MARYLAND BRIEFING

Thursday, August 21, 2008

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Slaying Suspect Captured

A suspect wanted in connection with a recent slaying in Silver Spring has been taken into custody by authorities in Texas, Montgomery County police said yesterday.

Jose L. Zavala, 29, of Silver Spring is awaiting extradition to Montgomery, where he will be charged with first-degree murder, police said.

On July 27, police were called to the 4400 block of Gridley Road, where they found Fausto B. Orellana, 43, who had been struck in the head with an unknown weapon. Orellana died of his wounds Aug. 2. Two weeks ago, police arrested Jose F. Hernandez, 35, and charged him with being an accessory after the fact in the crime.

Investigators learned that Zavala, another suspect, had fled to Texas, police said.

-- Dan Morse

CHARLES COUNTY

Driver in Slaying Convicted

The man who drove the getaway car after a fatal shooting in Waldorf in October was convicted yesterday of second-degree murder, the charge faced by the man who said he pulled the trigger.

William Coates, 29, was accused of driving a friend, James F. Swann, after Swann shot 71-year-old Joseph Hickman as he stood on a porch. Swann, 33, said at his trial in June that he had shot in Hickman's direction in an attempt to shoot at someone who he thought had molested his sister.

Defense attorneys argued that Coates had no knowledge of the shooting and that Swann was the man to blame. Prosecutors hinged their case on the fact that police pulled Coates's car over, with Swann in the passenger seat, as he was apparently driving out of the neighborhood where the shooting had taken place.

Swann was sentenced to life in prison this month and has appealed his conviction. Coates is set to be sentenced in October.

-- Matt Zapotosky

U-MD. MEDICAL SYSTEM

Chairman, 9 Others Resign

The chairman of the University of Maryland Medical System resigned yesterday, along with nine other members of the system's 27-member board, in the culmination of months of internal debate over the direction of the $1.6 billion medical system.

John Erickson, founder of Erickson Retirement Communities, resigned at a morning board meeting in Baltimore. He said he had been considering leaving the board "for several months" and had been in discussions with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and other state elected officials.

In a letter to the board this month, former chief executives of the system and the University of Maryland Medical Center said the board needed to heal divisions between the system's leadership and the medical school's staff and faculty. In less than a month, O'Malley has appointed seven people to the board.

-- Associated Press

COMMUTER RAIL

Train Purchase Approved

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the purchase of 13 double-deck coaches yesterday for the MARC rail system, at a cost of $22 million.

Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari told the three-member board that the rail cars will be used primarily on the Penn Line, which provides service between Washington and Baltimore, adding 1,700 seats.

The rail cars are being purchased from the Virginia Railway Express and will be modified before coming on line in Maryland, Porcari said.

-- John Wagner