Reform of citizen complaint process floated

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ANNAPOLIS — The rights of domestic-violence victims should not be lost as a state commission searches for ways to improve how the Maryland criminal justice system treats arrested individuals before trial, the legal director of a women’s shelter told the panel Tuesday.

Dorothy J. Lennig, of the House of Ruth Maryland, raised her concern after the panel’s chairman suggested that earlier screening by prosecutors of citizens’ complaints to Maryland District Court commissioners could lead to a significant reduction in arrests based on meritless accusations.

“A lot of people who use this system [of citizen complaints] are victims of domestic violence,” said Lennig, a commission member. “This is how my clients get access to the criminal justice system.”

Lennig said some citizen complaints lack merit but added that the few “frivolous charges” should not spur a revamping of a system where a complaint to the commissioner can spur a life-saving arrest warrant.

“People lie,” Lennig said. “What a shock.”

But “if you make it harder for victims of domestic violence, then less of them are going to use the system,” she added.

Richard M. Karceski, who chairs the Governor’s Commission to Reform Maryland’s Pretrial System, responded that citizen complaints and the rights of domestic-violence victims would be on the agenda of one of the panel’s three subcommittees.

Gov. Martin O’Malley called for the creation of the 23-member commission in May to examine and improve how the justice system treats arrested criminal suspects prior to trial, including the feasibility of implementing an objective risk assessment computer program at initial bail hearings to determine if an arrestee should be held in custody or released before trial.

Under O’Malley’s executive order, the commission must submit recommendations regarding a computer program and other pretrial initiatives to the General Assembly by Dec. 1.

The commission’s creation was prompted by the Maryland Court of Appeals’ landmark Sept. 25 decision in DeWolfe v. Richmond that criminal suspects have a state constitutional right to counsel at initial bail hearings before district court commissioners.

This past General Assembly session, the legislature earmarked $10 million from the Maryland Judiciary’s $500 million fiscal 2015 budget for the appointment of private attorneys to provide counsel at initial bail hearings.

The Judiciary’s Appointed Attorney’s Program went into effect by Court of Appeals’ order on July 1.

Three sub-groups

At the commission’s Tuesday meeting, its second, members approved the formation of three subcommittees: one to review the Judiciary’s response to the Richmond decision, including the handling of citizen complaints; another to examine the feasibility of using an objective risk assessment tool in place of or in addition to commissioners at initial bail hearings; and a third to examine ways to ensure the fundamental rights of those charged and arrested, including an examination of racial inequities and of diversionary programs, such as drug treatment.

“What we strive for is that people are detained for the right reasons and that people are released for the rights reasons,” said Karceski, a Towson criminal defense attorney.

A pretrial system should also ensure that “people who are afflicted or addicted can be dealt with and helped at the earliest point along the way,” he added.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, a panel member, said the commission need not spend much time reviewing the feasibility of an automated, objective risk assessment tool because the General Assembly examined and rejected that approach last session.

The legislature ultimately rejected a measure calling for implementation of the automated approach amid criticism that decisions regarding release or detention should be made by commissioners, not a computer program derided by opponents as “robo-bail.”

One issue left unresolved by legislators, and worthy of commission discussion, is whether commissioners should use risk- assessment software as one factor when deciding whether to release or detain a criminal suspect, Shellenberger said.

“I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel here,” he added.

“We need to find a way to solve the piece that stopped us” in the General Assembly, Shellenberger said.

Karceski said he plans to hold a third commission meeting in August but no date has been set.

Also on the commission are attorney Paul Kemp, Rockville; Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane; Brian Frank, Lexington National Insurance Corp.; Michael Merican and Mary Lou McDonough, Maryland Correctional Administrators Association; Cherise Fanno Burdeen, Pretrial Justice Institute; Angela Talley, pretrial services, Montgomery County; attorney Timothy Maloney, Greenbelt; former Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Steven Platt; Sheridan Todd Yearey, NAACP; attorney Michael Schatzow, Baltimore; Jacqueline Robarge, Power Inside; State Sens. Christopher Shank and Robert “Bobby” Zirkin; Dels. Joseline Pena-Melnyk and Luke Clippinger; Wendell France, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Tammy Brown, Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention; Chief District Judge John Morrissey; and Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe.