November 25, 2019: Charlton T. Howard III Sworn in as State Prosecutor

CHARLTON T. HOWARD III SWORN IN AS STATE PROSECUTOR

The Office of the State Prosecutor announces that Charlton T. Howard III was sworn in as Maryland State Prosecutor on November 20, 2019.

Appointed as State Prosecutor by Governor Larry Hogan on November 7, 2019, Mr. Howard was previously an Assistant Attorney General overseeing the statewide child support enforcement program. He formerly served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore City, assigned to the Major Investigations Unit, and prior to that, worked for 22 years as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in various locations throughout the world, ultimately retiring as NCIS Executive Assistant Director. He also served on active duty as an intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps, and later in the Marine Corps and Naval Reserves, retiring as a Navy Captain in 2007.

Mr. Howard is a 1980 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a 1988 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, where he was Editor in Chief of the Maryland Law Review. Mr. Howard subsequently clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The Office of State Prosecutor was established by Constitutional amendment and legislation in 1976. The Office has statewide jurisdiction over specific crimes which the State Prosecutor may investigate on his own initiative, or at the request of the Governor, the Attorney General, the General Assembly, the State Ethics Commission, or a State’s Attorney, certain criminal offenses. These include: 1) State election law violations; 2) State public ethics law violations; 3) State bribery law violations involving public officials or employees; 4) misconduct in office by public officials or employees; and 5) extortion, perjury, or obstruction of justice related to any of the above.

“I am honored and humbled to assume this important role, and will do my best to combat public corruption and preserve the integrity of Maryland’s governmental institutions and political process” said Howard.