On Friday, two men with a fondness for Maryland's Tilghman Island will gather for a hearing in a wood-paneled federal courtroom in downtown Baltimore.

Seated at the bench will be Judge Richard D. Bennett, who has a painting of the Knapps Narrows channel in his conference room and speaks of his visits to the Eastern Shore community. Seated in front of him will be Michael D. Hayden Jr., a fourth-generation islander who has been convicted in a rockfish poaching conspiracy.

At the hearing, Bennett will consider whether allegations that Hayden engaged in obstruction of justice, threatening others involved in the probe, should factor into his sentence. According to court documents, one man told investigators that Hayden called and said, "You rolled on me, [expletive], a man told me, so that's OK, I will take care of your ass."

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