LAWYER INDICTED IN HIDING OF DRUG MONEY

A lawyer with offices in Prince George's County and the District was
arrested yesterday after a federal grand jury in Maryland accused him
of helping to hide tens of thousands of dollars that had belonged to a
slain drug dealer.

Walter L. Blair, 57, whose legal practice has included high-profile
lawsuits against local police departments, faces accusations that
could end his career and send him to prison. An indictment unsealed
yesterday accuses him of money laundering, obstruction of justice and
other counts.

According to the charging document, a distant relative of the drug
dealer's approached Blair in November 2003 after the dealer
disappeared and the dealer's girlfriend was shot to death; the dealer
and his girlfriend's son were later found fatally shot, too.

The dealer, who sold marijuana in the Richmond area, had asked the
relative to keep a safe in which he had stored cash, the indictment
says. Unsure about what to do with the money after the dealer's
disappearance, the relative turned to Blair, the indictment says. It
does not identify the relative, a Germantown resident, or say how she
knew Blair.

Blair is alleged to have hatched a scheme to conceal the origins of
the money. He told the relative to bring the money to him at his
office in College Park, the indictment says. The relative arrived with
a duffel bag full of bills split into stacks wrapped in rubber bands,
it says.

Blair told her to use the money to buy real estate and pay lawyers,
including Blair, to represent the slain dealer's associates, according
to the indictment.

Arrested yesterday at his home in Brookeville in Montgomery County,
Blair appeared later in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, where he
said he will represent himself.

Magistrate Judge Charles B. Day released Blair but ordered him to
surrender his passport. Day also ordered that Blair disclose the
charges to any criminal defendants and not meet with witnesses in the
case without another lawyer present.

Blair did not respond to a message left with a colleague and could not
be reached at his home.

Under state rules, Blair must report the charges the Maryland Bar
Counsel. But any action against him by the disciplinary body would
await the outcome of the criminal case.