STATE'S ATTORNEY DROPS NEXTEL CONTEMPT ACTION

Phone Company Offers 'Corrective Measures' To Aid City Law Enforcement

An hour after Baltimore prosecutors, police and a Nextel Communications
lawyer flown in from Seattle hashed out their differences in private, the
city state's attorney's office withdrew its petition yesterday asking a
court to find Nextel in contempt.

"We had an open discussion of problems, and both parties agreed we wanted
to move forward," said prosecutor Antonio Gioia.

The state's attorney's office sought the contempt hearing after Nextel
twice interrupted service on a cellular telephone that was being tapped by
narcotics detectives, effectively grounding their investigation.

In court yesterday, Nextel attorney Al Gidari said the line interruptions
had been accidental and stressed the company's willingness to cooperate
with city law enforcement.

"I want to personally assure this court that your orders will be met," he
told Circuit Judge Wanda K. Heard.

Yesterday's agreement was sealed in the court record, but prosecutors said
in it, Nextel agreed to several "corrective measures."

The company will work with its software providers to fix a lag in
transmission of call data; speed up its subpoena compliance; conduct
in-house tests to avoid line shutdowns; and meet more regularly with police.