Maryland Criminal Attorney Blog

As a full time Baltimore Maryland Criminal Lawyer/Attorney I handle dozens of Child Abuse cases each year without ever achieving a result as bad as the one that I will discuss in detail in this blog. In this case I was hired only after the client had gone through most of the process with another attorney and was obviously dissatisfied with the result. In these situations I usually tactfully ask the client what if any research they did on their attorney to determine whether he was a criminal law specialist and therefore sufficiently experienced to handle the case. I usually get little more than a blank stare in response as I did in this case. I have blogged about this issue in the past and am continually amazed at the lack of effort some criminal defendants put into the search for a qualified criminal defense attorney. It seems that most people just go to whomever they are referred to or the first name in the phone book and never even bother to ask the attorney about his qualifications much less do any independent research into them.

First, the facts of the case.

The client is a 60 year old naturalized American citizen from the Caribbean. She has lived in this country for over 40 years and prior to this situation had never been charged, much less convicted, with anything more serious than a parking ticket in her life. She has always worked, paid her taxes and raised a family. In other words, she is a solid a citizen as any criminal defense attorney could hope to represent.

Continue reading "Child Abuse First Offender Gets Six Years - Was She Properly Defended?" »

Many Marylanders are often wrongly accused of child abuse. Police and prosecutors are often too quick to rush to judgment and fail to do a complete investigation. In several cases, I have been able to exonerate innocent defendants by obtaining the Social Service records of the alleged child-victim. These sealed records, although sometimes difficult to obtain, often point to the real abuser.

The problem arises when a child shows physical signs of obvious abuse. One case I had involving a teacher being charged with physically abusing a 7 year old student. The school nurse had seen marks on the child and inquired the source. Rather than point the finger at the true abuser-the child's mother- the child thought it would be simpler to wrongfully accuse a teacher. In the child's mind, it was better to accuse an innocent teacher (whom the child disliked anyway) than point the finger at the true abuser, who the child otherwise loved and relied upon.

In general, it is unlawful for anyone to divulge information concerning social service records. Maryland law states when records may be divulged. This is not a mandatory provision but a discretionary one.

The Court in Baltimore City Dep’t of Social Servs. v. Stein, 328 Md. 1, 612 A.2d 880 (1992) proposes criteria for determining whether social services records are discoverable. They refer to a “need to inspect” threshold. One must cross this threshold in order to examine social service records. The Court outlines factors for crossing this threshold. They are:
- the nature of the charges brought against the defendant
- the relationship between the charges
- the information sought
- the likelihood that review of the records would result in the discovery of relevant information

The court also suggests other methods of determining the relevancy of the information without the records being directly examined by the defendant. They suggested in camera proceedings in which the court determines whether all, part or none of the record is admissible. This helps protect the information in the records, as was the intent of the legislature when enacting this statute.

Once these steps are followed, and the Social Service records are known, the true abuser may be revealed. In the case above, the records documented a pattern of abuse by the mother for over five years. The records showed the mother had beaten the child on 7 different occasions, leaving marks remarkably similar to the ones which prompted the teacher to be charged. Once this was brought to light, the mother confessed and the charges were dropped against the teacher.

For further information on defending criminal child abuse cases, please contact the Maryland criminal defense lawyers at Silverman, Thomson, Slutkin and White.