MD delegate charged with assault after alleged ‘physical family dispute’

Maryland Del. Gary Simmons was charged with second-degree assault last week after his stepdaughter told Anne Arundel County Police that an argument at the legislator’s home turned physical.

The misdemeanor charge was filed Thursday, the same day Simmons was certified as the Democratic nominee for the District 12B seat in the state’s House of Delegates. Simmons, who turned 55 over the weekend, had successfully fended off a primary challenger in litigation that made it to the Maryland Supreme Court.

Simmons, whose district covers part of Anne Arundel County, did not immediately return requests for comment Monday. He did not have a defense attorney listed in court records.

A brief statement of charges filed by an Anne Arundel Police corporal says that Simmons’ 27-year-old stepdaughter came to the department’s Northern District at about 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday to report a “physical family dispute.”

She told officers that the altercation began at Simmons’ Brooklyn Park home Tuesday night, when the Democratic delegate had asked her to move her vehicle, police wrote in charging documents.

She said that a verbal altercation ensued after she jokingly replied “no,” telling an officer that “Simmons started to put his hands in her face.” She pushed his hands away, and Simmons “grabbed her left arm very tightly,” she said, according to charging documents. At that point, her brother “intervened and separated both parties,” the documents say. Once they were separated, she left and went home, according to charging documents, where police wrote that the brother corroborated her story.

The delegate was not placed under arrest. He was issued a summons to appear in Glen Burnie District Court for a preliminary inquiry in late August, with a trial date set for Sept. 11.

Simmons, a retired military police officer, has served one term as a delegate for District 12B, winning the newly created district in the 2022 general election with over 55% of the vote. Serving on the judiciary committee since the start of his term, Simmons was appointed as a deputy majority whip during the Maryland General Assembly’s last session.

In November, Simmons will face off against Republican Blair L. Brannock for the District 12B seat.

This story has been updated.