Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey's effort to overturn the results of Maryland's Nov. 8 gubernatorial election could go to trial in just 11 days under a plan approved by the court yesterday.
Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. -- who has decided to preside over the unprecedented case -- said he has agreed to an expedited schedule worked out by lawyers on both sides.
The schedule calls for a hearing on pretrial motions Jan. 6, just a week from tomorrow, unless Judge Thieme decides no hearing is necessary. If the judge concludes a trial is warranted, it would begin Jan. 9.
The legislature is scheduled to convene the first 90-day session of its new four-year term Jan. 11, and Democrat Parris N. Glendening, the declared winner of the gubernatorial election, is to be sworn into office a week later, Jan. 18.
Judge Thieme is on vacation this week and handled the scheduling of the Sauerbrey case from his home. He said if the case does go to trial, that he could not predict how long it might last.
"I have no idea. I don't know," he said. "We'll begin on the 9th and go until we finish."
Mrs. Sauerbrey, a four-term state delegate from Baltimore County, lost the election to Mr. Glendening, a three-term Prince George's County executive, by 5,993 votes out of more than 1.4 million cast.
She filed suit Tuesday alleging that more than 11,000 votes were cast improperly or fraudulently. She asked the court either to declare her the winner in place of Mr. Glendening or to order a new election.
The lawsuit alleges that voting machines were tampered with, that election officials were prevented from doing their work, that some voters voted twice, that absentee ballots were mishandled, that some voters listed long-abandoned buildings as their home addresses, and that at least 37 votes were cast in the names of people who were dead at the time of the election.
Under the schedule agreed to by attorneys for both sides, defendants in the case -- the state elections board and the State Board of Canvassers, which certified the results; the Baltimore City, Prince George's and Montgomery County election boards; and Mr. Glendening and his running mate, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend -- have until the close of business tomorrow to file their pre-trial motions.
Such motions likely will include a request that the suit be dismissed, or for summary judgment against Mrs. Sauerbrey's claims.
As examples of other motions that could be filed, attorneys for the defendants suggested one arguing that Anne Arundel County is the wrong jurisdiction in which to file such a suit, and another asserting that deciding a contested election rightly belongs before the House of Delegates, not the courts.
On Jan. 6, Judge Thieme -- perhaps best known for his controversial decision involving the Camden Yards stadium project -- likely will convene the first public hearing in the case.
If, after the hearing, he decides there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial, it would begin three days later.
Judge Thieme, as administrative judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit, which includes courts in Anne Arundel, Carroll and Howard counties, confirmed yesterday that he appointed himself preside over the case. He said he has not decided whether he will bring in two other judges to form a three-judge panel to hear the case, as Mrs. Sauerbrey has requested.
"There is no reason to make that decision that quickly," the judge said. "I'd like to hear more from the attorneys on it. It's a decision that doesn't have to be made now, so why make it until you have to?"
Because of the collapsed schedule, attorneys in the case said yesterday that the two sides intend to begin exchanging information almost immediately and could begin taking depositions from potential witnesses and others as early as tomorrow.
"Because of the short time, all the things that need to be done to get the case ready for trial will proceed," said Ralph S. Tyler, the deputy attorney general representing the state election board, the Board of Canvassers and the city election board.
The presiding judge in the case, Judge Thieme, 64, was appointed to the Circuit Court bench by then-Gov. Marvin Mandel in 1977. The judge is widely respected for his knowledge of the law and his judicial temperment.
In July 1987, he ruled in favor of opponents of Gov. William Donald Schaefer's plan to build a twin stadium complex at Baltimore's Camden Yards. The decision, later reversed by the Court of Appeals, so angered the governor that it was seen as costing the judge a seat on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
A Baltimore native and a graduate of Loyola High School and Loyola College, Judge Thieme graduated from the University of Maryland Law School in 1956.
He practiced law in Baltimore for a short time before opening a practice in Glen Burnie. He worked as a prosecutor for three years in the Anne Arundel State's Attorney's office, serving as state's attorney briefly before he was appointed to the Maryland District Court in 1973.
In 1993, he was asked to recuse himself from hearing the sex abuse case against Ronald Walter Price, the Northeast High School teacher accused of having sex with his students, because one of the judge's three sons had been taught by Mr. Price years before. Lawyers for Price, who was later convicted, were criticized for removing a judge who is usually sought by criminal defense lawyers familiar with the Anne Arundel courthouse.
Judge Thieme teaches legal research at Anne Arundel Community College and plays the piano. An avid student of computer technology, he is the only one of the nine Circuit Court judges in the county to have a computer terminal on the bench with him so that he can have immediate access to cases cited by lawyers in his courtroom.
He is a registered Democrat and ran unopposed in the 1994 election. Asked yesterday how he felt about presiding over such a potentially historic case, he replied, "No comment."