COURT NEWS: MOORE TAKES A PASS ON OPPORTUNITY TO APPOINT FIRST BLACK JUDGE IN HISTORY OF ST. MARY’S COUNTY AND INSTEAD GOES FOR FRITZ FLUNKIE

COURT NEWS MOORE TAKES A PASS ON OPPORTUNITY TO APPOINT FIRST BLACK JUDGE IN HISTORY OF ST. MARY’S COUNTY AND INSTEAD GOES FOR FRITZ FLUNKIE

ANNAPOLIS, MD. – Maryland Governor Wes Moore passed over the chance to make history by appointing Marsha Williams, a family practice attorney in Leonardtown, who was the first black applicant for a Circuit Court appointment since the founding of the county in 1634, and appointed Kevin R. Hill, a protégé of former State’s Attorney Richard Fritz.

The attorneys who applied for the appointment were Leonardtown attorney Daniel Slade, Assistant Calvert County Attorney John A. Mattingly, attorney Sue Ann Armitage, attorney Marsha Williams, St. Mary’s County Attorney Buffey Giddens, and the former Fritz assistant State’s Attorney Kevin R. Hill, who became the magistrate in charge of family court in 1993.

Moore issued this statement as he passed on the chance to bring color to the circuit court:

 “Magistrate Kevin R. Hill has spent almost his entire legal career in public service, currently serving as the magistrate for the St. Mary’s County Circuit Court. He previously served as a public defender in Charles, St. Mary’s, and Calvert Counties, representing indigent juveniles and adults in circuit and district courts. In 2016, he was sworn in as an assistant state’s attorney in St. Mary’s County, where he handled civil, misdemeanor, and felony cases, and represented the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services Child Support Division. Magistrate Hill is also an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, where he has taught business, litigation and professional development classes to undergraduate students. Prior to attending law school, Magistrate Hill was the general manager of his family’s restaurants in St. Mary’s County for over 15 years.

Magistrate Hill earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and his law degree from the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.”