Howard County State's Attorney Marna L. McLendon promotes herself in her literature as a tough prosecutor who "doesn't just talk about fighting crime," but "gets involved."
In her race for re-election, the 47-year-old former police officer-turned-lawyer points to her record of establishing programs to help victims, deterring juvenile crime and getting prosecutors involved in local communities. She has earned a reputation among other state's attorneys as a leader with energy and an enthusiasm to learn about trends in criminal justice.
But her No. 1 "guiding principle," says McLendon, a Republican, is holding criminals accountable. It is the same tough-on-crime message she came into office with in 1994 as part of the Republican wave that changed the dynamics of Howard County leadership.
She boasts of high criminal conviction rates -- that, on close inspection, may not be as robust as they appear.
McLendon says that since 1995, when she took office, the office has maintained a 96 percent conviction rate. The bulk of the 10,000 cases a year her office handles end in voluntary pleas. She says it is difficult to document the 96 percent rate because of an antiquated computer system.
The conviction rate that she notes in cases resulting in jury trials -- 73 percent -- appears to be on a par with the national average, according to U.S. Justice Department figures.
Although the percentage she cites is correct, it doesn't indicate that many times a defendant was not convicted on the most serious of several charges.
In one case a defendant was charged with drunken driving, speeding and running a red light. The jury found him guilty of minor offenses -- the traffic violations -- and not the drunken-driving charge.
An analysis by The Sun of 162 cases from 1995 to this year found that the defendant was acquitted of the most serious charge, or the most serious charge was dropped, in about 60 percent of the cases. The cases are all those taken before juries during McLendon's tenure, according to summaries provided by the county Circuit Court commissioner.
It's the view of McLendon -- and of prosecutors in other jurisdictions -- that if a defendant is found guilty of any of a list of charges, it still counts as a conviction, regardless of how minor the charge may be.
The analysis shows:
Six of 10 child abuse cases -- an area McLendon has said she targets -- resulted in not-guilty findings on the child abuse charge. Her statistics on child abuse cases show that 10 of 17 cases resulted in not-guilty verdicts.
Eight of 34 assault cases and three of 11 cases of murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to murder or manslaughter resulted in guilty verdicts on the most serious charges.
Sixty-seven percent of the cases involving sexual offenses; 43 percent of robbery cases and 64 percent of armed robbery cases ended in not-guilty findings on the most serious charges.
Fifty percent of the cases involving burglary; 35 percent of drug cases and 45 percent of drunken-driving charges ended in not-guilty findings.
Criminal justice experts say it is common for prosecutors to charge a person with several crimes, knowing some might be dropped or the jury might convict on only some. But one expert expressed concern at McLendon's number of not-guilty verdicts the most serious charges.
"With that number of not-guilty verdicts, it raises questions of, 'Are the [cases] not being screened the way they should be?' and 'Are we taking cases to trial that we know we can win beyond a reasonable doubt?' " said Abraham Dash, a criminal justice professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. "Any good prosecutional team should be using this discretion and asking themselves this."
Record defended
McLendon defends her record on such convictions, pointing to "dozens of uncontrollable factors," including evidence from police, witness credibility and juror bias, which can influence the outcome of cases. She said she is confident her office has done "an excellent" job in prosecuting cases and deciding what to take to trial.
"We're not losing cases because of a failure of litigation skills," said McLendon. "What [conviction rates] tell us is that we are trying tough cases.
"We're trying tough child abuse cases, domestic violence cases and others to achieve justice," she said. "It's not about winning; it's about doing justice. The best we can do is bring them in and try them. We're hanging tough."
In a 1996 date rape case, a young man was charged with second-degree rape, assault and battery and several other sex offenses against a woman he dated. The jury found him guilty only of a perverted sexual practice.
Last week, McLendon described the case as one in which there was a credible defendant, and questions arose among the jurors as to whether the sexual relations were consensual.
'You go with it'
"I believed the girl," McLendon said. "I'm going to try it. I want [prosecutors] to not worry about a loss. If you agree with the victim, you believe it happened, you go with it."
Last month, the case of a Prince George's County police officer accused of beating his wife ended after three trials, with a jury acquitting the officer. McLendon said the wife testified that the cuts, scrapes and bruises on her face were "an accident."
"That case is a good example of where we're going to intervene and prosecute, even though jurors are not always sympathetic to the witness," McLendon said. "We're going to do our best to stop such abuse."
McLendon cautions against judging a prosecutor on his or her conviction record alone.
It's a "dangerous trap," she said at a news conference yesterday, organized to defend her office's record. The numbers involved in calculating conviction rates, she said, can be manipulated by prosecutors.
McLendon said: "We could easily give Howard County a 95 percent on jury trials but then we wouldn't be holding criminal defendants in the more difficult cases accountable. That is a path I refuse to take and one our citizens must not tolerate."
Democratic challenger
Democratic challenger Timothy J. McCrone, a state's attorney, has criticized McLendon for spending too much time in community crime-prevention programs and not enough time in the courtroom.
"If you're losing all your cases, there's no retribution," said McCrone, an Ellicott City attorney. "There's no deterrence to crime. The process becomes a joke, because criminals say, 'Crime pays in Howard County.' McLendon] talks tough, but she has no convictions to show for it."
McLendon, however, has won many friends in the county -- and beyond -- for work she does in statewide organizations.
"[McLendon] has gotten out into the community, and that allows people to see her, and she can clearly define her accomplishments," said Roger Caplan, a local media consultant who does not work for McLendon but is advising some Republican candidates. "She's showing she's not just somebody who sits there and prosecutes. She comes across as a good, strong incumbent."
Carol Arscott, a Republican political consultant who advised McLendon in 1994, said, "Generally, residents don't think they live in a crime-ridden county. There's not a feeling that the big criminals are getting away and roaming the streets because they've blown the prosecution."
Passionate about issues
McLendon is passionate about criminal justice issues.
The Scranton, Pa., native pursued a law-enforcement degree because of a fascination with studies of human behavior. She graduated summa cum laude from Penn State University. Five )) years later, while a police officer in Howard County, she got her law degree from the University of Maryland and later received a master of forensic science degree from George Washington University.
Her appetite for learning is insatiable. She clips articles on the latest trends in law and has put her vision for new ideas to work by starting programs in some of the areas where her conviction rates on jury trials are low.
Among her accomplishments:
A crisis-intervention program staffed by 13 volunteers to help victims of domestic violence pursue cases against their batterers and obtain emotional help.
A federal grant to fund a part-time prosecutor to handle cases of domestic violence and crimes against women.
Sending prosecutors into every sixth-grade class in the county to deter a rising tide of juvenile crime and establishing a program called "Not My Kid," a support group for parents concerned about teen-age substance abuse.
McLendon also started a pilot program called "community prosecution" in two Columbia villages -- Wilde Lake and Harper's Choice -- to crack down on "quality-of-life crimes." The highlight of the program was the well-publicized prosecution of a Wilde Lake graffiti artist.
'Up-and-coming star'
"[McLendon's] given of her time and her talents," said Dario Broccolino, executive director of the Maryland State's Attorney's Association and McLendon's Democratic opponent in 1994. "She's intelligent. She has a good grasp of issues. Within the prosecution community, she's looked at as an up-and-coming star."
But response to McLendon's community efforts is not all positive.
Dwight Thompson, who supports McCrone and was a deputy state's attorney for Howard County under McLendon's predecessor, William Hymes, said: "I'm all for the children -- who isn't? But when it's taking away from your prosecution, you have to wonder."
Her community prosecution program distanced McLendon from a one-time ally, former county police Chief James N. Robey, the Democratic candidate for county executive. The two battled over what Robey called a duplication of his community policing program.
In an interview, Robey termed McLendon's handling of a 13-year-old murder case this year poor leadership and judgment. Prosecutors ended up dropping the case against Kenneth Alan White of Lebanon, Pa., charged with first-degree murder of a 31-year-old mother of two who disappeared New Year's Day 1985.
"[McLendon] was pushing for the arrest warrant of [White] over the objections of our [detectives]," Robey said. "I understand that there was a lot of concern on the part of investigators that we tried to talk her out of it."
McLendon disputes the criticism, saying the police investigators were "very hot-to-trot" on the case: "The detectives were the ones who wanted to pursue the arrest of Mr. White. If anything, we somewhat slowed them down."
Pub Date: 10/27/98