant penal systems! This doesn't make sense. Who are we really protecting. It appears we take too much time protecting the rights of criminals and not the rights of innocent people. The courts are suppose to help protect people, not cause them to lose their lives.

time for the people to take justice into their own hands..... Our legal system is not working for the people....Fire the judges, handle the convicts in the streets.


Maybe I should just cut-and-paste my comments from other related stories.

Once again, what's it going to take to keep these repeat offenders locked up? Who are the judges responsible for doling out these lenient sentences and permitting these felons to serve even less time than they are sentenced for?

If this fair city could keep some of its worst-of-the-worst locked up, they may actually spare future victims the loss of their life and/or property.

Lock him up and throw away the key....let him rot in jail until he dies. Or better yet, bring back the chain gangs. Terrible example of our courts in action.

Spay and neuter for a start.

Publish every judge's name on every court case regardless of outcome.

Penal colony in Antarctica. That's how Australia was founded.

Are these desparate times? Then we need desparate measures.

Does anyone remember when murder was a 'life' sentence at minimum. Why are there murders walking our streets?
Bring back the death penalty...quickly!

Why was he out? Judicial mistake -put the judges in jail. They protect more criminals than innocent victims. Judges ARE THE PROBLEM, not police, not prosecutors.

I bet this guy rolls like:

Pants on the ground
Pants on the ground
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground

With the gold in your mouth
Hat turned sideways
Pants hit the ground
Call yourself a cool cat
Lookin' like a fool
Walkin' downtown with your pants on the ground

Get it up, hey!
Get your pants off the ground
Lookin' like a fool
Walkin' talkin' with your pants on the ground.

Get it up, hey!
Get your pants off the ground
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground


THUG LIFE YO

GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT. BEEN CHARGE WITH A CRIME IS ONE THING. WHEN THE CHARGES ARE DROP THAT SOME THING ESLE. SOUND LIKE MR GILMORE HAS BEEN HARASSA BY THE SYSTEM,NOW YOU

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About Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.

Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.



Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011.
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