Why is This Guy Not in Jail?

Here in Maryland, former Harford County States Attorney, what we call District Attorneys, was just disbarred for withholding exculpatory evidence in a murder trial.

His response? "Oh, whatever. I’m retired anyway."

He does not give a sh%$ about breaking the law.

Two thoughts:

• It should not take 30 years to uncover this.
• We really need to apply criminal sanctions to prosecutors who do this. 

Maryland’s highest court has disbarred retired Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly for withholding exculpatory evidence that surfaced in a 1981 double-murder case and lying about it over the years.

Cassilly learned of the court’s decision Friday from a phone call by The Baltimore Sun.

“Oh, whatever. I’m retired anyway,” he said.

The Maryland Court of Appeals found the former prosecutor lied about documents that undermined the credibility of an FBI agent on the case. In an opinion Friday, the judges noted Cassilly, a Republican, served 36 years as Harford County’s top prosecutor and retired in 2019.

The judges wrote that disbarring him would prevent his possible return to the courtroom and send a message.

“Disbarment recognized the seriousness of Cassilly’s misconduct and serves the goal of protecting the public and ensuring the public’s confidence in the legal profession by deterring other attorneys from engaging in similar misconduct,” they wrote.

Cassilly maintains that he did nothing wrong, but rather “fell into the whole anti-criminal justice movement, where the cops are the bad guys and the prosecutors are the bad guys.”

“I’m disappointed, but the real answer is: Do I care? I don’t give a damn,” he said. “I wouldn’t do anything to engage in the practice of law right now because it’s such a screwed-up obscenity.”

………

Harford Circuit Court Judge Barbara Kerr Howe found Cassilly broke the rules for professional conduct and lied about documents. She recommended the state’s high court reprimand him.

The Maryland Court of Appeals, however, went further to disbar him.

“The trust placed in Cassilly as the elected State’s Attorney for Harford County, and the high standard to which prosecutors are held, renders Cassilly’s misconduct much more egregious than that of a lawyer in an official or government position who simply fails to follow proper procedures or rules,” the judges wrote.

Seriously, criminal consequence for this sort of misconduct should be routine.