The Circuit Court Division tries all felony cases in the Circuit Court. Many cases are specially assigned to a prosecutor, such as murders, sex offenses, child abuse cases, vehicular homicide, and any other case which requires special handling due to its complexity or the special needs of the victim. The Division also contains a unit which targets repeat offenders.
The Felony Complaint Unit is staffed by four Assistant State's Attorneys and three secretaries. The unit screens, prepares and charges all felony cases, such as armed robberies, burglaries, and aggravated assaults. Shortly after the arrest of a defendant on a felony charge, a Felony Complaint prosecutor meets with the primary investigating officer in the office. At that meeting, the prosecutor reviews the investigation and decides which charges are appropriate. If there is insufficient evidence against the defendant, the prosecutor will dismiss the case.
The Felony Complaint Unit works closely with the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury presides over probable cause hearings to determine whether a Defendant must stand trial on felony charges. The Grand Jury is composed of 23 members of the community who meet once or twice a week on the first floor of the courthouse. The Felony Complaint prosecutors present cases to the Grand Jury by calling a police witness to explain the evidence supporting the charge. Probable cause hearings called preliminary hearings are also conducted in the District Court. This is the first stage of bringing a Defendant to trial on a felony charge.
This unit has two distinct areas of responsibility: collateral hearings, which are proceedings that follow a conviction and sentencing; and repeat offender prosecutions which are cases initiated against persons identified as career criminals who have committed violent crimes. The unit consists of a supervisor, two Assistant State's Attorneys, and two law clerks.
The repeat offender section of the unit is responsible for the identification, notification and prosecution of violent criminals who are subject to mandatory sentences of twenty-five years without parole upon conviction. The police department and this office have made a joint commitment of personnel to support this effort. This highly successful cooperative approach has received widespread recognition and has been duplicated in many other jurisdictions. Today, there are more prisoners serving mandatory sentences without parole as a result of Baltimore County prosecutions than from all other Maryland jurisdictions combined.
The collateral unit ensures that all post-sentencing hearings are prepared and assigned to a Circuit Court prosecutor. The hearings may be violations of probation, requests to reduce sentences, bail reviews, or other miscellaneous hearings, all of which center on the critical issue of whether the defendant will remain in or return to jail.
The collateral unit also processes post-conviction petitions, complaints filed by prisoners attacking their convictions and sentences. These often involve cases that are several years old, which makes recreating the record difficult.
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Revised January 3, 2000
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