Crime & Safety

Murder Trial for Slain Blogger's Daughter Postponed Until 2014

The trial was previously scheduled to begin next week, but has been postponed until next year.


The trial of Morgan Lane Arnold, the teenager accused of coordinating the killing of her father, Dennis Lane, is now scheduled to take place next year after a judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Arnold.

Howard County Circuit Court Judge Timothy McCrone granted the state's request on Nov. 12 for an evaluation to find out if Arnold, 15, is competent to stand trial, according to court records.

The trial was previously scheduled to begin on Monday. A motions hearing was also scheduled for that date to decide whether to move the trial to juvenile court. Currently, Arnold is being tried as an adult. The juvenile waiver hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 31, according to online court records.

Arnold is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

According to court documents, Arnold, and her boyfriend Jason Anthony Bulmer, 19, plotted for over two months to kill Lane and his fiancee Denise Geiger. Police say Bulmer, 20, stabbed Lane to death inside Lane's Ellicott City home in the early morning hours of May 10.

Police found Bulmer and Arnold in an upstairs bedroom at the house Lane and Geiger shared on Winding Ross Way with blood on his hands and clothes. According to a police report, he told police he killed Lane and that Arnold told him to do it.

The murder shook the Ellicott City and Columbia communities where Lane maintained a popular local blog and worked as a commercial real estate agent. Friends and family of Lane remembered him at a memorial service in June at which Geiger said Lane saved her life.

Arnold's trial is now scheduled to begin March 24, 2014.

Bulmer's trial is scheduled for April 22, 2014. Bulmer's trial was also delayed this year after the public defender's office, which is representing him, asked for more time to evaluate his mental state, according to a Baltimore Sun report.

Related Articles

Court Docs Shed Light on Blogger's Relationship with Daughter

Teen Daughter, Boyfriend Indicted in Killing of Ellicott City Blogger

One Last Wag for 'Wordbones'

Ellicott City Blogger Killed at Home


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.