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For the first time in a decade, Baltimore County State\u2019s Attorney Scott Shellenberger (D) will have a Republican opponent to campaign against \u2014 if he can beat Robbie Leonard (D) in the 2022 primary election.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy priority in running for state\u2019s attorney is having a fair, transparent and accountable criminal justice system in the State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office \u2014 things that we don\u2019t have here,\u201d Leonard said.<\/p>\n
A tough-on-crime Democrat, Shellenberger will square up against the young, self-described \u201cprogressive\u201d attorney and secretary of the Maryland\u00a0 Democratic Party at the polls in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big job and I certainly think that I\u2019ve proven over the years that I\u2019m up to continuing to do it,\u201d said Shellenberger.<\/p>\n
The Republican candidates are James Haynes, a retired attorney who previously worked as an administrative judge for the U.S. Department of Labor and at the state attorney general and public defender offices, and Deborah Hill, who has represented state employee retirees in a lawsuit<\/a> challenging a reduction in their prescription drug benefits.<\/p>\n In the Democratic primary, Leonard has garnered an impressive list of endorsements so far, including from the Teacher\u2019s Association of Baltimore County, Our Revolution, The Working Families Party, Progressive Maryland, CASA Maryland and several labor unions. He was also given the Gun Sense Candidate distinction from Moms Demand Action to End Gun Violence.<\/p>\n Leonard has been a practicing attorney for 15 years and served as a public defender in Baltimore City. Last summer, he represented unemployed Marylanders<\/a> who successfully challenged Republican Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.\u2019s attempt to end an enhanced federal benefit program early.<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Leonard said he\u2019s represented minors and adults and served on the public defender\u2019s government relations team, where he testified on bills in the legislature.<\/p>\n \u201cI was always on the opposite side of every issue from the current Baltimore County State\u2019s Attorney Scott Shellenberger,\u201d he said. \u201cI always wondered, like, how is this state\u2019s attorney a Democrat? \u2026 He\u2019s always opposing legislation being put in by Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Shellenberger has frequently opposed progressive criminal justice legislation in Annapolis.<\/p>\n Shellenberger said while he often testifies in opposition to the bills as drafted, he supports \u201creasonable reforms.\u201d He harkened back to the 2015 Maryland Second Chance Act and the 2016 Justice Reinvestment Act, both of which he supported.<\/p>\n \u201cThis concept that I\u2019m against everything and we have to throw everybody in jail \u2014 I just think if people really dig into my record they would find that there\u2019s a lot there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Leonard said the incumbent\u2019s opposition to local police reform policies mobilized him to challenge Shellenberger. He said that 52 Baltimore County residents testified in favor of the legislation at a public hearing. Only Shellenberger and the Fraternal Order of Police appeared in opposition, according to Leonard.<\/p>\n \u201cI had known for over a decade who Scott was and what he stood for, \u2026 but it was at that moment that I realized how out of touch he is with the people that he\u2019s supposed to be representing and how out of touch he is in the pursuit of justice and fairness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Shellenberger has a close relationship with the Baltimore County Police Department, which has been questioned in the past.<\/p>\n In mid-May, New York Magazine<\/a> published a piece detailing an ongoing federal lawsuit against Shellenberger and other officials in which sexual assault survivors have alleged that their rights were violated and the investigation of their cases mishandled.<\/p>\n One plaintiff, Anna Borkowski, told the magazine that Shellenberger sent three members of the Baltimore County Police Department to her grandmother\u2019s house in Baltimore City, which is out of their jurisdiction, to tell her to stop attempting to file charges against her assailants.<\/p>\n The article\u2019s title is a quote from Leonard about mishandled sexual assault cases in the county: \u201cWe don\u2019t know how many women are out there like that.\u201d<\/p>\n