By: Brendan Kearney

A pending motion to unseal more of the corruption case against former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell Sr. and his wife, Mary Pat, comes at a curious time (even aside from how it fits in with the movant-intervenor William C. Bond’s pro se litigation schedule).

As Bond seeks to know why Gerard P. Martin and Joshua R. Treem switched clients in the Bromwell case and why the presiding judge disqualified them on the eve of trial, those same two lawyers are in the thick of defending the latest high-profile political corruption case: the state prosecutor’s investigation of a prominent Baltimore developer’s influence at City Hall.

Treem represents Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton, who has been indicted for allegedly taking a bribe, in the form of a political poll, from developer Ronald H. Lipscomb. Lipscomb, who also faces a bribery count, is represented by Martin. Lipscomb’s trial is scheduled for June; Holton’s is slated for October. (Mayor Sheila A. Dixon has also been indicted and is supposed to stand trial after Labor Day.)

Now, there’s no reason to believe history will repeat itself here. The Bromwell episode is but one in Martin’s and Treem’s long careers defending big cases, and the Bromwells’ status as husband-and-wife co-defendants is quite different from Holton’s and Lipcomb’s relationship as alleged partners in a bribe.

It just provides some curious context for the April 23 motions hearing (to dismiss the indictments) in the case and the trials later this year.