Brown, Goldstein & Levy attorney Michele D. Hall was recently quoted in The Daily Record after the Maryland Supreme Court ruled that the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (JJRA) will apply to cases that were pending when the law was passed.
The Juvenile Justice Reform Act prohibits charging children under the age of 13 in juvenile court for certain nonviolent acts, ruling that the juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over a child in a delinquency proceeding where the child was under 13 years old at the time of the alleged act.
The ruling also held that the juvenile court’s denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in a case concerning M.P., a child who was 12 years old when they were charged in delinquency petition in juvenile court, was immediately appealable.
Michele, who served as co-counsel for M.P. along with Stephanie Asplundh while at the Office of the Public Defender, told The Daily Record that the case is “an important victory” for the Juvenile Justice Reform Act.
“The JJRA recognized that most young children do not belong in juvenile court and in fact subjecting young children to the juvenile court often does more harm than good,” she said.
“It is important to remember that even today, children are children, and the same principles that animated the initial legislative change apply to children like M.P. whose cases remained pending at the time of the JJRA’s passage,” Michele added.
The Maryland Supreme Court shared similar sentiments, noting the issue as one “of great importance because it concerns the jurisdiction of the juvenile court over other children who are similar to M.P.”
ABOUT MICHELE D. HALL:
Michele has extensive criminal defense experience after serving for five years as a public defender at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. During her time at OPD, Michele worked as a trial and appellate attorney. As a trial attorney, Michele represented children in Prince George’s County charged in juvenile court and children charged as adults. As an appellate attorney, Michele regularly argued before both the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland, and focused on statewide juvenile appellate strategy. She has continued to grow her criminal practice after joining Brown, Goldsten & Levy in October 2023. Learn more about Michele here.
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.