“Harford County councilman’s removal upheld by MD Appellate Court”
Appellate Court of Maryland Decision in Guthrie v. Vincenti
May 6, 2026District of Nevada’s Opportunity for Junior Lawyers to Argue Motions
May 24, 2026In an article by Mr. Ian Round, the Daily Record reported Harford County councilman’s removal upheld by MD Appellate Court (Daily Record, May 11, 2026).
I described the decision in Appellate Court of Maryland Decision in Guthrie v. Vincenti (May 6, 2026)(Generally, this blog is about e-discovery. However, I also do “other things.”).
Mr. Round wrote:
Former councilmember Dion Guthrie in November 2024 pleaded no-contest to theft of more than $23,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1501, the union for which he served as president for more than half a century…. When he entered the plea of nolo contendere — a plea in which a defendant does not accept or deny responsibility for the charges but accepts punishment — Guthrie was automatically removed from office under state law, the Maryland Appellate Court ruled…. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Dennis Robinson Jr. had struck a guilty verdict from the record and accepted the no-contest plea — though he initially said he would strike the plea itself. He granted probation before judgment, placing Guthrie under one year of unsupervised probation.
The article continues:
Harford County Circuit Judge Yolanda Curtin dismissed [Mr. Guthrie’s] lawsuit, granting summary judgment to Vincenti. She said the initial statement by [Judge] Robinson striking the plea was a “slip of the tongue” and that Guthrie was removed “by operation of law” when he pleaded no contest.
The Daily Record article states:
Vincenti was represented by attorneys from Rifkin Weiner Livingston.
“The Appellate Court of Maryland correctly applied the unambiguous language of the Maryland Constitution as it was approved by the voters,” said Michael Berman, of counsel at Rifkin Weiner Livingston. “The legal and factual record of this matter are crystal clear. Mr. Guthrie was removed from office automatically, by operation of law.”
Mr. Guthrie’s attorney stated that he will seek review in the Supreme Court of Maryland.
