This program will be a CLE discussing recent changes to Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8, pertaining to certain special obligations of prosecutors. The Court of Appeals recently approved changes to Maryland Rule 3.8–which take effect in January, 2023–affirming a prosecutor’s duty to disclose exculpatory information even after a defendant is convicted, under certain circumstances. This amendment brings Maryland in line with the ABA Model Rules, whose language the new amendments mirror. This change follows the Court’s 2021 disbarment of a long-time Harford County State’s Attorney, in an opinion that laid out prosecutors’ duties to disclose exculpatory information.

This CLE will review the changes to the Maryland Rule, including procedural requirements for how to disclose exculpatory evidence. The CLE will also discuss the Cassilly case as context for how the new rule operates. In addition, the CLE may discuss the recent decision by the Baltimore City State’s Attorney to seek to vacate the highly publicized murder conviction of Adnan Syed following a review of evidence which suggested the defendant was not culpable.

Presented by John Grimm, Esq. & Hilary Gerzhoy, Esq. of HWG, LLP.

One of CLE credit (with 1.0 ethics hour) will be offered for the surrounding MCLE states.