Sign In
Free Newsletter
Senning competent to stand trial for kidnapping Montgomery County judge
A Boyds man accused of kidnapping and assaulting a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge has been deemed competent to stand trial.
But Rickley Senning’s trial, scheduled to start Monday, has been delayed until February, as requested by his new lawyers. A status hearing will be held in January.
Senning was indicted in July for the May incident involving Judge Audrey Creighton, his ex-girlfriend, who had previously represented Senning when she was a public defender.
Senning, 25, is also charged with false imprisonment, theft, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, reckless endangerment and driving under the influence.
Creighton was appointed to the bench in April, and her relationship with Senning was questioned during the campaign season by a challenger seeking a seat on the bench. But she held on to win a full, 15-year term on the bench in the Nov. 4 general election. Creighton was previously on leave but now is primarily handling chambers work while Senning’s case is ongoing, Administrative Judge John W. Debelius III said Friday afternoon.
Creighton was not in attendance for Friday’s hearing but her lawyer, William C. Brennan of Brennan McKenna Manzi Shay Chtd. of Greenbelt, observed the proceedings.
Retired Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure has been specially assigned to the case, which is being handled by prosecutors from Prince George’s County.
Senning’s new lawyers are Charles Norman Shaffer, a Damascus solo practitioner and former federal prosecutor best known as the lawyer for Nixon White House counsel John Dean, and William E. Wallace III, a former Washington, D.C.-based partners at several international firms.
