Defense lawyers challenge rulings by former Montgomery County Circuit Judge David Boynton
At least four cases handled by a Maryland judge are being challenged after he presided over a series of hearings and did not reveal he was in talks to accept a job in the office of local prosecutors.
“I thought it was absolute common knowledge in this building that he was coming here,” the longtime prosecutor said. The conflict was completely avoidable, added Laura Kelsey Rhodes, a longtime defense attorney in the county. “We’re in the midst of a national upheaval over the unfairness of our criminal system,” she said. “Why wasn’t it an easy choice to simply recuse himself from all criminal cases?”having been elected in landslide and uncontested races.
Serje did not know that Boynton was discussing a job with McCarthy. “This was never disclosed to Mr. Serje,” defense attorney Justin Eisele wrote in recent court filings as he requested a new sentencing before a different judge.Maryland’s rules for judges do not specifically address job interviews. But the standards for judicial independence are purposely “cast in general terms” because listing all such conduct isn’t practicable, according to state code.
Boynton went back to the bench. Word of the pending move did indeed spread among at least some defense attorneys. “It puts you in a bind,” said Rhodes. “You’re the one who ends up raising the issue — telling a judge you don’t think they can be fair.” The sentence was also handed down, Felsen wrote, after McCarthy and Boynton went against state rules by discussing and agreeing on the new job. “There can be few circumstances imagined,” he stated, “where a judge’s impartiality might be reasonably questioned than the negotiation of employment with the other party.”McCarthy derided Felsen’s request as disingenuous.
Even as Boynton knew that defense attorneys were starting to question his pending job switch, he issued a key order — now being challenged — in a complicated but stalled case he had long overseen.
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