A Baltimore County judge charged with drunken driving in Harford County was acquitted of all charges Wednesday, after a visiting judge ruled police made several technical errors during his arrest and processing.
After winning acquittal, Circuit Judge Lawrence Daniels, 60, apologized to the legal profession and the residents of Maryland for his actions of Oct. 14, when Harford County sheriff?s deputies arrested him around 1:30 a.m. A deputy testified in court that he watched Daniels? car swerve off the road three times ? almost striking a guard rail.
“My actions that night were irresponsible and I deeply regret them,” Daniels said as he welled up with emotion. “All one can do is learn from one?s errors and become a better person for it.”
In an afternoon hearing in Harford County District Court, visiting Baltimore City District Judge Christopher Panos ruled that a .09 Breathalyzer reading Daniels blew at the police station was inadmissible ? because sheriff?s deputies failed to have the judge sign the proper forms advising him of his rights prior to administering the test.
Panos said he believed Daniels was driving while impaired by alcohol, but dismissed that charge, because he said a sheriff?s deputy circled two charges on the same ticket, rendering the ticket illegal.
Daniels? former law partner, Paul Redmond, a Towson attorney, testified that he and the judge went out to dinner Oct. 13 at Tio Pepe Restaurant in downtown Baltimore, where Daniels consumed a Vodka gimlet and Sangria wine.
Daniels then drove Redmond back to his Harford County home and was returning to his Baltimore County home when he was stopped by police.
Daniels, a family law judge, had remained on the job since his arrest. Daniels could have faced up to two years in jail and a $2,500 fine had he been convicted.
A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Daniels served as a Baltimore County District Court judge from 1989 to 1993, before becoming a Circuit Court judge.
