ELECTION 2024: St. Mary’s Circuit Court contest includes claims of dubious experience as Judge Amy pleas to keep job; “thousands” of jury and non-jury trials appear to be filing against dead-beat dads for Social Services simply – no trial needed, dads had to “pay or stay” in jail

PARSING THE WORDS OF A JUDGE

BY KEN ROSSIGNOL

THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY

The appointment of Amy Lorenzini to the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s County by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in 2022 required Lorenzini to stand for election in the general election in November of 2024. The St. Mary’s County committee that interviews all applicants for the open position rated only three attorneys as qualified for the post, with Lorenzini being one of the three.

 In 2023, Sue Ann Armitage, one of the three applicants approved and sent to Governor Hogan for consideration, filed for the Judge of the Circuit Court position. 

Armitage accepted an invitation to participate in an interview six months ago, which can be seen here at this link. Lorenzini has agreed to an interview and, to minimize any disruptions to her schedule agreed to do so in the Grand Jury room in the courthouse.

Both candidates were required to file their campaign finance reports in January, and an article on those reports, including the complete report files and commentary about the ethics of accepting contributions from attorneys with business in the courts of Maryland, was published.

Questions about the contributions were posed to both candidates, with only Armitage providing answers. Lorenzini’s husband Mike said Lorenzini was busy preparing for trial, so several more days were provided for an answer from her to be included, but it was never forthcoming. Thus, the article appeared without her reply. Lorenzini accepted a $5,000 contribution from La Plata attorney Hammad Matin, and court records show that sixteen times his cases have appeared in the court presided by Judge Lorenzini.

Dozens of other lawyers’ contributions appear in Lorenzini’s campaign disclosures, and yet another round of disclosures is due on May 4, 2024. About seventy percent of Lorenzini’s campaign donors don’t live in St. Mary’s County and can’t even vote for her. Still, the appearance of the ethics of those who practice law from other counties in St. Mary’s County, or before Lorenzini when she is a visiting Judge in another county, is the type of activity that promotes disrespect for the Judiciary and could be a subject of a complaint to the Maryland Judicial Disabilities Commission.

When I talked with Judge Lorenzini on the phone to arrange an interview, she told me that she believed I had already decided whom to support in the election. While I haven’t made such a decision and told her so, the purpose of an interview is for the readers of THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY to have more information on which to base their decision on selecting the right person for Circuit Court Judge of St. Mary’s County.

This week, Judge Lorenzini graciously included me in her mass campaign mailing using the services of very clever political consultants who could personalize the letter entitled KEEP JUDGE AMY LORENZINI. The full text of the letter is included below this article.  

I can understand the great trepidation that Judge Lorenzini has for participating in an interview with me. She is more intelligent than three or four Governors of Maryland who risked their administrations by answering my questions. Lorenzini was the law clerk for Circuit Court Judge Marvin Kaminetz, and maybe she recalled my interview with him and decided to run for cover. Judge Kaminetz wasn’t skeered. He did fine in showing me around the new courthouse twenty years ago.

Drug dealer Wendell Ford was a great interview, and it went well for him (except for his eight years spent in federal prison for cocaine trafficking, he did his time and is now a legal entreprenuer) in explaining his views on the corruption of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department. 

The deputies stole a tractor-trailer load of building materials from him after they had seized the property in a drug search warrant raid on his home. When Judge John Slade ordered the property given back to him, Ford’s property was gone. It was stolen. Purloined. By the cops. The theft of the deputies was revealed in my series. WHERE’S THE LOOT?

 The taxpayers had to pay Ford for the theft of the deputies, Sheriff Dick Voorhaar opted out of running for another term in 2002, and Assistant Sheriff Steve Doolan, who doled out stolen building materials to his best friend and Doolan’s stepson, was busted in rank and then quit when faced with firing by Sheriff David Zylak. None of the thieving deputies were ever charged with a crime.

Should Lorenzini decide to send answers to the questions posed to her about her campaign contributions or participate in an interview, that information will be provided to the readers of THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY. In the meantime, perhaps there will be an ’empty chair’ interview to help readers focus on this election.

Below is information from Lorenzini’s mass mailing campaign letter, in which she stated she had served as a criminal prosecutor working for the illustrious St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz. Court records reveal that her principal duty was processing the collection of child support payments, as deadbeat dads had a pretty good incentive to pay their arrears to stay out of jail. It was rare for any trial, calling of witnesses, or cross-examinations to occur in those court cases.

In the interest of voluminous research into the claims of a candidate who refuses to answer questions or, thus far, be interviewed, below are the only cases in the Appellate Court where Lorenzini is listed as an attorney. In one of them, she did not appear in the oral arguments held in the Appellate Court as she was appointed to the bench three months before the presentation to the three-judge panel.

The considerable law practice in Prince Frederick, where Lorenzini acted as a manager, won a significant case in the Appellate Court of Maryland regarding pier rights in Solomons. This win may explain why the client shows gratitude with a campaign donation.

Other cases in which she was involved are also provided.

Lorenzini should be forthcoming with answers to readers. If, for some reason, her adoption of the Kenny Dement Sign Dogma fails her, she can guess she lost because she fawned over out-of-county high-dollar lobbyists and lawyers instead of respecting how the voters view her ambitions.

These seven cases are the only Appellate cases in which Amy Lorenzini was listed as an attorney

In the case of James T. Seymour et al. v. Tidewater Investment Group LLC, Amy Lorenzini and Cumberland & Erly represented Tidewater, which won the case over the issue of pier rights belonging to the old Fishermans Inn, etc., restaurant property once owned by H. Leon Langley and bought by Tidewater in 2012. The Maryland Appellate Court decided that Tidewater’s purchase included the pier rights.

In the case of V. Charles Donnelly et al. vs. the State of Maryland et al., Lorenzinie and Lawrence Cumberland represented clients who owned property in Solomons Island, Md, who were attempting to exercise their rights under prior agreements with the State of Maryland to build piers into the Patuxent River which had been promised when the previous property owners agreed to a road being built and seawall through their properties. The Appellate Court denied the appeal in part and, approved the appeal in part, and sent the case back to the Circuit Court of Calvert County to reconsider its prior ruling.

The following court proceeding is one of the seven referred to by Amy Lorenzini as being one of many cases she tried at the appellate level. The video of the case being heard shows that she did not participate in the proceedings and had been removed from the case two months prior.

In the case of the Calvert County Board of Commissioners v. David Gilbert, Amy D. Lorenzini entered her appearance before the Appellate Court of Maryland on October 10, 2021, along with two other members of the firm of Cumberland and Erly on behalf of David Gilbert of Lusby, Md. The Appellant Brief was filed on March 21, 2022. In May of 2022, Lorenzini was appointed to the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s, and she was removed from the case before the court, which still has yet to proceed after Oral Arguments were held on September 12, 2022. Panel Judges: Kehoe, Christopher B.; Tang, Rosalyn; Adkins, Sally Denison. THE APPELLATE COURT OF MARYLAND HAS YET TO RENDER AN OPINION IN THIS CASE AS OF April 12, 2024.

The following court cases appear in Maryland court records, with Amy Deatley Welch (Lorenzini) as the attorney for either the defendant or the plaintiff.

THE NEXT CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT IS DUE MAY 4, 2024. Judge Lorenzini has yet to answer why attorney Hammad Matin donated $5,000 to her campaign and explain the $5,000 contribution from a chef at a bar near the Nationals Stadium in DC.