Pending

Concerned that the "enemies list" revealed in the State's March 2 criminal indictment of Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold violates the political freedoms of the list's targets, the ACLU of Maryland in December, 2012, filed a lawsuit under a provision of the Maryland Public Information Act that prohibits the creation, use, and dissemination of government records containing personal information about private citizens without an adequate governmental need, as well as under provisions of the law prohibiting wrongful withholding of public information. The lawsuit charges that information was improperly collected and retained on Leopold's perceived political rivals or enemies, and that information was improperly withheld when requested by individuals who had reason to believe they were targeted. 

The original lawsuit, filed against Leopold as well as the County Executive's Office and the County Police Department, asks the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County to order that all responsive records be produced. In April, the ACLU opposes efforts by the Leopold and the County to dismiss portions of the lawsuit. The ACLU also filed an amended complaint that sought to name former County Police Chief Teare as a defendant, following the County's release of audio interviews with Executive Protection Officers that implicate his knowledge of and involvement in collecting information for dossiers. 

• ACLU v. Leopold complaint
• ACLU opposition to motions to dismiss
• Amended complaint naming former Police Chief James Teare as a defendant

OTHER DOCUMENTS

• 030612 ACLU Maryland Public Information Act request to County Executive and Police Department
• 030712 ACLU letter asking for a full County Council investigation
• 031312 Anne Arundel County cover letter response to initial MPIA request
• 031612 ACLU supplemental MPIA request 
• 032012 ACLU letter urging Maryland Public Safety Secretary Gary Maynard to launch an audit
• 032312 ACLU supplemental MPIA request for Cohen, Dwyer, and more
• 032712 ACLU Maryland Public Information Request to MCJIS and MSP
• Anne Arundel County Police Department/DPSCS CJIS contract

Documents Released Pursuant to ACLU MPIA Request    

• Lewis Bracy CJIS log
• Thomas Redmond CJIS log
• Carl Snowden NCIC log
• Witness statement of Corporal Howard Brown 3/15/11
• Audio clips from witness statement of Corporal Howard Brown:
  • Clip including allegations that Teare saw dossiers before they were sent to the Executive Office, page 33 in the transcript.
  • Clip including allegations that a dossier was collected on Karla Hamner, page 181 in the transcript.

Press Releases:

• 030712 ACLU Files Information Request Demanding Leopold "Enemies List"; Group Asserts Police Actions May Violate New "No Spying" Law
• 031512 Leopold "Dossiers" Reveal Illegal Political Opposition Research, Potentially Illegal Use of State Crime Database; ACLU to File Additional Information Requests on Behalf of Other Potential Victims
• 031612 ACLU Files Information Requests on More Possible Leopold Victims, Including Sex Discrimination Plaintiffs; Group Says Leopold and Police Chief Must Account Publicly for their Actions
• 032012 ACLU Calls for State Audit of Crime Database Use in Anne Arundel County; Group wants to know if information in the database was inappropriately accessed and disseminated
• 032212 ACLU Statement Regarding Anne Arundel County Police Chief Teare Refusing to Testify
• 032812 ACLU Condemns Chief's Silence, Demands Criminal History Logs Related to Leopold's "Enemies List"; Group Also Files New Info Requests with County for Annapolis Mayor, Delegate Dwyer, and More
• 060512 Leopold Employees Improperly Accessed Data; Criminal History Databases Were Accessed to Gather "Enemies" Information
• 121212 ACLU LAWSUIT CHALLENGES, DEMANDS FULL ACCOUNTING OF LEOPOLD'S "ENEMIES LIST" Group Represents 11 Individuals Targeted in Dossiers and Illegal Criminal Database Searches

• 043013 ACLU Seeks to Add Former Anne Arundel Police Chief Teare as Defendant in "Enemies List" Lawsuit; Audio Tapes Released by the County Reveal Teare's Involvement, Compilation of Dossier on Karla Hamner

• Appeals Court Upholds Right of Individuals Targeted as "Enemies" by Former Anne Arundel Co Exec John Leopold to Seek Justice

   

Carl Snowden FBI Cointelpro files: Part 1, Part 2

UPDATE: The ACLU of Maryland is proud to announce that Mrs. Brewer will get to see her great grandson and grandson for the holidays. State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks has filed a motion to temporarily suspend the order that kept Mrs. Brewer from coming home to see her. Ms.Up church will be reunited with her family members too.

Check back for updates after the holidays. The orders need to be overturned once and for all.

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ACLU of Maryland called on Prince George's County State's Attorney to undo the damage done to two families earlier when prosecutors wrongfully forced two women to sign "nuisance abatement" orders banishing their family members from their own homes and the neighborhood in which they had grown up. 

The ACLU urged the prosecutor to dissolve the orders and call off longstanding harassment by police claiming to enforce the orders so the families can be reunited without fear that they will be arrested or that they could lose the homes they own.

Maryland's nuisance abatement statute was intended to help communities work with law enforcement to reclaim properties that are used solely or primarily for drug activity. But, in this case, prosecutors, in conjunction with police, went far beyond their authority, needlessly tearing apart two different families by coercing homeowners into submitting to orders that would never have stood up in court - one, on the basis of less than two grams of marijuana, and the other on the basis of a used pipe - the only drug paraphernalia that police turned up after aggressive raids of the two homes.

Using the statute and the full authority of their police powers, prosecutors, working with the Hyattsville and the Prince George's County Police Departments, took the two unrepresented women and their families behind closed doors and threatened the women that they would lose their homes if they didn't ban their family members from the homes and the whole neighborhood - even for visits. In one case this caused an ill, elderly woman to lose the help and support of her caregiver grandson and great-grandson, and in the other case it not only has kept family members from seeing and supporting each other, but has also actually caused a family member to lose his job and incur significant debt as a result of contracts he is unable to fulfill.

Cleo Brewer, who is in her 80s and very ill with cancer, not only was separated from her grandson and great-grandson, both of whom she raised from childhood, but also lost their help as daily caregivers who helped lift her up and down the stairs, fed her, went shopping for her, and took her to doctor appointments.

Across the street, Dollie Upchurch's brother had been overseeing significant renovations to her home, where he had grown up, and had decades-long landscaping contracts with neighbors in the area. The order banishing him from their home rendered him homeless. He lost his job and could not fulfill his longstanding contracts, resulting in significant debt. In fact, prosecutors refused his request for an exception that would allow him to take care of these contracts rather than incur additional debts.

Both women have experienced a longstanding pattern of harassment that has cut them off from their families, friends and neighbors.

* 121213 ACLU letter to Prince George's County State Attorney

In 2009, the Somerset County NAACP and ACLU of Maryland released a report, "Semper Eadem: Always the Same?," examining the demographics of Somerset County government, which revealed troubling disparities between the numbers of African Americans who live in Somerset County, and the number employed in the government and schools there, especially at the upper echelons. In response to that report, and a well-attended town hall meeting was held, where many in the community came together and formed a Task Force on Diversity, to develop a strategy for addressing these disparities. The Task Force held a series of meetings and finalized a comprehensive set of recommendations intended to ensure that local government values diversity and that Somerset County is an inclusive and welcoming place.

• Report: Semper Eadem: "Always the Same"?
• Press release: Semper Eadem: "Always the Same"? ACLU, NAACP Report Reveals Disturbing Racial Disparities in Somerset County Government
• Final recommendations from the Somerset County Task Force on Diversity
• ACLU letter to Department of Justice, 3/24/2010
• Press release: ACLU, NAACP Urge U.S. Justice Department to Investigate Racial Disparities in Somerset County