Anne Arundel judge accused of misconduct skips hearing before MD judicial disciplinary body

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Neither Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court Chief Judge Vickie Gipson nor her counsel were present Thursday as investigative counsel for the Maryland judicial disciplinary body gave opening statements and called witnesses in the disciplinary body’s misconduct case against the judge.

A handful of employees for the Anne Arundel County Register of Wills office testified Thursday as to disputes between Gipson and fellow Anne Arundel Orphans’ Court Judge Marc Knapp at the orphans’ court that took place when members of the public were present, with several witnesses describing Gipson’s interactions with Knapp as “disruptive.”

Knapp also testified during Thursday’s hearing but was not asked by investigative counsel about the disputes with Gipson that witnesses described.

Eunice Owens, court administrator for the Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, testified that Gipson and Knapp would often cut each other off, with the behavior occurring at least during one hearing per day that the orphans’ court was in session. Owens said Gipson would use a “passive aggressive” tone.

“If it’s not her way, the meetings don’t go well,” Owens said of discussions and deliberations Gipson would have with staff and members of the court.

Tameka Smith, another employee of the Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, said the issues between Gipson and Knapp “weren’t a secret.”

“It was either her way or no way,” Smith said during Thursday’s hearing.

Knapp testified Gipson informed the orphans’ court that no more opinions would be issued by the court, which Gipson said, according to Knapp, would mean that dissent could not be issued. Knapp said Gipson would make both grammatical and substantive changes to his work product, to the point where he “couldn’t bring himself” to sign some of the documents Gipson changed.

Earlier this year, investigative counsel for the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities found probable cause to believe Gipson committed sanctionable conduct by engaging in “repeated verbal altercations” with a judicial colleague — revealed to be Judge Marc Knapp — in chambers and during periods when the court was open to the public.

The commission’s investigative counsel found Gipson also invoked her title as chief judge in legal proceedings to advance personal interests, publicly commented on confidential matters before the commission, altered the hours of operation of the Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court contrary to law, and sought to circumvent commission procedure.

According to the commission’s investigative counsel, Gipson engaged in verbal altercations with Knapp, causing staff present in or near chambers to be uncomfortable. Gipson attempted to limit the altercations by barring the court from issuing orders that had been signed by Knapp, refusing to permit Knapp to work in the courtroom, and calling police when Knapp refused to leave the courtroom during an incident in the spring of 2024.

Thursday’s hearing took place before the 11-member commission. Unless a judge agrees to discipline by consent, a hearing allows for investigative counsel and the judge to produce witnesses and evidence. From there, the commission can issue a reprimand; recommend to the Maryland Supreme Court the removal, censure, “or other appropriate disciplining of a judge;” or recommend retirement.

Gipson, who has been a judge for the court since December 2018 and chief judge since 2023, entered a general denial plea to the commission’s findings and cited “mitigating circumstances of workplace violence and discriminatory animus” by Knapp.

According to court records, in May 2024, Gipson petitioned for a peace order, seeking protection from Knapp. Gipson alleged Knapp harassed and stalked her, and had been exhibiting “increasing fits of rage, verbal abuse including cursing, invasion of personal space and acts of aggression and hostility” toward herself and court staff. The Anne Arundel County District Court granted Gipson a temporary peace order that same month.

Later that year, prosecutors charged Knapp with stalking Gipson; prosecutors subsequently declined to prosecute the charges.

Knapp also faces charges before the commission, where commission investigators say he engaged in verbal altercations with a colleague (revealed to be Gipson), undercut Gipson’s authority and directives, and harassed and secretly recorded the conversations and deliberations of fellow judicial colleagues. Commission investigators characterized Knapp as “the primary aggressor” in confrontations with Gipson, where he “would act in a hostile, aggressive, disrespectful, and unprofessional manner” towards her.

The commission also alleged Knapp intentionally deleted cellphone recordings in the presence of a police officer that he took of his judicial colleagues in chambers without their knowledge or consent. Maryland prosecutors indicted Knapp in December for recording judicial deliberations, but later dropped the wiretapping and misconduct in office charges against the judge after the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court excluded recordings seized by police from Knapp’s phone from trial.

Knapp has denied that he committed sanctionable conduct, writing that while he admits his relationship with his fellow judges “was occasionally adversarial and at times contentious … such personal interactions did not violate the Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct.” He says many of the incidents the commission cited “are taken out of context, misconstrued or otherwise false,” and claims he “met resistance” for attempting to improve the Anne Arundel Orphans’ Court operations and by focusing on the manner of its legal deliberations and enhancing the quality and quantity of the court’s written opinions.

Investigative counsel read Gipson’s deposition into evidence during the hearing, where Gipson said she “was in fear for my safety every time in dealing with [Knapp].”

A hearing in Gipson’s case before the commission originally scheduled for Friday has been cancelled; the next hearing will be on Oct. 10 at 12 p.m. at the Howard County Circuit Court, according to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities’ website.

This story has been updated.