A senior state Department of Juvenile Services official received probation before judgment Wednesday in a case stemming from a scuffle with his wife.
Walter V. Jackson, Baltimore-area director of the Office of Juvenile Justice, said his wife, Shirley, called 911 April 16, complaining that he had choked her and pushed her down the stairs of their Belcamp town house.
Shirley testified in Harford County District Court that she and her husband had fallen down the stairs while struggling over her house keys and said she called police to try to keep her husband from leaving.
The two had been together 20 years and had just reunited after a brief separation, said defense attorney Maurice Williams. He said they?re receiving marriage counseling.
Shirley feared Walter was going to go back to see another woman in Baltimore, Williams said.
“I wanted the police to come and stop my husband from leaving the house and going back to the city,” she said, “to have them pull him over or stop him somehow.”
Sheriff?s deputies testified that Shirley?s shirt was torn when they arrived.
Deputy Christopher Allen said Shirley asked not to press charges because she didn?t want her husband to lose his job. Police filed the second-degree assault charge two days later.
Jackson told District Court Judge Susan H. Hazlett a guilty verdict might require him to resign.
While the case was pending, Jackson had continued to work
for DJS but had not had direct contact with children, the agency said.
Hazlett gave Jackson two years of unsupervised probation and ordered him to undergo evaluation at a spousal-abuse center.
Williams was confident his client could keep his job and move on with his life.
“He doesn?t have a conviction, and that?s the important thing,” Williams said.
