Judge Keith Mathews, chief judge for the District Court in Baltimore, attributes the increase to former Mayor Martin O'Malley's "zero-tolerance" arrest policies, which resulted in more defendants being put on probation. That means more is at stake when they get arrested again, even on a minor charge.
"The attorneys always advise their clients, 'If you're on probation, always ask for a jury trial,' " Mathews said. "Not that they end up getting one when they get to Circuit Court. A lot of times Circuit Court will try to work something out so they won't even get a conviction. They'll [inactivate] the case or require community service."
As the volume grows in Circuit Court, justice for misdemeanors becomes quicker and dirtier, with attorneys making judgments with less than a day's preparation and often without ever meeting, much less interviewing, victims or witnesses. Public defenders sometimes have to meet their clients for the first time when they arrive in court for trial.
On a Monday last month, Assistant State's Attorney Brendan Inscho had a 3-foot stack of 33 case folders piled on his office chair that he stayed late on a Friday and came into work on a Sunday to review.
"When you have 33 cases scheduled for trial that day, you can't be ready," he said.
Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Nowak was in court last month prosecuting a misdemeanor assault case against an 18-year-old woman with no criminal record. The teen had participated in a fight in which the victim was beaten and cut in the head with a knife.
Circuit Judge Wanda Heard asked Nowak how severe the cut was. Did it require stitches? If so, how many? Nowak knew the victim had received stitches, but she didn't know how many.
She had just been assigned the case on Friday afternoon and tried to reach the victim by phone over the weekend. The victim didn't show up for court, and her mother and sister arrived too late.
Heard unilaterally reduced Nowak's offer from six months in jail and two years probation to probation before judgment. Heard attached a number of conditions - including a curfew and community service - but if the young woman is successful, she will not go to jail and will not have a criminal record.
"It's insane over here, absolutely insane," Heard told a clerk as they tried to divert some cases to another judge. "I have 40 defendants today. Have you ever heard of 40 defendants on a misdemeanor docket?"
