Public defender announces candidacy for Baltimore judge

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Assistant Public Defender Todd Oppenheim announced his candidacy Friday for Baltimore City Circuit Court judge, becoming the second candidate in the race who has not gone through the judicial appointment process.

“The results of the nominating process are before us,” he said. “The system doesn’t work. I’m running against the system.”

Baltimore City Councilman James B. Kraft announced his plan to run for judge over the summer. Kraft and Oppenheim will face the six sitting circuit court judges in the primary election in April — Shannon E. Avery, Audrey J.S. Carrion, Michael A. DiPietro, Karen Chaya Friedman, Wanda Keyes Heard and Cynthia H. Jones.

A sitting judge in Baltimore has not been unseated since 1982.

Oppenheim has been with the Office of the Public Defender since 2003 after graduating from the University of Baltimore School of Law, according to his campaign website, and currently works in the Baltimore City Felony Trial unit.

“Judges do not hand down equal justice in Baltimore,” Oppenheim said Friday, citing racial and income disparity in bail reviews and sentences he’s seen during his career. “I want to change the way things are done around here.”

Oppenheim’s platform includes reforming Baltimore’s bail system, restoring Fourth Amendment rights, ending the war on drugs and civil equality.

“I will not use bail to punish people who have not gone to trial yet,” he said.

Pretrial release conditions can be used effectively to keep the community safe while ensuring defendants come to court, Oppenheim added.

He also said he won’t rubber-stamp police misconduct by upholding illegal searches and seizures.

The justice model needs to be reconsidered, Oppenheim said, citing the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray earlier this year.

“It’s like April didn’t happen to the people in the black robes,” he said, referring to the current judges. “It’s time to get me in there so I can change the system from within it.”