Dan Belson

@danbelson.bsky.social

Legal affairs for The Daily Record. Formerly: @baltsunguild.bsky.social

Maryland Del. Gary Simmons (D-Anne Arundel) was charged with second-degree assault last Thursday (the same day he was certified as the Dem nominee for District 12B.) Anne Arundel Co. Police say a relative described a physical altercation at his home. thedailyrecord.com/2026/07/27/g...

MD delegate charged with assault after alleged ‘physical family dispute’

Maryland Del. Gary Simmons was charged with second-degree assault after his stepdaughter reported a physical dispute to Anne Arundel County Police.

thedailyrecord.com

First, a power struggle at a Nicaraguan resort spilled out into a racketeering lawsuit. Then, in March, a bus crash there killed 1 and injured 20 people. I wrote about why U.S. lawyers are scrutinizing the Rancho Santana resort's close ties to the Baltimore-based Agora Cos.

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BALTIMORE — After serving 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, a local exoneree’s civil lawsuit against BPD and three officers who investigated the 1991 killing will go before a jury here. But the four stage actors his lawyer hired to read out decades-old trial testimony won’t.

Outside shot of the U.S. district courthouse in downtown Baltimore.

Why did Baltimore County lawyer Jacob Rappaport risk prison and disbarment by helping his client mislead lenders by inflating real estate sale prices? It wasn’t the money — Rappaport only got legal fees that he said on court he would’ve been able to get anyway. 👇 thedailyrecord.com/2026/06/23/j...

Baltimore County real estate attorney sentenced to prison after bank fraud conviction

A Baltimore County real estate attorney said he "had nothing to gain" from the scheme that led to his federal conviction.

thedailyrecord.com

A D.C. federal judge warned a Severna Park attorney about his citations to nonexistent quotes that bore "the hallmarks of reliance on an artificial intelligence tool." Over the next 5 months, the law firm’s managing partners filed 4 more legal briefs that were later flagged for AI hallucinations.

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ICE says that the crowded Baltimore field office holding area seen in a video making the rounds on social media is due to the icy weather halting transportation. An advocacy group says that per ICE’s own data, crowded cells and long waits have been the norm at 31 Hopkins Plaza for the past year.

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The State Department is weighing whether or not it’ll surrender a Baltimore man to German authorities, who say the Park Heights resident killed a colleague while working a demolition job at an overseas U.S. air base. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/10/29/b...

Baltimore man tied to killing of construction foreman in Germany

A Baltimore man can be extradited to Germany to face charges of killing a construction site’s foreman while working at a military base, a federal judge ruled.

baltimoresun.com

Lawyers for 17 Catholic Church associates whose names are redacted in the Baltimore Archdiocese sex abuse report argued today that the AG’s investigation itself was illegal. How the MD Supreme Court rules could imperil ongoing probes of the Wash/Wilm dioceses. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/09/05/g...

Clergy fight disclosure of names in Maryland Archdiocese abuse report

Lawyers questioned the Maryland Attorney General’s office’s authority to conduct its four-year probe of sexual abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese while fighting in the state’s hig…

baltimoresun.com

An officer was flagged down at a Penn-North bus stop for a “man down.” 1 min later, another. Within 10 minutes, he radioed that there were five people “completely unresponsive.” Inside how first responders discovered today’s suspected mass overdose: www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/10/b...

‘Bad batch’: Frantic response to Baltimore overdoses heard in recorded audio

It started with an “unknown problem” in a West Baltimore alley. Then, there was a “man down” at a nearby bus stop. Officer and medics quickly realized the suspected overdose…

baltimoresun.com

National news orgs jumped on an ICE post claiming that Maryland released a man charged with first-degree murder, reciting the claim verbatim. Problem: he’s never been charged with killing anybody, has zero convictions and hasn’t been arrested in over a decade www.baltimoresun.com/2025/07/08/i...

ICE chides Maryland police about man’s release. Attorney says agency is ‘spinning a narrative.’

The man, who entered the country illegally, had no convictions on record in Maryland or Indiana, where he was eventually detained by ICE.

baltimoresun.com

As his real estate empire crumbles, it’s unclear where Baltimore developer Brandon Chasen has been. He didn’t show up to a recent meeting with creditors he owes $29M+, and hasn’t filed paperwork, in a bankruptcy case for his construction firm. His phone line is disconnected. bit.ly/4ehdXnZ

Firms file to push Baltimore developer Brandon Chasen into bankruptcy

A bank and two contracting firms formally petitioned Monday to force Baltimore developer Brandon Chasen into bankruptcy as the once-fruitful apartment magnate’s real estate empire continues t…

bit.ly

Parking agents in Baltimore are issuing citations for expired tags more aggressively after the law dept. rescinded guidance that held them back last spring. 🚘 Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans got cited the most since mid-March 🚙🚕 Over 10% of cars cited had VA tags www.baltimoresun.com/2025/05/13/p...

As Baltimore ramps up parking enforcement, citations for one offense are skyrocketing

Baltimore is issuing thousands more parking citations than it has in previous years. Data shows agents are writing the most tickets for one particular violation — parking with expired tags.

baltimoresun.com

The man accused in a sweeping lawsuit of sexually abusing 60+ boys in his former job at DJS comes from a prominent Baltimore family and worked for city schools as recently as 2020. It also seems that the civil claims have prompted a criminal probe as well. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/03/06/f...

Former Baltimore City substitute teacher at center of latest DJS sex abuse allegations

The man accused in a recent civil lawsuit of sexually abusing dozens of youth at one of Maryland’s juvenile detention facilities also worked as a substitute teacher in Baltimore as recently a…

baltimoresun.com

The Trump administration dropped the DOJ's hiring discrimination case against Maryland State Police less than 2 wks before a federal judge was scheduled to consider whether to issue a final approval on a consent decree that MD agreed to. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/03/03/m...

Trump administration drops discrimination case against Maryland State Police

New leadership at the Department of Justice dropped a case last week that accused Maryland State Police of violating federal employment discrimination laws through hiring practices.

baltimoresun.com