The defense for the Glenelg High School teacher accused of sexually abusing two students is attacking police credibility.
The Howard County Police Department “doesn?t want to impede Mr. [Gerald] Richman?s ability to present defense … but it?s a slippery slope,” Assistant County Solicitor Arthur McGreevy said at a pretrial motions hearing Wednesday in Howard County Circuit Court.
“These are private documents, they?re police records discussing children … he?s effectively asking for our playbook.”
Joseph Ellis, 25, is facing six criminal charges including sex abuse of a minor, fourth-degree sex offenses, indecent exposure and obscene matter display to a minor, according to court records.
Ellis was arrested in January after two girls, ages 16 and 17, reported to school officials that he sent sexual text messages to their cell phones. The older student told county police Ellis exposed himself to her while they were alone together in a classroom in December and tried to force her to touch him. She said he also sent her nude photographs of himself. The 16-year-old told police Ellis committed a sex offense against her in a park in 2006.
Police asked Howard Circuit Judge Richard Bernhardt to quash several subpoenas requesting search warrants prepared by detectives Denise Francis and Michael Brady, members of the Child Abuse Unit. The defense also requested all search warrant training materials used by the Howard County Police academy and all course records for detective Brady related to pornography, child abuse and sex crimes.
The subpoenas for training material and course records were quashed, but McGreevy must provide a list of training courses related to search warrants and sexual offenses.
