I. Matthew Campbell, the well-regarded Howard County deputy state's attorney who won convictions on some of the office's highest-profile cases during his nearly four-year tenure, will leave the office this month to litigate securities fraud cases through a quasi-governmental nonprofit organization.
Campbell, who joined the Howard state's attorney's office in 1999 after spending nearly a quarter-century investigating and prosecuting cases in Montgomery County, said a job opportunity with the National Association of Securities Dealers "kind of landed on" him a few weeks ago.
Although politics was not the "determining factor" in his decision to leave, State's Attorney Marna L. McLendon's decision not to seek re-election this year did weigh on his mind, he said.
"For a deputy state's attorney, election time is always a little nerve-racking because of the lack of certainty," he said. "That's why deputy state's attorneys keep their resumes up to date."
His last day will be Nov. 15.
As news of Campbell's impending departure spread through the Howard legal community Friday, lawyers bemoaned the loss of the "consummate professional" whose presence, they said, added experience and stability to the Howard prosecutor's office.
One of two deputy state's attorneys, Campbell oversaw the Circuit Court division, and was instrumental in redefining the grand jury and felony review processes. Under his guidance, the screening for criminal cases became more detailed, and the grand jury more investigative. The same prosecutor now follows a felony case from beginning to end.
"He's very thorough, very competent, very well-respected," said district public defender Carol A. Hanson. Campbell's leadership and mentoring "has improved the overall quality of the prosecutions in Circuit Court."
McLendon, whose term ends Jan. 6, said Friday that Campbell's departure was not a surprise, given the political season. A move to civil prosecutions of white-collar crime seems a perfect fit for his "passions and tremendous abilities," she said.
"He brought a wonderful professional approach and a different approach to litigation of serious cases - very methodical, very thoughtful - and so he served as just a tremendous role model," she said.
Campbell's cases will be reassigned, and several of his duties, including overseeing the grand jury process, will be handled by Deputy State's Attorney Dario Broccolino, McLendon said.
Campbell, 56, a one-time Peace Corps volunteer, was hired by McLendon after the election in November 1998 of Douglas F. Gansler as Montgomery County state's attorney.
Campbell had spent his entire law career in Montgomery County, starting as an investigator while in law school at Catholic University. He become a prosecutor there in 1977. He was named deputy state's attorney in 1984 by State's Attorney Andrew L. Sonner, now a judge on the state Court of Special Appeals.
While in Montgomery County, Campbell prosecuted a police officer for the fatal shooting of an unarmed Gaithersburg woman - a case that created ill will with the Montgomery police union - and won a conviction.
He also prosecuted Ruthann Aron, the former U.S. Senate candidate who eventually pleaded no contest to charges related to a murder-for-hire plot against her husband and an- other man.
Faced with demotion after Gansler's election, Campbell came to Howard County as deputy state's attorney for operations in February 1999.
Here, he handled some of the office's more complicated cases, winning convictions, with Senior Assistant State's Attorney Mary V. Murphy, in the murder-for-hire case against Emilia Raras and in the murder conviction of Paul Stephen Riggins, whose missing wife's body was never found.
As deputy state's attorney, Campbell encouraged young assistants to try cases, and helped them learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, said Assistant State's Attorney Danielle Duclaux.
"I think he made us all better trial attorneys," she said.