Killer Ordered Back to Prison for Violating Terms of Release

A Prince George's County man who served less than 11 years in prison for two murders and after his release became a possible suspect in another double slaying was ordered yesterday to serve out more than seven years of his original prison term.

Lawrence Banks, 53, was returned to prison for violating the conditions of his release in 2002. No one has been charged in the December slayings in Laurel of his girlfriend's daughter and baby granddaughter.

A state parole commissioner yesterday found that Banks had failed to report a change of address and had acted in a manner that endangered others. The latter offense was supported by an application that Lisa L. Brown, the adult victim in the Laurel slayings, filed Dec. 1 seeking court protection from him.

Although the Laurel case was not under consideration at the hearing yesterday, Prince George's police expressed an interest in having Banks detained, said Elizabeth Bartholomew, a spokeswoman for the Division of Parole and Probation. "They called us asking us if there was any possible reason why we could detain him," she said.

Police Cpl. Diane Richardson said yesterday that no one "under the scope of the investigation" -- a category that she said included Banks -- had been eliminated as a suspect.

Because of his violent past and his relatively brief incarceration for the two slayings in 1991, including that of his son, Banks's link to the Laurel killings has drawn fresh criticism of state laws requiring mandatory release.

Although he was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 20 years in the 1991 killings, prison officials say they had no choice but to release Brown when they did because he had earned credits for good behavior and through other means.

Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said Banks's new release date is Aug. 13, 2014.