Currie enters not-guilty pleas

Maryland Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's) entered not-guilty pleas Friday to all 18 counts in an indictment that alleges that he took more than $245,000 in bribes to use his position and influence to do favors for a grocery chain.

Currie, the powerful chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, was represented in U.S. District Court in Baltimore by a pair of federal public defenders who have recently replaced his private attorneys in the case.

Currie, 73, who was accompanied by his wife, declined to comment upon leaving the courtroom, and one of his lawyers, Joseph L. Evans, said he was too new to the case to discuss its substance.

"What I can say is that Senator Currie is highly respected, beloved really, by those who know him and work with him," Evans said. "We're honored to represent him."

Read the rest on the Maryland Politics blog.

-- John Wagner