Matthew Santoni, The Examiner
2008-03-27 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Prosecutors faulted state lawmakers for rejecting efforts to toughen laws targeting gangs.

The House Judiciary Committee voted down four bills that would have extended sentences for a broader range of crimes often committed by gang members.

The Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association called the bills essential to strengthening anti-gang legislation passed last year.

“We’re very disappointed the legislators did not more carefully consider all the testimony we brought before them,” said Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. “Many of the legislators are just not willing to accept what the citizens of the city and around the state see every day.”

Del. Don Dwyer, R-District 31, a Judiciary Committee member, said he got no answer when he asked other lawmakers what he should tell a regional anti-gang task force for which he volunteers.

Del. Susan McComas, chairwoman of the Harford County delegation, said the committee rejected the bills in part because prosecutors hadn’t used existing gang law enough to show it needed strengthening.

Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly blamed the Judiciary Committee for weakening gang legislation last year, while Burns said Gov. Martin O’Malley and defense attorneys on the committee helped “gut” it.

“It’s like giving us a car with four flat tires and asking us to prove that the flat tires affect its performance,” Cassilly said.

“We had hoped that in 2008 the delegates would realize that we need these additional tools,” said Jeffrey Wennar, an assistant state’s attorney in Montgomery County’s Gang Prosecution unit.

“I’ll be glad to sit down with Joe [Cassilly] and the rest of the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association to work out sponsoring and rewriting the bills again.

Sen. Nancy Jacobs had sponsored eight gang-related bills in the Senate, four of them identical to those voted down in the House committee.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com