Politics & Government

DeLeonardo Sets Sights on Becoming the Next Carroll County State's Attorney

Brian DeLeonardo said there are important changes that need to be made in Carroll County to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Brian DeLeonardo is no stranger to the Carroll County State's Attorney's office, he served as a prosecutor there early in his career. Now he wants to return and lead the office, but with the intention of making significant changes -- changes that will make "Carroll County the envy of the state," he said.

The state's attorney's office is responsible for the prosecution of all crimes that occur in Carroll County which represent violations of either state or local law according to the state's attorney's website

An attorney since 1996, DeLeonardo has an extensive professional background that includes clerking for notable judges, prosecuting for the Carroll County state's attorney office, prosecuting for the Maryland attorney general's office, criminal work in private practice and training law enforcement personnel and prosecutors at the national, state and local level. 

Find out what's happening in Westminsterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I believe the state's attorney's office can do a whole lot more to help ensure the safety of the community," DeLeonardo told Patch. "I think it's vitally important for the state's attorney to have a very strong partnership with law enforcement."

DeLeonardo said that prosecutors and law enforcement officials have to work together to protect the community and to deter criminals. 

Find out what's happening in Westminsterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There has to be a really strong partnership where there's an emphasis on education on Constitutional principles and there's an ability to work on a daily basis on proactive investigations — not just wait for something to go bad but actually target some of the county's criminals with proactive investigations," DeLeonardo said. 

In addition to being more aggressive in educating and working with law enforcement officials, DeLeonardo said he also believes that the prosecutors in the state's attorney's office need to be well trained in how to prosecute cases, how to prepare cases and the professionalism of working with victims, witnesses and law enforcement.

"My goal is to make [the state's attorney's office] the envy of the state, and I absolutely think we can do that," DeLeonardo said. "There's excellent law enforcement in Carroll County, but they need to have a strong legal partner in these cases."

DeLeonardo said that he would also focus on aggressively prosecuting crime that negatively affects business as well as pursuing cases where criminals come from outside the county to commit crimes locally. 

"I really believe the state's attorney's office can do so much more to help the community, for example I've seen the impact that crime has on business," DeLeonardo said. "When an area has issues with crime, those businesses lose customers."

DeLeonardo pointed to Main Street in Westminster as a prime example of where crime impacts business.  He said he believes the state's attorney's office "can bring something to the table in that conversation." 

A republican, DeLeonardo lives in Carroll County with his wife and four sons. He currently practices law out of his Reisterstown office and is active with both the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Chamber of Commerce as well as the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. 

The Carroll County State's Attorney's office is currently headed by Jerry Barnes, who was initially elected to the position in 1994. DeLeonardo will be on the republican primary ballot in June 2014 for the November 2014 general election.

To learn more about DeLeonardo visit his website at www.votedeleonardo.com


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here