{"id":1025,"date":"2022-11-11T18:34:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T18:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2024-09-10T20:47:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T20:47:53","slug":"the-peoples-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/the-peoples-prosecutor\/","title":{"rendered":"The People\u2019s Prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tHow Anne Colt Leitess put the Capital Gazette killer behind bars<\/span><\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess speaking with the press after the Ramos sentencing. (Photo by Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Christianna McCausland<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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There is a scale model of the <\/span>Capital Gazette<\/span><\/i> newsroom in the office of Anne Arundel County State\u2019s Attorney <\/span>Anne Colt Leitess, J.D. \u201988<\/span><\/b>. It was made for her by the FBI during the sanity trial of Jarrod Ramos, the man convicted of murdering five staffers at the newspaper in 2019. Even now, more than a year after Ramos lost his Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) bid in July 2021, Leitess can lean over that model, about the size of a ping-pong table, and transport you into its scene.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

She shows you where he entered, how he tactically blocked the exit Gazette employees could use to escape, where he stashed his belongings. Then she takes you step by step through his movements inside the office, as he gunned down five people before lying face-down on the floor to await the arrival of police.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Her retelling is so chilling it can raise the hair on your neck. This is her gift.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIn this job, juries can sense B.S.,\u201d says David Putzi, a former prosecutor who worked with Leitess for four years before becoming a criminal defense attorney, now with the firm of Fisher & Putzi, P.A.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWhen someone presents to a jury with sincerity\u2014and you add a good hand of facts to that\u2014it becomes an almost insurmountable thing for the defense. That\u2019s how I find Anne. Juries appreciate how she comes at them, by being who she is.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Steven Grossman<\/span><\/b>, professor of law emeritus, taught Leitess at UBalt Law and coached her trial advocacy team. He\u2019s followed her career ever since. \u201cI could see right away that she had a real talent for being a trial attorney,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe knew how to tell a story, which is very important with a jury, and she could develop a rapport with the listener and present the case in a way the listener could understand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Ramos case was right in Leitess\u2019 wheelhouse. From the time she was 15 and took a field trip to a federal courthouse and saw trials in action, she knew she wanted to be a prosecutor. It\u2019s part of the reason she chose UBalt Law: its close connection with local employers and reputation for helping students get jobs. Leitess was a law clerk in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney\u2019s Office and got her first job there in 1988.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI wanted to represent people in crisis, in peril,\u201d says Leitess. \u201cHomicide is my forte. I like homicide because the victims can\u2019t speak for themselves. We\u2019re working on behalf of the families.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In 1990, Leitess became a prosecutor in Anne Arundel County. In 1998, she led the prosecution in the retrial of Scotland Williams for the murder of two attorneys in their Annapolis home. It was the first case to introduced mitochondrial DNA evidence in Maryland, which helped Leitess secure a conviction. She jokes that you know you\u2019ve made it when the courtroom artist does your drawing. The Williams trial was the making of her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In 2013 she became the interim state\u2019s attorney when her boss retired. She lost in the election, so she went back to Baltimore, where she led a Special Victims Unit working on sexual assault and child homicide cases.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI cried for every child,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat was always so shocking to me was the number of people who could have intervened but did nothing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe way I deal with that,\u201d she continues, \u201cis not letting any stone go unturned, and to make sure someone is held accountable.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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NO HIDDEN AGENDAS<\/strong><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Leitess has a reputation as a dogged prosecutor. Just speaking with her is an intense exercise. She talks quickly and steadily, with an air of unquestionable authority. One can only imagine what it would be like to be a defendant or jury in her laser-sharp sights.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Yet, despite her capacity to relentlessly pursue a case to the mat, she is also known for being selective in the cases she takes and giving people second chances.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cAnne is an extremely fair individual,\u201d says Putzi. \u201cWhen Anne believes a victim has been wronged, she\u2019s extremely aggressive to right that wrong. Likewise, if she believes justice is better served with a case not being prosecuted, she will do that as well.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cShe goes where the evidence leads here. She\u2019s very forthright. There are no hidden agendas with Anne.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\"\"
Prof. Emeritus Steven Grossman<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Grossman says her balance has always impressed him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cShe could always distinguish between the serious cases and the cases in which you could give someone a break, when you didn\u2019t want to make them a lifetime criminal,\u201d says Grossman.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cPeople want the prosecutor\u2019s office to be the bludgeon on their behalf,\u201d says Leitess. \u201cBut we cannot blow with the prevailing winds. Prosecutors have to also look out for defendants’ rights. That\u2019s where justice is served.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Ramos case was one she never thought she would have; it was going to be tried by the prior state\u2019s attorney, as Leitess was in a bid for the elected office in 2018. Yet in 2019 she took ownership of the case. When she found out Ramos intended to plead insanity to get a lifetime sentence in a hospital, she was having none of it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThere was absolutely no way I was going to allow Jarrod Ramos to make a farce of the legal system and be declared not criminally responsible,\u201d she states.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

A lesson Leitess learned working in the sex offense unit, which relies heavily on victim testimony, was to treat those cases like a homicide\u2014you look for all the other evidence to help corroborate the crime. That\u2019s what she did with the Ramos case.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cNot only do I prove my case, I try to disprove their case,\u201d she states.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Enter the FBI model. And reams of evidence compiled by Leitess and her team that painted the portrait of a man who took meticulous care of his aging cat, got the oil changed in his car, and paid his rent on time. Even the fact that he put down his arms and waited in supplication for police\u2014most mass shooters kill themselves or are shot by police\u2014indicated a man who wanted a long, comfortable incarceration. In short, a sane man who did an insane thing. Which is exactly what the jury found in Leitess\u2019 favor, and sentenced Ramos to five consecutive life terms.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

After the trial, Leitess says she slept for 12 hours straight. She went to a legal conference the next weekend, which she found \u201crelaxing.\u201d She says people always ask what she\u2019s going to do next, but the truth is she\u2019s doing it now, and she was re-elected without opposition earlier this year.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI hope to try one to two cases a year, especially cold cases,\u201d she says. \u201cI love this job.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Christianna McCausland<\/strong> is a writer based in Baltimore.
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How Anne Colt Leitess put the Capital Gazette killer behind bars State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess speaking with the press after the Ramos sentencing. (Photo by Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post via Getty Images) By Christianna McCausland\u00a0 There is a scale model of the Capital Gazette newsroom in the office of Anne Arundel County State\u2019s Attorney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1244,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":94,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2411,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/2411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}