BN- A baltimore County judge on Friday sentenced three men — including a retired city police officer — for their involvement in a Dundalk...
BN- A baltimore County judge on Friday sentenced three men — including a retired city police officer — for their involvement in a Dundalk bar brawl involving rival motorcycle clubs.
Eric Jansen and Darrin Shiflett received probation before judgment. Erick Calkins, who prosecutors say started the brawl, received a two-year sentence with all but 60 days suspended. They each pleaded guilty in July to one count of second-degree assault.
Prosecutors said the three men attacked members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club at Kenny B's Blue Marlin bar in Dundalk on Feb. 7.
Members of the Iron Order were inside the bar with several women when members of the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club entered the building "and immediately began to physically attack the Iron Order members," according court documents. Police said that several members of the Chosen Sons, including Jansen, the retired Baltimore police officer, arrived and also attacked the Iron Order members, the court documents say.
Police described an ongoing conflict between the motorcycle clubs that included previous attacks on Iron Order members. Surveillance footage showed Jansen pushing a woman out of the way to strike a man, and then punching Tim Kielian twice in the face, according to the court documents.
Kielian, who appeared in court Friday, asked the judge to consider a heftier sentence.
"The point is, there were people in there that night that were doing nothing wrong," said Kielian, noting that his wife was pushed. "It's inexcusable."
A Baltimore police sergeant, David Crites, and another retired city officer, Keith Romans, face charges in a separate fight between rival motorcycle clubs in Essex. Both have been identified by county police as Chosen Sons members and are scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Jansen's attorney, Warren Alperstein, noted that his client has previously served in the military, retired from the Police Department in September 2014, and most recently worked at IKEA but lost his job because of the charges.
Jansen spoke briefly at the sentencing. "I would like to apologize to the court," he told Circuit Judge Robert E. Cahill Jr., adding that he wanted to "move on, sir."
Alperstein said "the court recognized that Mr. Jansen is an upstanding, accomplished individual and that is why the court favorably resolved the case." He added that Jansen "is eager to move forward."
Joseph Murtha, who represented Shiflett, called the fight "an isolated incident." He said after the hearing that his client "worked hard his entire life. Unfortunately, he was present on a day when something happened."
Calkins' attorney, Marshall Henslee, asked the judge to consider a lesser sentence for his client, who was injured while serving in Iraq and has an upcoming surgery. Calkins had a cast on his leg and was on crutches when he appeared in court. Prosecutors, however, asked for jail time, saying Calkins initiated the brawl.
Among those attending Friday's sentencing was a young woman who wore a black sweatshirt that read "Support Your Local Iron Horseman" around a picture of a motorcycle, and who wept when Calkins was sentenced. A man sitting next to her, who wore a T-shirt that read "Wild Rider" beneath a long ponytail, tried to comfort her.
Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-co-motorcycle-club-sentencing-20151002-story.html
