The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office has announced a reorganization that includes new units focused on prosecuting gun crimes and drug cases.
In an e-mail to staff, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the changes "will help us better address the retaliatory cycle of crime in Baltimore."
Mosby named veteran Assistant State's Attorney Charles Blomquist to lead the new gun unit, which was announced last month at a news conference held with police.
Blomquist, a candidate to become a judge, has led Mosby's "criminal strategies unit" since August 2015. The new gun unit will have 11 prosecutors and work with police to strengthen gun possession cases. It will also prosecute non-fatal shooting cases.
Mosby also announced the creation of a new narcotics unit, which had been eliminated under the previous administration.
"Understanding that violent crime is often times intertwined with the illegal drug trade and witnessing the opioid epidemic that plagues a wide-range of communities throughout the city, I thought it was important to establish a unit of prosecutors who focus solely on felony drug possession and distribution cases," Mosby wrote to her staff.
Assistant State's Attorney Mia Beth Marosy, who was in the general trial unit, will lead the drug unit.
Gun and drugs cases were being handled by the felony unit, which will remain in place.
Taking Blomquist's place in the criminal strategies unit is Terence Nash, who was previously in the misdemeanor unit. Nash is the third chief of the criminal strategies unit since its inception in January 2015.