Blistered by judge, 'ineffective' lawyer gets murder case against client dismissed
Blistered by a controversial Baltimore trial judge for her claimed ineffective representation of a murder defendant, a defense lawyer soon won a stunning victory.
Initially held in contempt and threatened with jail by Chief Judge Alfred Nance, assistant public defender Deborah Levi got off the hook when Nance decided to declare a mistrial in the case of Montrelle Braxton. That was over Nance’s concern that Levi’s “disrespectful” attitude would adversely affect the defense in the eyes of the jury, the Baltimore Sun reports.
At that point, Nance quashed the contempt order.
Levi then moved to dismiss the murder charge against Braxton on double jeopardy grounds when a new judge was assigned to the case.
On July 28, Circuit Judge Julie Rubin agreed that Braxton couldn’t be retried for the murder of bail bondsman Tarvis Briscoe and dismissed the case, the newspaper reports.
Through a clerk, Nance declined to comment. Levi told the newspaper she is “happy with the result, however we got there, because Mr. Braxton is innocent.”
