Harford County State?s Attorney Joseph Cassilly, like many prosecutors, had championed anti-gang legislation when it was first introduced during this General Assembly session.
But Maryland?s prosecutors are no longer supporting it, Cassilly said in a scathing e-mail Wednesday, asking senators to kill the bill.
“The House of Delegates gave us a pig in [a] swimsuit and they called it a beauty queen,” he wrote. “The Senate committee put lipstick on the pig and called it a beauty queen.
“But this pig won?t sing, and it won?t dance, so it is totally useless to prosecutors.”
Harford?s state Sen. Nancy Jacobs had been one of the bill?s most ardent supporters and earned praise from Cassilly. But the legislation originally drafted with the state?s attorneys? help was no longer the one on the Senate floor, Cassilly and other prosecutors have complained.
Various amendments made in the House of Delegates narrowed who could be prosecuted for gang activity and which crimes would carry a harsher punishment. Maximum sentences were reduced from 30 to 10 years and were made so they could be served concurrently with time for the underlying crimes.
“It?s like somebody giving you the gift of a car with no wheels, who can?t understand why you aren?t happy with what you?re given,” Cassilly said Thursday. “It won?t go anywhere without the wheels.”
Without adding time to sentences for gang activity, Cassilly said there was no point in the additional work of proving that the defendant was part of a gang.
“What prosecutor is going to make his case that much harder to prosecute when it won?t add anything to the sentence?” he said.
The Maryland State?s Attorneys Association recommended several amendments that could be made to the bill in the Senate that would restore some of its powers, and Jacobs had indicated she?d try to make changes when the bill was debated on the floor, Cassilly said.
Jacobs could not be reached for comment as of press time.
