A 32-year-old Maryland law requiring state residents to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement violates the free-speech rights of Marylanders, a defense attorney has argued in appealing a first-degree murder conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. In papers filed ...

Tagged with: child abuse first amendment free speech Supreme Court

ANNAPOLIS – The final hour of the 2019 Maryland General Assembly session was marked by the quiet demise of measures calling for a study of ways to reduce a docket of thousands of pending asbestos-exposure lawsuits and to double from ...

Tagged with: child abuse statute of limitations

ANNAPOLIS – By the slimmest of margins, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday killed House-passed legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. The panel’s 5-5 vote ensures that Maryland’s current statute permitting suits ...

Tagged with: child abuse statute of limitations

ANNAPOLIS – The statutory duty of Marylanders to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement trumps the general rule that private communications between spouses are inadmissible at trial, Maryland’s top court ruled Tuesday in reinstating the murder conviction of an ...

Tagged with: child abuse marital communications slippery slope

ANNAPOLIS – Saying the jury was improperly instructed on the violent crime’s elements, a divided Maryland high court has overturned the first-degree child abuse conviction of a father who allegedly wrapped his son in plastic and tied his wrists to ...

Tagged with: child abuse expert testimony Jury instructions

Those with an expertise in detecting when people are lying need not testify in Maryland courtrooms.

Tagged with: child abuse expert testimony lie-detector

A Missouri woman convicted of child abuse is owed a new trial — one in which there is less discussion of the large reptiles in her home, a state appellate court has held.

Tagged with: appeal child abuse missouri reptile

The bill makes it a misdemeanor for health care practitioners, police officers, educators and human service workers to knowingly fail to report child abuse.

Tagged with: abuse and neglect child abuse mandatory reporter Maryland General Assembly

In my career representing victims sexually abused by powerful people, I have come to understand one thing clearly: we will never change the culture of complicity until executives are held accountable through criminal prosecution. This is true for the United ...

Tagged with: child abuse crime Larry Nassar lawsuit

A Maryland man who viciously abused a 2-year-old girl has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Tagged with: child abuse sentencing washington county