Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration squared off Thursday against the Maryland Judiciary and a law school dean over the governor’s call for legislation requiring a state commission to compile by name the sentences each Maryland circuit court judge renders for violent ...

Tagged with: crime and punishment judicial discretion judicial independence Larry Hogan public transparency violent crime

Judges oppose Gov. Larry Hogan’s call for a bill requiring that a commission compile the sentences each circuit court judge renders against violent criminals.

Tagged with: crime and punishment due process first amendment judicial discretion sentencing separation of powers

Maryland’s top court rejected a proposal to give circuit court judges discretion to reduce the life sentences of convicts who committed their crimes before age 25 and who have served at least 24 years in prison.

Tagged with: judicial discretion juvenile justice reform life sentences older prisoners recidivism

A judge’s slashing of a $20 million jury verdict to $1 will stand after Maryland’s top court on Monday declined without comment to hear a Baltimore defense company’s argument that Beretta U.S.A. Corp. should be held fully liable for having ...

Tagged with: Adcor beretta judicial discretion nondisclosure agreement trade secrets

Maryland’s top court on Monday returned to the state judiciary’s rules committee a proposal to give circuit court judges discretion to reduce the life sentences of convicts who committed their crimes before reaching age 25 and who have served at ...

Tagged with: judicial discretion juvenile justice reform life sentences older prisoners recidivism

A Baltimore County judge validly slashed a $20 million jury verdict to $1 after determining a local defense company had failed to prove damages against Beretta U.S.A. Corp. for breaching a nondisclosure agreement regarding improvements to the AR-15 rifle, Maryland’s ...

Tagged with: Adcor beretta judicial discretion trade secrets

A felon who tried to sell two semi-automatic weapons to an undercover Baltimore police officer will spend the next 15 years in a federal prison. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake handed down the punishment Tuesday against Devan Mack, who ...

Tagged with: criminal justice reform judicial discretion mandatory minimum

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s effort to enact mandatory minimum prison terms for repeat gun offenders and to discourage judges from handing down reduced sentences was rebuffed during an abbreviated General Assembly session, thanks to the Democratic-led legislature’s opposition ...

Tagged with: General Assembly judicial discretion Larry Hogan mandatory minimum witness intimidation

ANNAPOLIS – A Baltimore judge Tuesday assailed as constitutionally suspect Gov. Larry Hogan’s legislative proposal to require a state commission to compile the violent crime sentences handed down by each Maryland circuit court judge, saying the bill could spur harsher ...

Tagged with: crime and punishment due process judicial discretion separation of powers

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the racketeering-related convictions of three violent Baltimore gang members after concluding the trial judge had properly addressed their attorneys’ concerns about anxiety-related jury bias due to jurors’ fears of gang retaliation. Lawyers for ...

Tagged with: baltimore gangs Black Guerrilla Family judicial discretion jury bias