State's Attorney Profile

Bio

 Joel J. Todd, Deputy State's Attorney, Denton, Maryland

Formerly:    Deputy State's Attorney for Worcester County

            State's Attorney for Worcester County

            Assistant State's Attorney for Wicomico County

            Magistrate Lake Havasu City, Arizona

What State judicial policies impact Caroline County office the most?

 “Well, actually, anytime the judge rules in a criminal or juvenile case, it impacts the state, because we're the ones prosecuting all the criminal cases and the juvenile cases…The appellate courts have the greatest impact in the long term, because decisions that the appellate courts make when a case is up on appeal can change the law or how the court believes the law should be applied based on a certain set of facts, and then once that's done, we have to abide by those rulings and oftentimes change the way we present cases when we go to trial.”

 The State’s Attorney Office has a strong working relationship with its county partners, such as the Caroline County Commissioners. What would you do to strengthen that relationship?

 “The Office of the state's attorney should work closely with all the partners in the county, including law enforcement, the county government, the town governments, and it's important that we all have a good working relationship. Now sometimes, I would say, in a criminal case, which is what we handle, criminal and juvenile, 95% or more of the time, the police and the office of the State's Attorney are on the same page insofar as how to handle a case.

There's that other handful of cases…times when we might have a difference of opinion. And the way our constitution works in the state of Maryland, as well as in most states around the nation, the ultimate decision when there might be a dispute on how a case should be handled, is left to the Office of State's Attorney, because when our constitution was created it was determined that there should be an independent arbiter of justice. And the only time that's important is in that 2, 3, 4 percent of the time when there might be a difference of opinion.

[The] state is required not to prosecute every case, but to do what's in the best interest of justice. So that means if, for instance, the state's attorney or the prosecutor in a particular case becomes skeptical as to the credibility of its own witnesses - I'm talking about civilian witnesses here primarily - [if] it gets to the point where they're not sure who's telling the truth…Then ethically, we're required to dismiss the case and not prosecute it. That sometimes makes it awkward when police have worked hard on a case, but that's what we're required to do. And in all honesty, it's unethical for us to prosecute a case if we reach the point where we have a reasonable doubt of our own.”

 What message would you put to the citizens of Caroline County regarding prosecution of criminals in their communities?

 “I can assure the citizens of Caroline County that we will have competent, qualified attorneys handling all of the cases that we prosecute in the Juvenile Court, District Court, and Circuit Court. We will have competent, professional, ethical attorneys handling those cases.

Throughout my career, my goal has been to enforce the rights of the public, to protect the innocent, and to convict the guilty. I've done that. I've done that since July 1, 1985 when I first started working as a Deputy State's Attorney, and I will continue doing that throughout my career. I have a slogan on my whiteboard in the office from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, which says, ‘justice and only justice you shall pursue.’ And that will be the mantra of the Office of the State's Attorney if I'm elected State's Attorney for the next four years.”