ANNAPOLIS — Until two years ago in Maryland, filing a petition for a writ of actual innocence or petitioning to test newly discovered DNA evidence were two ways a defendant could seek post-conviction relief — and potentially win their freedom. ...

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Sen. H. Wayne Norman Jr.’s death midway through the recently completed General Assembly session profoundly affected the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on which he sat and on the issues it addressed, said its chairman, Sen. Robert A. “Bobby” Zirkin, D-Baltimore ...

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Perhaps the only prediction that will come true regarding the 2019 General Assembly session will be the influential Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will have a starkly different look than it had this year. The 11-member panel, from which this year’s ...

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ANNAPOLIS – The House Judiciary Committee has dropped from omnibus anti-crime legislation a provision that would permit prosecutors to appeal judges’ decisions to suppress from evidence at trial guns the judges conclude were seized from defendants in violation of their ...

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The “prohibitively high” caseloads of Maryland’s public defenders could be reduced if lawmakers decriminalize minor offenses, the state’s public defender says.

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Sen. Robert A. “Bobby” Zirkin, chair of the influential Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, has sued a California-based internet video company for defamation after it included a stock photo of him in a story about an unnamed Baltimore Ravens fan looking ...

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Attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants in more than 13,000 asbestos cases in Baltimore will bring before a Senate panel Tuesday their years-long battle over whether and how to consolidate the litigation so the cases can be heard in court. The ...

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The chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday endorsed legislation making clear that rape victims need not show they tried to resist their assailants physically in order to gain a rape conviction.

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The chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee welcomed his new vice chair Thursday by alluding to the panel’s history of rejecting many of her legislative proposals.

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Environmental groups supporting a statewide ban of a controversial process for extracting natural gas took their message to the front door of a state senator who has repeated blocked previous legislation. Members and supporters of Don’t Frack Maryland gathered at the ...

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