Delegates Support Changes to Md. Office of the Public Defender Board

Summary

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A plan to dramatically increase the size and geographic representation on the Board of Trustees of the Office of the Public Defender, and to change the way the state public defender could be removed, went unopposed and unquestioned at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

The bill, which comes months after the current three-member board fired Nancy S. Forster in August, would provide for a 13-member board -- one from each district and a chair appointed by the governor. It would entrust the governor with the power to remove the public defender, only on the recommendation of that board, and only for cause.

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Extract

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Delegates Support Changes to Md. Office of the Public Defender Board

All signs seem to point toward the passage of some version of HB 122. Thirty-seven delegates, including sponsor Del. Curtis S. Anderson of Baltimore, have pledged their s...

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