Judge finds Carroll man not guilty in wife’s death

A Carroll County circuit judge has found a Hampstead man not guilty of all charges related to the death of his wife in a November 2016 fire. Robert C. Schech Sr. had been accused of intentionally setting fire to his home at 2611 Hoffman Mill Road while his wife, 55-year-old Donna Marie Schech, was inside, killing her. Approximately four weeks after his trial ended May 11, Judge Thomas Stansfield announced Friday that he found Schech not guilty of all charges. Prosecutors sought conviction on charges of first- degree murder, first- degree arson and first- degree felony murder. The trial was conducted as a bench trial, meaning there was no jury and Stansfield was the case’s sole fact-finder. In handing down his ruling, Stansfield said the case came down to whether it could be proved that the fire was intentionally set. Though he said there was “a strong suspicion that the defendant is guilty,” Stansfield found that that suspicion was “guesswork, suspicion and conjecture — not making a finding based on evidence.” gent manslaughter by automobile for a 2017 crash that fatally injured a Halethorpe man who was leaving a fast-food restaurant parking lot on U.S. 1. Howard County Circuit Judge William V. Tucker suspended all but 18 months of Diaz-Valle’s sentence, which will be served at the county jail. Tucker also placed her on three years of supervised probation and ordered her to pay $200 in fines and court costs, according to an announcement by the state’s attorney’s office. On Jan. 30, 2017, Diaz-Valle fled from a state trooper who tried to stop her after she was clocked driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone on eastbound Route 100 near Snowden River Parkway. During a pursuit, in which speeds approached 100 mph, Diaz-Valle ran a red light and plowed into a car driven by Biik Chong, 26, who was taken to a Baltimore hospital and pronounced dead.