5/17/2024: Lack of Running Water at Jail Creates Deplorable Conditions; Assistant Public Defenders in Baltimore City File Emergency Habeas Petitions
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2/28/2024: Statement of Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue in Response to Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Passage of SB 744 with Amendments.
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2/26/2024: Statement of Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue in Response to House Judiciary Committee Passage of HB 814 with Amendments.
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1/31/2024: Statement of Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue in Response to the Introduction of HB 814/SB 744.
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9/12/2023: Maryland Office of the Public Defender Launches Better Together: Early Family Advocacy Program
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7/10/2023: Maryland Office of the Public Defender Releases Resource Guide of Services for Justice-Involved Children in the Baltimore Region
4/26/2023: Motion for Reconsideration Filed on Behalf of Adnan Syed
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4/11/2023: Maryland Public Defender and Baltimore City District Public Defender Denounce Call for Enforcing Youth Curfew
​1/30/2023: Statement by Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue on the Killing of Tyre Nichols
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1/13/2023: OPD Client Keith Davis Finally Free from Prosecution
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12/7/2022: Association for the Public Defender of Maryland (APDM) Receives Grant from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to Connect Justice-Involved Youth in Prince George’s County with Behavioral Health Services
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10/11/2022: Adnan Syed’s Case Is Dismissed After DNA Results Confirm His Innocence
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10/6/2022: Juvenile Restoration Act Secures the Freedom of 23 Individuals in the First Year of its Implementation
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9/14/2022: Parties Seek to Overturn Adnan Syed’s Conviction
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9/7/2022: Maryland Public Defender and Prince George’s County District Public Defender Decry Youth Curfew in Prince George’s County
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9/6/2022: Angela Oetting Named Acting District Public Defender for Frederick and Washington Counties
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8/30/2022: Court of Appeals Holds that Court Personnel Wearing Thin Blue Line Masks was Inherently Prejudicial
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7/6/2022: Marguerite E. Lanaux Named Acting District Public Defender for Baltimore City;
Alycia Capozello to become the Acting Deputy District Public Defender
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5/19/2022: Natasha Dartigue, Acting District Public Defender for Baltimore City, is Appointed as the Next Maryland Public Defender
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1/13/2022: Independent Gun Trace Task Force Investigation Report Documents Extensive, Ingrained Corruption; Public Disclosure and Independent Investigations Urgently Needed
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6/21/2021: In Aftermath of Video Depicting Excessive Police Force, Public Defender Calls for the Implementation of Body Worn Cameras by Ocean City Police
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6/14/2021: Public Defender Testifies In Support of Proposal to Allow Courts to Reduce Sentences for Rehabilitated Prisoners After They Have Served a Lengthy Period of Time
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6/1/2021: Erica Suter Named Director of the University of Baltimore/Maryland Office of the Public Defender Innocence Project Clinic
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5/5/2021: Public Defenders, NAACP File Federal Court Challenge Demanding Immediate Removal of Racist Confederate Statue from Eastern Shore Courthouse
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11/23/2020: Public Defender Demands Postponement of District Court Hearings in Light of COVID
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9/17/2020: Public Defenders Testify About Police Violence and Misconduct Statewide; Need for Police Accountability, Transparency, and Reform
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6/19/2020: Prince George’s County District Public Defender Calls for Reforms and Reduced Policing
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6/10/2020: Juvenile Defenders Join Call to Remove School Resource Officers from the Prince George’s County Public Schools
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6/8/2020: Maryland Public Defenders March for Black Lives and Demand Racial Justice
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5/20/2020: Public Defender Applauds Governor for Requiring Universal Testing at Maryland’s State Run Correctional and Juvenile Facilities
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5/18/2020: After Major Outbreak Confirmed at Youth Facility in Carroll County, Public
Defender Demands Testing for All Children in DJS Custody
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4/15/2020: Chief Judge Issues Second Order Addressing Decarceration in Light of COVID-19, Directing Trial Judges to Immediately Consider Release of At-Risk Inmates
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4/14/2020: Chief Judge Orders All Local Administrative Judges to Immediately
Consider Release in Individual Cases
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4/4/2020: To Stem the Crisis of COVID-19 in Prisons and Jail, the Office of the Public Defender Asks Court of Appeals to Exercise its Emergency Powers
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4/3/2020: Defenders Petition Court for Mass Release of Children in Maryland’s Juvenile Jails and Prisons; Demand DJS #BringOurKidsHome
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3/18/2020: Public Defender Applauds Dismissal of Minor Charges as Effort to Stem the Spread of COVID-19 in Baltimore City Jail
3/13/2020: Statements by Leadership from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and its Baltimore City Office Regarding COVID-19
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2/24/2020: Public Defender Seeks to Identify Cases Potentially Impacted by Breach of Salisbury Police Department
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11/25/2019: Three Juvenile Lifers Exonerated After Spending 36 Years in Prison
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5/3/2019: Brothers Exonerated and Released After a Combined 50 Years’ Incarceration
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12/18/2018: Exonerated Client Released After 27 Years' Incarceration
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12/6/2018: Statement of Kirsten Getty-Downs, District Public Defender for Baltimore City, Regarding Police Corruption By Former BPD Officer Matthew Ryckman
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​3/12/2018: Court Observation Project Finds Minimal Use of Money Bail with Reliance on Held Without Bail for Some Charges; Recommends More Robust Pretrial Services and Other Measures
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3/9/2018: Baltimore City District Public Defender Responds to City Solicitor and State’s Attorney’s Announcement to “Streamline” the Obligation to Disclose BPD Officer Internal Affairs Documents to Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases
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2/21/2018: Baltimore City Felony Trial Chief To Testify at BPD Commissioner Confirmation Hearing; Demands Transparency and Accountability to Root Out Corruption
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11/30/2017: New Charges Against Previously Indicted Officer Underscores Widespread, Lengthy Nature of BPD Corruption; Individuals in Cases Impacted Remain Wrongly Incarcerated
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9/28/2017: Public Defender Applauds Contempt Order Due to Health Officials’ Disregard of Obligation to Admit Individuals Committed for Hospitalization
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9/12/2017: District Public Defender and Director of Juvenile Justice Policy Testify at Legislative Briefing on Public Safety in Baltimore
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7/31/2017: Another Problematic Police Body-Worn Camera Video Identified; Baltimore State’s Attorney Still Failing to Disclose Information in Impacted Cases
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7/25/2017: District Public Defender Submits Written Testimony in Opposition of Mandatory Minimum Sentence Bill
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7/20/2017: Office of the Public Defender Concerned by Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Disregard for Disclosure Obligations and Failure to Develop Clear Policies and Protocols
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7/19/2017: Public Defender Discloses Video Evidence of Officers Planting Drugs; Demands Swift Action by Prosecutors and Thorough Review by Police
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3/23/2017: Convictions from 2015 Onward Involving Indicted Officers to be Vacated
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3/7/2017: OPD Sets Up Hotline for Individuals with Cases Involving Indicted Officers
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​11/17/2016: Public Defender Supports Proposed Rule Change; Revisions Needed to Address the Millions of Dollars in Bail Premiums Extracted from Maryland Communities.
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11/15/2016: Maryland Communities Paid More Than $256 Million in Corporate Bail Bond Premiums Between 2011 and 2015, Often in Cases Where There Was Ultimately No Finding of Wrongdoing
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10/11/2016: OPD Endorses Attorney General Advisory Opinion, Urges the End of Jailing Presumptively Innocent People Solely Because They are Too Poor to Pay Bail
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8/24/2016: OPD Statement on the Baltimore Police Department’s Secret Aerial Surveillance Program
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8/10/2016: OPD Applauds DOJ Report, Urges Greater Transparency by the Baltimore City Police Department
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2/2/2016: OPD Applauds Supreme Court Decision, Furthers Effort to Address Juvenile Life and Life Without Parole Sentences in Maryland
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9/23/2015: Press Release on Shackling of Children in Court
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​5/7/2015: Police Continue to Illegally Arrest Children in Baltimore
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4/29/2015: Unlawful Detention of Over 230 Inmates in Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Facility
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8/22/2014: Public Defender Calls for Removal and Investigation of Judge who Ordered Officer to Shock Defendant in Court
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7/10/2013: OPD and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law Partner to Assist Individuals Impacted by Unger v. State
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