Maryland stumbles when autism and violent crime collide

At 6-foot-5 and roughly 350 pounds, Joel Johnson-Liphart is a big man. So when, according to police, he hit his caretaker at their group home last week in Linthicum, it must have hurt. Then the 25-year-old allegedly struck her repeatedly with a metal stepladder before trying to strangle her. The attack took place at an Arc of the Chesapeake group home six years after another violent outburst involving Joel. That one resulted in the death of his grandmother at their home in Arnold.