Circuit Court Division

The Circuit Court Division prosecutes the most serious crimes committed in Howard County. The 12 Circuit Court prosecutors handle cases involving murder, robbery, child abuse, sex offenses, drug felonies, and other serious cases. In 2001, 306 serious felony cases were prosecuted in the Circuit Court. They included 93 crimes of violence, 76 drug felonies, and 50 burglaries.

All Circuit Court attorneys are assigned a variety of types of cases. The practice is designed to provide each attorney with a breadth of litigation experience, and to provide the County with a corps of litigators who can handle a broad range of types of cases. In addition, attorneys in the Circuit Court Division are provided with training, experience and involvement in specialized areas such as murder, arson, child abuse and white collar offenses, cyber crime and narcotics prosecution.

The Circuit Court Division also handles over 500 cases that come to the Circuit Court each year from the District Court. These include appeals from misdemeanor convictions, as well as demands for jury trials.

Circuit Court attorneys work closely with the Howard County Police Department on investigations and provide training to police trainees as well as to veteran officers. Prosecutors and police officers working closely in investigating and preparing cases for presentation to the Grand Jury.