according to the tape of a court proceeding, darrell russell agreed to resolve the domestic violence case by going along with the abuser's plan to avoid prosecution by marrying her. >> why don't i just marry her? >> if you can get a license, that would be a accessible. -- at a visible. >> he facilitated a marriage that resulted in acquittal. i was really disturbing and defended it, somewhat embarrassed to be a lawyer and associated with the criminal- justice system. >> of the doubt allowed time for the abuser and his fiancee to get a marriage license and married then himself and the judge's chamber. >> i can say no to that because i just marry her before the ceremony.

>> are we talking about pastor russell? we are talking about judge russell. >> carol alexander is a longtime advocate for victims. >> to marry the couple? there has to be a different system. >> when the criminal case resumed, the victim in vote to marital privilege which prevents her from being forced to testify. he found her husband not guilty and sent them off with this comment. >> i found a not guilty, so i can't sentence you to any crime. i earlier today sentenced to life marriage of her. >> this is the exact time when judicial as a -- they should be looking at the action of the judge. this is way out of the realm of the normal. >> reached by phone, he told us that he did not see what was newsworthy about this case.

he initially agreed to an interview, then canceled an hour later. >> we have heard from a lot of you through our web site. i cannot understand the simple disregard that a judge can have for the real and potentially deadly danger that domestic violence presents. it is difficult to get a victim to prosecute in these cases because of the best of circumstances. >> i don't think there is a gun pointed at this one and's head. judge is perform marriages for people that should not be together every day. the story is on the front page. >> forbidding is closed on the sheila dixon furs, and they did not go cheap. one jacket sold for $7,000, another sold for $2,426.

bidding is still open on an x box game consul -- console. >> an mta bus packed with passengers crashed today. more than a dozen people had to be taken to the hospital. no word on what caused the bus and the car to collide. students in different parts of baltimore county had a rough time to school today. nine students and adults were taken to franklin square after two buses and car were an accident just after 7:00 this morning. the world transported as a precaution when the buses were on their way to work the middle and high schools. no word on who was at fault. a scary ride for students when the car slammed into the back of their school bus just before 9:00. the bus stops to pick up students in paramount avenue. the driver was taken to the

hospital with minor injuries. no students or bus driver was injured. >> within an hour of fixing a gas leak, workers hit a 3 inch gas main shutting off the service and evacuating residents. it had to be closed, but no reports of any injury. several people are looking for a place to live after fire ravaged their apartments this morning. just before noon, firefighters were called to the 9000 block where four people were evaluated for smoke inhalation. because of the fire is still under investigation. -- is because of the fire is still under investigation. -- the cause of the fire is still under investigation. >> of the archbishop came to pitch ideas of how to help the private school funding crisis. some of them are opposed.

we're live outside of the state house with details. >> the archbishop is facing frustration and anger from students and parents over the school closings, but he came here to support that idea that he says could dramatically improve the school system funding picture. >> i sympathize with those that are upset. we're doing everything we can, one by one, to deal with students, parents, and schools to make sure that everybody who is in catholic school right now can go to catholic school next year. >> a tax credit donating scholarships to private schools, archbishop at when -- edwin o 'brien. >> i would be upset, too. if we are going to keep the school system alive, we have to fill the seats. we have 2/3 of the -- the

population isn't there. >> they have the same 75% tax credit. the bill was opposed by every teacher's union in the state. >> we are already stuck with the cost of education, and looking at additional cost and federal mandates is not a crime to give it a type of money to private schools. >> it will help and encourage private funding for catholic schools, protestant schools, jewish schools, muslim schools -- >> the senate version passed earlier today. the bill is strongly supported by gov. o'malley. >> they continue to grapple over several amendments to the sex

offender laws. david collins continues the coverage inside of the state house. >> some of these bills are a tough sell. even the governor has personally lobbied for passage. house republican leaders say that a courtesy call -- their pitch to accept amendments led to a back room meeting delaying the start of the session. no deal. democrats shot down attempts to amend the bill. the house have bipartisan support for eliminating good time joe credits for circuit -- a four first and second-degree offenders. republicans took issue with the bill that applied only to repeat third degree sex offenders. >> don't wait until they harm two victims. >> it can be the mere touching with a threat.

>> it war of words broke out about using shall rather than may. it will provide flexibility for judges. the verbally jousted over requiring sex offenders to live more than 1,000 feet from a school. delegates said that it would first urban sex offenders to flee to the more spacious suburbs. >> they're already there in your neighborhoods. if you talk to your constituents, they will not want to have these people within 1,000 feet of one of your schools. >> they are already in my neighborhood. i don't want any more. >> they also will tweak the lifetime supervision bill to allow sex offenders to petition the court to be released from supervision. >> if we say lifetime

supervision, we should mean lifetime supervision. >> when an offender is on active supervision which is what the bill provides, less than 1/3 of 1% are rearrested for sex crimes. >> the house votes tomorrow, and negotiations are under way on a measure to raise the minimum sentence for a certain sex offenses. that issue is whether to allow april options. -- a parole option. >> we have breaking news in hartford county, let's go to captain ron taylor. -- roy taylor. >> a major accident near the baltimore county line. a quad-park cash -- four- car crash. the accident took out a light

pole. traffic is backed up from this location all the way down. >> stay with us. >> they are on their way back to baltimore city, but first, another pit stop and new rules. >> the terps the first round, and that is a good call regardless of where maryland plays. >> clear skies and mild temperatures. see how long the weather pattern will last. if we don't know how many people there are,

how do we know how many town roads we need? the census helps us know exactly what we need, so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census.

>> more than a dozen horses will be returned to them. >> they approved a deal that will help continue that tradition. it should not come at the

expense of the horses. we're live tonight at city hall. >> one of the 17 horses that will be picked up tomorrow is named irish eyes. here it will be brought to a new home. the idea is to get back in business in baltimore city. shante chase was so happy to be spending a sunny afternoon inside of animal control, taking the files that to get the 17 horses back. >> getting our life back. we're starting our over again to get them. today is a good date for us. >> i appreciate this opportunity to start over again, you know. >> that fresh start came after city leaders signed off on an agreement that settled the sought the -- saga.

they confiscated 19 horses and move them to our rescue farm. on wednesday, the farm, the city, the humane society made a clean break. >> this brings the matter to a close. at the horses will continue to be housed in a healthy situation. >> all sides have officially agreed to that. the city will stop subsidies and suspend citation. they will drop all legal claims that they agreed. the horses are moving to the misty manner farm 16 miles down the road, possibly as early as thursday morning. you hope to be back in business and about a month? where is the first place you're going to go? >> our favorite customers.

>> i had many sleepless nights about these animals. >> they hope to get permission to operate their carriages and the inner harbor, taking advantage of the tourist trade and drive people around. >> now, your 11 instaweather plus forecast. >> the typical high as 54 degrees, and you hit 66 or 67, you are running tenor 15 above the normal. it was right on target for the normal 70 today of march this morning, 35. the afternoon high quite a bit warmer than normal. the warmest was back in 1945. the coldest temperature was 15 right at 1900. outside right now, just dealing

with a picture-perfect weather other than maybe some spring pollen cranking up a little bit for you. if you are sensitive to tree pollen, it will probably go up the next few days. the moderate amount of mauled in the atmosphere as well. the green map for st. patrick's day because most areas are in the 60's. 62 degrees, frederick at 66. a star to get some blue on the map there. at least a bluish shades of green. otherwise, it relatively quiet with whether -- weather. it looks like we will stay north of that. and mostly clear skies for us tonight with a wind becoming, and a wide range of temperatures from 30 to the 40's in the inner harbor. the wet weather is on the south

bears watching. it is starting to get up in the southern carolina. it will be moving mostly east and will miss out on all of the weather associated with it. you can see that, a little hint of high, thin cloud coverage as we go through the night. other than that, dry weather and mild temperatures. slicing through detroit saturday midday, until it gets here, soak up the sunshine. it doesn't feel very wintry out there. son up at 7:13. -- sun up at 7:13. it will be chilly on the shore because the waters are only in the 40's. inland, sunny skies and 67. on the lower eastern shore, you

get a decent sea breeze that keeps the temperature down. those locations to get quite close to 60 degrees tomorrow. waves right around 1 foot. they're coming up. well seen a rise in the water temperatures. -- we have seen a rise in the water temperatures. the first day of spring on saturday with a high of 70, that a cold front on sunday afternoon that could trigger a thunderstorm followed by gusty winds. >> now, 11 sports. >> the orioles reached the halfway point of their spring training schedule. it is never smart to read too much of anything from a florida game and march. they could use little giddy-up, and by a little, i mean a lot. the game can and on st. patrick's day and you can go out and have some fun.

the first two innings, a shutout ball, not getting any help. runs scored, and the birds lose 4-1. you have to think it won't be a quick trip. it geographically, it is the midwest reason for the terps that play against houston. maryland is declared the favorite. he's and enters the tournament on a much greater role. they won four games in four days to burn injury. -- earn entry. houston has maryland's full attention. >> it is taking as many shots as possible, hopefully you can wear them down. it is not easy.

>> we will have four guards a lot of times. anybody can shoot from wherever whenever. >> bracket busting in full swing already for the insanely die- hard college fans. the number one goes down, arizona state, a turnover. takes on the 25-footer. jacksonville a letter. the crowded devastated. we wrap up with a sports commendation for coach. turner takes over at kansas hoping to change a culture of intimidation and bullying left from the previous regime. it is off to a good start. at the all-american quarterback will run his program without cursing. he has hired a staff that will

follow suit. his reasoning? develop these young men, it is counterproductive to curse. that is refreshing. stay tuned for a curse-free forecast from tom, maybe.

>> here is a look at what we're working on tonight. a major player in the state's bail bond industry, that man is under indictment by federal prosecutors. it is time for spring break. some hot spots are currently under a travel warning. not everyone agrees with that.

>> if this is the weather, let's have more of it. >> spring officially begins at about 1:30 saturday afternoon. until then, it keeps getting warmer. 70 on saturday. the cold front is scheduled to move through on sunday with showers and storms. that pushes the temperature back a little bit, high may be in the low 50's on monday or tuesday. it might get a little close to freezing on tuesday -- >> we are done with that. thank you for joining us. >> we will see tonight at 11:00. if we don't know how big our community is,

how do we know how big our hospitals need to be?