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In a highly controversial decision at the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville, a judge has ordered an alleged murder’s case to be transferred to juvenile court.  The decision angered family members of the four victims, one of whom had died from gunshot wound injuries.  The defendant was originally charged as an adult with one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of attempted first-degree murder in addition to various assault and firearm offenses for allegedly firing 16 rounds of ammunition into a crowd at a Germantown basketball court.  The defendant, who is considered a respondent now that the case has been transferred, was accused to using a homemade polymer ghost gun to fire the shots.  At the time of the incident he was just 14 years old, and now that the case has been transferred, he could be released from a secure juvenile facility in less than one year.  The judge explained his opinion over the course of 30 minutes, and sided with the defense despite strenuous objection from the Office of the State’s Attorney.

While the families of the victims have every right to be outraged by the decision, the judge was bound to follow the rule of law in Maryland, which has changed drastically in the past year.  Any juvenile who is charged as an adult may petition to transfer the case to juvenile court.  This has become known as a reverse waiver hearing, and the judges are required to weigh five independent factors including age of the child, the child’s physical and mental condition, the child’s amenability to treatment in a juvenile facility or program, the nature of the offense and public safety.  In the past too many judges have focused on the nature of the offense, and if it was especially violent the transfer would be denied in the name of public safety.  Pursuant to what is now known as the Davis case, judges are no longer allowed to make these swift, allegation based decisions.  The Court of Appeals in Davis reiterated that the controlling principal of the justice system is protection of the public, and that a juvenile delinquency program that is most effective at treating, educating and rehabilitating offenders will best protect the public in the long run.  Amenability to treatment has become the determinative factor when considering transfer, and the other four factors ultimately lead up to amenability.  Amenability in this context is best interpreted as whether a child would benefit from a juvenile program.  If the answer is yes, then the case should be transferred regardless of the underlying nature of the charges.

The defendant was originally charged as an adult because Maryland juvenile courts do not have original jurisdiction over individuals 14 and over who are facing charges that carry life in jail.  The first-degree murder and attempted murder charges all carry life in prison, which means the juvenile court did not have original jurisdiction over the defendant.  In most other cases a juvenile must be at least 16 before being charged as an adult, but for life felonies the minimum age is 14.  All defendants who are between 7 and 13 years old will be charged as juveniles, and can only be prosecuted in adult court if their case is waived up at a discretionary waiver hearing.  If your child is facing charges in any Maryland court contact juvenile criminal defense lawyer Benjamin Herbst anytime for a free consultation.  Benjamin has successfully argued for the transfer of numerous individuals to juvenile court, including a recent armed robbery case where the individual had already turned 18.  He has represented clients in every county in Maryland and is also an experienced federal criminal defense lawyer who specializes in firearm offenses and white collar crimes such as theft of government property and fraud.  Benjamin is available 7 days a week at 410-207-2598 to discuss the defenses that may be available in your case.

An assistant basketball coach at the University of Maryland was suspended last month after being charged with prostitution back in October in Prince George’s County.  The suspension is set to be completed this week, which means he could return to the sidelines as early as this Thursday when Iowa visits College Park.  The University announced the suspension on January 12, so the more likely return for the coach would be for this weekend’s road tilt against Purdue.  According to news reports from various outlets including the New York Post and the Baltimore Sun, the 40-year-old coach was arrested at a hotel in Largo after he reached out to an undercover detective posing as a prostitute.  The police posted a fictitious online advertisement under the general category of “women seeking men”, and the coach agreed to meet at a neutral location.  Upon arriving at the hotel, the coach and the undercover were in the room together when he allegedly requested sex in exchange for $80.  As soon as the coach handed over the money, the undercover officer gave an arrest signal to the takedown team waiting in the next room.

The takedown team is typically a group of 2 to 4 officers in uniform or police tactical vests who are monitoring the undercover and the suspect by audio and sometimes video.  While this type of surreptitious recording is typically illegal under Maryland and federal wiretapping laws, there are exceptions for law enforcement to monitor the safety of officers or confidential informants who are conducting investigative activities.  As soon as the arrest signal is given, some or all of the takedown team enters the room and places the suspect under arrest.  From there the police can actually choose to arrest the suspect on the spot, or take his or her information and issue a criminal summons at a later date.  The charge of prostitution under 11-306 carries a maximum penalty of 1 year in jail, which means an officer is not permitted to issue a criminal citation.  Criminal citations are generally only permitted for crimes that carry a maximum penalty of 90 days or less.  In this particular case the coach was arrested and booked for one count of prostitution general.  He was released by a District Court Commissioner a few hours later on his own recognizance, which is normal a standard misdemeanor solicitation charge.

This type of prostitution sting has been used by law enforcement for roughly the last decade, and while there have been hundreds if not thousands of arrests, it’s hard to measure the overall deterrent effect on the prostitution trade.  It seems that those who wish to seek out prostitutes and those who wish to offer these services will continue to find a way to link up regardless of the threat of arrest.  We expect that this type of law enforcement tactic will continue to be employed even as various websites have been shut down.  While the large majority of defendants arrested for prostitution crimes are simply seeking sex without strings attached, the motivation for law enforcement’s continued efforts to stop prostitution is to ultimately crack down on human trafficking.  The hope is that by eliminating the potential client base you can eventually eliminate the sex trafficking altogether, though the war on drugs has taught us this is more of a law enforcement money grab than a reality-based solution.

Earlier this week the mayor of Cambridge was arrested and charged with 50 misdemeanor counts for violating a Maryland statute commonly known as the revenge porn law.  The 32-year-old defendant is a graduate of Penn State University and a lifelong resident of Dorchester County.  When elected in January he became the youngest mayor in the history of Cambridge, and now it appears his time in office will end just shy of one year.  The charges were filed in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County via criminal information on November 15, which is the same day the arrest warrant was served.  This means the mayor likely knew about the pending charges in advance, and had time to hire counsel and plan a date to surrender to law enforcement.  The mayor was released on his own recognizance the same day he surrendered, likely as a result of his lack of prior record, strong ties to the community and voluntary surrender with counsel.  A scheduling conference is set for the first week in December, and from there status, motions and trial dates will be set.  Trial will likely be set sometime around April or May, but there is a good chance the case may be resolved before then.

According to the 27-page charging document the mayor’s ex-girlfriend contacted law enforcement back in May when she discovered nude photographs of herself on a social media platform.  The victim apparently told law enforcement she only sent the pictures to one person, the mayor, and never gave him permission to distribute or post them.   Law enforcement then traced the origin of the posts back to an IP address tied to the mayor’s home in Cambridge.  In total the defendant was charged with 50 counts in violation of Maryland law section 3-809, which is part of the stalking and harassment section of the criminal code.  This offense was created back in 2014, and is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 2 years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each count.  In order to establish a violation of this offense the state must prove the defendant knowingly and without consent distributed a visual representation of another engaged in sexual activity or with intimate parts exposed with the intent to harm, harass or intimidate the person depicted.  It seems clear from the charging document that the images meet the criteria, and the victim did not consent.  Therefore, all that is left to prove is that the defendant himself knowingly posted the pictures.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor, which is an independent office that was established in 1976 in order to combat public corruption.  The creation of this office may have stemmed directly from the outrage over the Watergate scandal during Nixon’s presidency.  Functions of the office include investigating, and if warranted, prosecuting government officials, employees or institutions that are alleged to have engaged in offenses such as bribery, extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice, voting law violations, misconduct in office and any other criminal offense.  The State Prosecutor’s Office is located in Towson, and is a separate entity from the Attorney General’s Office.  Located in Baltimore City, the AG prosecutes public corruption as well as complex multi-jurisdictional criminal schemes such as gang activity and drug distribution rings.

The 2021 H2O1 pop-up car rally is officially underway, and law enforcement is preparing to keep this unofficial event as safe as possible.  Despite a supposed move to New Jersey a few years back, the event still calls Ocean City home, and thousands will flock to Maryland’s Eastern Shore this week.  The event has a decade of history in Worcester County, and despite lawmakers and the city police department’s best efforts, it does not appear to being going away any time soon.  Lawmakers can’t simply ban the event because it is not an officially sanctioned event in the first place.  There are no licenses issued by the town, and there is no promoter or company that actually runs the event.  Short of closing down the town for the week or imposing some sort of over-intrusive curfew (which would never happen and would be unconstitutional) the town will once again be forced to make the event as safe as possible for participants and spectators alike.

In 2020 the number of arrests during the rally actually decreased from 121 the year before to an even 100.  On the other hand, the amount of traffic citations issued during the event rose to nearly 3.5 thousand.  Additionally, 350 cars were towed for various infractions including camber violations that make the cars illegal for street use.  Many visitors to Ocean City have noticed signage on Coastal Highway that displays the Special Event Zone message, and this law was actually created back in 2018 in response to the Ocean City Pop-up rally.  The town wanted to give police more authority to enforce the traffic laws, and believed that simply writing citations would not do the trick.  Lawmakers succumbed to the pressure and created the Special Event Zone to give police authority to arrest drivers for so called “exhibition driving”.

According section 21-1132 of the Transportation Article under Maryland law, exhibition driving is defined as operating a vehicle in a manner that results in excessive or abrupt acceleration or deceleration, skidding, burning or smoking of the tires, swerving or swaying, or revving the engine in an unreasonably loud or disturbing manner.  Grinding of the gears and causing the wheels to lose contact with the ground is also included in the statute.  Exhibition driving while in Special Event Zone is now punishable by up to 60 days in jail, and a fine of $1,000, and police officers will arrest a defendant for this type of driving.  We have seen numerous cases where defendants are arrested for exhibition driving even if their actions did not place anyone in danger.  To make matters worse, some out of state defendants are not released by the commissioner, and could held overnight in jail until seeing a judge the next day.  Not only will police arrest an individual for exhibition driving, the State’s Attorney’s Office will almost certainly prosecute these cases.  In addition to exhibition driving being an arrestable offense, the fine for speeding in a special offense zone increases to $1,000.  With the speed limit on coastal highway decreasing to 30 mph during the events, police are almost running out of paper to issue the tickets.