District judge faces disciplinary charges of advising defendants, bias against women

A Maryland District Court judge in Charles County faces disciplinary charges of judicial misconduct after allegedly giving legal advice to two men facing assault charges and speaking with their alleged domestic-violence victims.

Judge W. Louis Hennessy also demonstrated bias against women and domestic violence victims while providing legal counsel, the Commission on Judicial Disabilities alleged in a recent statement of administrative charges.

The commission claimed Hennessy’s actions violated rules of judicial conduct pertaining to preserving impartiality and fairness and avoiding bias. Hennessy also improperly practiced law as a judge, lent the prestige of his judicial office and engaged in ex parte communications, the commission alleged.

Hennesssy, who is 66 and has been on the bench since 2005, denied the allegations of wrongdoing in his attorney’s response to the charges, which was filed Monday.

“Judge Hennessy is an excellent jurist with a heart of gold,” attorney William C. Brennan Jr. wrote. “Upon careful reflection he acknowledges that he should learn to say ‘no’ when people reach out to him for help despite his innate desire to help people.”

According to the commission, Hennessy had at least 10 “inappropriate” telephone conversations with one of the criminal defendants in which he gave legal advice while the man was being held at the St. Mary’s County Detention and Rehabilitation Center between May and August last year. Hennessy also had inappropriate conversations with the alleged victim, the commission stated.

During his talks with the accused, Hennessy expressed the belief that he was innocent. The judge also said of the alleged victim, “she’s not the first woman” to misuse the police “and she won’t be the last,” the commission alleged, citing what it called the routinely recorded jailhouse phone conversation of which inmates are notified of in advance.

When the defendant said the alleged victim was being ungrateful, Hennessy replied, “Women have short memories, man, you know,” the commission stated.

Hennessy declined the defendant’s request to speak with the judge assigned to his case, saying that “I would get in big trouble if I said anything to him,” added the commission, which did not identify the defendants or their alleged victims by name.

Hennessy spoke to the second defendant – who was also held at the St. Mary’s facility — at least five times between last August and December and interviewed three people about the events leading to his arrest, securing affidavits from each, the commission stated. Hennessy also spoke with the defendant’s alleged victim, a conversation which she told commission investigators felt like a threat.

“Judge Hennessy’s behavior provides evidence that Judge Hennessy engaged in conduct that was prejudicial to the proper administration of justice in Maryland courts,” the commission stated in its charges.

Brennan, Hennessy’s attorney, responded that the judge never gave legal advice to the defendants, who were acquaintances of his, and noted they were being accused and held in St. Mary’s County and not in Hennessy’s jurisdiction of Charles County.

“Judge Hennessy admits that he commiserated with certain parties in this matter but he did so as a private citizen and not as an attorney or member of the Judiciary,” wrote Brennan, of Brennan, McKenna & Lawlor Chtd., in Greenbelt.

“Judge Hennessy has always been empathetic to those less fortunate,” Brennan added. “He would never turn his back on someone who came to him in time of need. His default position is to try and help others as he has done all of his life.”

The commission has not yet scheduled a hearing on the charges.