Baltimore man guilty in killing of girlfriend

A Baltimore man has been convicted in the 2017 killing of his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tonja Chadwick, the state’s attorney’s office announced this week. Chadwick, an an aspiring nurse and mother of a 4-year-old son, was first reported missing in January 2017, and her body was found days later in a city park with a single gunshot to the forehead. Police charged the boyfriend, Marco Holmes, 23, in her death. A jury on Friday found Holmes guilty of second-degree murder; use of a firearm in a crime of violence; and wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun, the state’s attorney’s office said. He faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison and will be sentenced on July 18. “This case is heartbreaking. Domestic violence has not only claimed the life of a young woman — but also condemned a young boy to grow up without his mother,” State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said in a statement released Wednesday. “I’m thankful for the diligent efforts of Ms. Chadwick’s family to discover her whereabouts, locate her phone, and report the incident to the authorities. These efforts were critical to the swift investigation and resolution of this case.” Holmes’ public defender could not be reached on Thursday. In this case, the payments come from foreign governments that have patronized the Trump International Hotel near the White House since his inauguration in January 2017. Ethics experts had warned that this kind of situation could arise because Trump refused to divest from his financial holdings when he became president. Trump instead promised to turn over profits from foreign government business at Trump Organization properties to the U.S. Treasury. The first such annual payment was made earlier this year for $151,470 but the company would not say how that figure was determined. Maryland and the District of Columbia originally sued Trump only as president, but later accused him as a private citizen after U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte raised that legal issue at a hearing in January. Messitte noted at the time that the original suit was “not challenging a presidential function. They’re challenging the president as an individual.” Trump lawyer William S. Consovoy, in his court filing, argued that federal officials can only be targeted for accepting unconstitutional payments in their official government function, not as private citizens. But in the case of the president, Consovoy added, Trump is also “absolutely immune” from legal action in his official capacity. Consovoy added that “this litigation has the potential to divert the President’s attention from his official duties.” Consovoy’s arguments suggest Trump “is beyond the reach of the law,” said Norman Eisen, chairman of the left-leaning public policy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is a co-counsel with the two jurisdictions against Trump. Eisen, who was chief ethics officer in the Obama administration, said “the court has already rebuffed one cluster of those arguments relating to Mr. Trump’s official capacity, and we will vigorously argue it should do the same here regarding his personal capacity.” A city spokesman said Washington’s response would come in future legal briefs. A Maryland official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.