July 9, 2019: Former Pocomoke City Police Chief Sentenced for Misconduct in Office Conviction

FORMER POCOMOKE CITY POLICE CHIEF SENTENCED FOR MISCONDUCT IN OFFICE CONVICTION

State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt announced today that former Pocomoke City Police Chief Kelvin Sewell was sentenced today, after being convicted of criminal misconduct in office in the Circuit Court for Worcester County. Sewell was convicted of protecting a fellow Mason by interfering with and obstructing a traffic accident investigation where Sewell ordered a subordinate to document the incident as an accident instead of a hit and run or a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) investigation. At trial, evidence was adduced that the driver, who Sewell prevented from being investigated, drove a mere four blocks and in that time hit two parked cars with such force that a car was totaled. The force was so great that the driver lost a tire and proceeded to drive the remaining blocks home on three wheels.

This was the second trial for Sewell who appealed his 2016 conviction to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and was granted a re-trial for the opportunity to call an expert to testify in his defense. Sewell was retried by the Office of the State Prosecutor on May 14, 2019 and convicted of the sole count of criminal misconduct in office.

The Honorable W. Newton Jackson III sentenced Sewell to a term of three (3) years incarceration, which he suspended in full in favor of three (3) years of supervised probation. (State’s Sentencing Memorandum available on the Office of the State Prosecutor’s website).

State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt stated: “The verdict in this case upholds one of the most basic principles of American justice—that our laws be enforced without partiality or prejudice”.