The courtroom opens at 8:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. criminal docket. The public defenders check in around 8:15 a.m., at which point the state extends plea offers. Although the PDs play for the other team, their challenges do not ...

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Experience is a valuable teacher. Oftentimes, as a young attorney, I’m pegged by prospective clients as appearing inexperienced. “You look young,” is a common comment upon seeing me for the first time. As a 26-year-old attorney, I don’t fault that perception. ...

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Want to add a little zing to your practice? Then you should apply for one of the attorney panels at your local public defender’s office, the D.C. Superior Court or the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Under Maryland law ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals advice criminal defense D.C Superior Court public defender trial

ANNAPOLIS — The former state public defender and an assistant attorney general clashed before Maryland’s top court Wednesday over whether a person who committed child sexual abuse in 1996 was validly required to register as a sex offender under the ...

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As a young lawyer 50 years ago, Stanley Silverman would regularly take court appointments, representing destitute defendants in the days before the public defender’s office. “You were flattered,” Silverman said. “A judge is trusting me to represent someone. I was ...

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Some area attorneys had a good week, some had a bad week. Five were fired from the Baltimore County Office of the Public Defender, and a former GlaxoSmithKline attorney was acquitted. Those stories and more in this week’s staff-written legal ...

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The role of an Assistant Public Defender is tough, but can be rewarding. Metaphorically speaking, to be an Assistant Public Defender, especially at first, is like landing on foreign enemy terrority with bullets flying in all directions. Inexperienced, disoriented, and unaware of your surroudnings, large caseloads, little time to prep for cases, and clients who are often incommunicado, can and have claimed many Assistant Public Defenders.

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Workdays don’t get much better than the one criminal lawyer Andrew V. Jezic had last Tuesday. The Court of Appeals issued two opinions in unrelated cases Jezic had handled at trial. In each case, the court found that an error ...

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It was an eventful week in the city of Baltimore and in the state of Maryland, as city police announced charges against officers allegedly involved in an extortion scheme, and the same-sex marriage bill moved its way through the state ...

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ANNAPOLIS — An audit has found the state’s public defender has not been thorough enough to determine financial eligibility of clients requesting a public defender. The audit, which was released Tuesday by state auditors, says the office’s policies did not ...

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