Public Defender

Gov. Martin O"Malley's $69.5 million supplemental budget, an update to the overall state budget that usually comes to the General Assembly late in its 90-day session, would add 85 positions in the Office of the Public Defender to deal with a Court of Appeals decision expanding the right to representation at bail review hearings -- putting the executive brance above its limit of full-time employees. To bring the state under the limit set by the legislature's Joint Committeee on Spending Affordability, legislative analysts are recommending that lawmakers require the governor to trim 77 positions from its payroll over the next budget year, which starts July 1. The spending affordability panel has set a goal of limiting the number of full-time positions to just over 79,000.

A Laurel man was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on a charge of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Craig Benedict Baxam, 24, is accused of trying to travel to Somalia last year to join al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida linked group that U.S. officials say is responsible for assassinations, suicide bombings and other attacks on the central government, civil society leaders, aid workers, peace activists and journalists. Baxam, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, was detained by police in Kenya in December and interviewed there by FBI agents.

Faced with a court decision that could cost tens of millions of dollars to pay for lawyers at bail hearings, the Senate and House of Delegates passed conflicting measures Thursday to limit the scope of the ruling — setting up a potential tussle between the chambers on which approach to take. The Senate bill, which passed 45-1, would give suspects held by police the right to be brought before a judge with a defense lawyer within 48 hours. The House bill, which passed 133-0, would not. It seeks only to make clear that defendants are not entitled to a lawyer until they appear before a judge when the court is next in session.

A Dundalk man is not guilty of killing his 89-year-old neighbor, a Baltimore County judge ruled Wednesday after two days of testimony in a 2010 murder case. Michael W. Hester, who was charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Eleanor Marie Haley, said he is eager to rebuild his life. He said he entered Haley's house and found her dead after seeing water coming from her back door. He then called 911. Prosecutors argued during the trial that he killed Haley and turned on the water - a lawn sprinkler - to explain his presence at her home in the 7200 block of York Drive.

The case that led the Court of Appeals to conclude that indigent defendants arrested in Maryland should have the right to counsel when they appear before a district court commissioner put the state Office of the Public Defender in an awkward position. On principle, it agreed; the initial phase of the criminal justice process is crucial to determining the liberty of a person who is arrested, and without the benefit of counsel, far more people than necessary wound up confined to jail while awaiting trial because of excessive bail requirements.

Maryland Public Defender Paul De Wolfe stated he considered using panel attorneys to represent indigent defendants to staff commissioner bail hearings, but he concluded there are not enough panel attorneys statewide to meet the demand ("Maryland public defender asks for stay in high court's ruling," Feb. 3). Last year, after months of contacting the Baltimore City Public Defender's office to get my application approved and certification as a panel attorney, I finally received my certification.

The state would have to hire 284 new public defenders to comply with a recent Court of Appeals ruling requiring lawyers for indigent defendants at thousands of annual bail hearings, according to an affidavit filed Thursday by Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe. "I have determined that the Office is unable to comply with the court's mandate at this time in light of its current resource constraints," DeWolfe wrote in the eight-page, sworn document, filed in the state's highest court.

State legislators have drafted emergency bills to reverse a Maryland Court of Appeals order forcing public defenders to attend thousands of bail hearings for indigent defendants held in front of district court commissioners each year, after law enforcement officials complained about the cost. The measures, introduced in the Maryland House and Senate, would amend the state's public defender statute to remove the right to counsel at the commissioner stage, before the high court's mandate takes effect next month.

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the state must provide lawyers to indigent defendants during bail hearings, overturning a long-standing practice under which newly arrested individuals face court commissioners alone — often in private, unrecorded proceedings — to argue for freedom. "Whenever a commissioner determines to set bail, the defendant stands a good chance of losing his or her liberty, even if only for a brief time," the judges wrote. "Furthermore, the likelihood that the commissioner will give full and fair consideration to all facts relevant to the bail determination can only be enhanced by the presence of counsel.

Defense and government lawyers in the bribery trial of Maryland Sen. Ulysses S. Currie sparred for hours Thursday during final arguments, each side accusing the other of misstating the facts, then exhibiting outrage at the opponent's allegations. The federal case was handed over to the jury for deliberation Thursday afternoon. Joseph L. Evans, Currie's public defender, said that representing the 74-year-old politician was the "proudest" moment of his professional career - a "privilege" - because of his client's character as a "decent, honorable and forthright" individual.