November Maryland voters elected three people
of color to the state's top three offices,
while Westmoore and Aruna Miller
will be sworn in next week.
Anthony Brown is already on the job
as the state's new Attorney general,
and Anthony Brown joins us live via
zoom this morning to talk with us.
Mr. Brown, good to see you.
Good morning, Larry. Great to be on
with you. Alright, so more than a week
on the job now, how are things going?
Look, things are going well.
I'm settling into the office.
I've got an extraordinary
group of professionals,
lawyers and non lawyers that are doing,
you know, extraordinary work
representing the state of Maryland,
working for the people of Maryland.
And yesterday we welcome
the General Assembly back.
I look forward to working with
them over the next 90 days to make
sure I have the resource and and
the authorities to do the job that
mayor owners elected me to do.
Well, in your speech you laid out
three important priorities for you,
civil rights, public safety.
And police reform.
But I want to focus on police reform,
specifically in Maryland.
Does there appear to be an appetite
in the legislature to really take
action on this issue this session?
I think there is. I mean, certainly
during the course of this past year,
I've heard from a number of legislators who,
I should add, have done an
extraordinary job in the area of police
reform and police accountability.
Probably more work has been done
in Maryland than any other state
in the last 2 1/2 years.
But there's an interest in establishing
in my office the authority to prosecute
a police misconduct if an investigation
shows that in a police involved.
Yeah, there in fact was misconduct.
So I'll work with the General Assembly to
make sure that I do have the authority,
I'm well resourced to do it,
and that the investigations and
prosecutions are truly fair and independent.
Adnan Syed, whose murder convictions
of Hayman Lee was overturned last year.
That is a story that just
continues to captivate the state.
We understand that the family is
moving forward with an appeal.
You told our partners in Baltimore,
WJZ, that you support victims rights.
Can you explain that?
Statement in the context
of this case specifically.
Sure. Under Maryland law,
under certain during certain critical
stages in a prosecution or a criminal case,
victims have the right to be heard,
to appear before the
Court to make statements.
And we have to protect those
rights regardless of the case
that is involved in this case,
in the Syed case, it's our opinion,
it's my certain belief that the victim's
family was not given a sufficient.
Notice to be able to appear before the court.
Yes, he appeared but he didn't
have sufficient notice in order to
be prepared for that appearance.
So in order to protect victims rights,
it's my view that the court has to
do a redo on the motion to vacate
somewhat kind of consider that to
be kind of just a technicality that
your office getting involved in kind
of relitigating this case is is
just on the small particular issue
in a case that's been going on.
Four years, how do you explain that
and kind of you know reconciling that
that the fact that there is a legal
responsibility that you say that you
have versus those that feel like you
guys are trying to move forward with
relitigating this case altogether?
Look, much of protecting rights are
ensuring that the procedures that
some may say are technical in nature,
but the procedures are followed
because you can't protect the rights.
And that's true whether you're
talking about a defendant or a victim,
unless we adhere to the procedures that
are established in Maryland's constitution,
in our statutes that protect those rights.
So while I wouldn't necessarily
say it's a technicality,
I think it is a process,
a procedure that's designed to
protect the rights of victims.
And if we begin to ignore those,
then my fear is that one day will
never be allowing victims to appear
before courts and to make a statement,
as was intended by the Maryland
General Assembly when they passed the
law requiring that victims and their
representatives be giving notice during
critical stages in a criminal case.
All right. Maryland's new
Attorney General, Anthony Brown.
Mr. Brown, thank you for
joining us this morning.
We appreciate your time.
Thank you, Myron.