“1 year after the murder of a Washington County circuit judge, what’s changed?”

The Baltimore Daily Record has published an article by Rachel Konieczny, 1 year after the murder of a judge in western MD, what’s changed? (Oct. 18, 2024).

The Daily Record article (which is behind a paywall), states that Maryland is working to minimize security threats against Judges.  “[T]he Maryland Judiciary is looking to — in the short term — improve judicial security through personnel and capital improvements to existing facilities….”  Id.

I have followed the lead of The Hon. Paul W. Grimm (ret.) on this issue:

Maryland’s Protection of the Judiciary (Apr. 10, 2024);

Maryland Bills to Protect Judges and Their Children (Feb. 23, 2024);

American Bar Association Statement on Threats Against the Judiciary (Apr. 8, 2024);

Threats Against the Colorado Supreme Court Must Be Called Out (Dec. 23, 2024); and,

Judge Paul Grimm: The Judiciary is Under Attack.  Lawyers Need to Defend It (Oct. 24, 2023).

In Maryland, the Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson Judicial Security Act provides additional privacy protections and the Maryland State Bar Association has “a constant, open-access database,” according to past president Jason DeLoach, Esq.

Ms. Konieczny wrote:  “Federal and state judges nationwide are facing more threats and acts of violence than they were a decade ago. [Maryland Supreme Court Justice] Fader’s task force and the privacy law, which took effect Oct. 1, are among the many solutions that judges say are needed to ensure their safety.”

Justice Fader has also advocated “for a bill in Congress called the Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act.”  Id.  That bill “would create a ‘State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center,’ which would provide technical assistance, training, and monitoring of threats for state and local judges and court personnel. The center would provide security assessments of courts and judges’ homes and conduct research on best practices.  The Senate passed the bipartisan bill in June, but the House has not taken action on it.” Id.

However, the Daily Record adds:

DeLoach, who is an orphans’ court associate judge for Prince George’s County, said he’s heard that some judges are trying to arm themselves, and it would not surprise him if some are asking for increased security, particularly judges in more rural counties who must walk from the parking lot to the courthouse by themselves.

The Daily Record article also discusses focusing on security for everyone in the courthouse.

Justice Fader is quoted in the article as saying: “While judges have always lived with a certain level of risk, we have never experienced risk on the scale that we currently see today.…  We are facing an entirely new threat environment that drives to the very heart of the rule of law and the fair administration of justice under law.”  Id.