By: Brendan Kearney

When I heard last night that Baltimore City Circuit Chief Judge John N. Prevas had died from a heart attack apparently suffered while at the downtown courthouse, I thought, among other things, of a passage in a recent City Paper cover story written by one of Prevas’ former law clerks.

Hal Riedl’s story was about a repeat violent offender Prevas had sentenced in 1987, who recently went away again for a sex offense. In bringing the reader into the present day after recounting the history, Riedl wrote these unfortunately prescient lines about his former boss:

“His health has been poor for years, and I’m trying to persuade him to retire. I know very well that won’t happen — one day he’ll simply keel over in court.”

I’m working on Prevas’ obituary today and I hope to speak to Riedl, who I first met while we watched the Sheila Dixon trial together and most recently saw at Gregg Bernstein’s post-election press conference. Others with memories of Judge Prevas are welcome to call me at 443-524-8156 or leave them in the comments section of this blog.