Like any good lawyer, Judge Louis Becker can make a strong case on why he should retain his Howard County Circuit Court seat.
For an opening argument, Becker can say: He?s already done the job. Becker has been a Circuit Court judge for a year and a District Court judge for 16 years.
For a second point, he could argue he?s been appointed to judgeships by both Democratic and Republican governors ? William Donald Schaffer and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., respectively.
As a closing statement, Becker could point to the creation of Howard County?s Drug Court, which works in District Court to rehabilitate addicts more efficiently than a jail can.
“If you have to pick one problem a person faces, drug addiction, including alcohol, is the biggest,” Becker said in an interview with The Examiner. “A lot of charges stem from drug addictions ? some theft charges and some domestic abuse.”
Becker has also gained a reputation among the legal community in Maryland by assigning book reports and essays to criminals he is sentencing.
Becker graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1965 with a bachelor?s degree in political science and received his juris doctorate in 1970 from the University of BaltimoreSchool of Law.
He served on active duty with the U.S. Army Intelligence from 1965-67 and then in the Army Reserves for more than 27 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1994.
If elected to a 15-year term, Becker would seek to bring the county?s Drug Court to the Circuit Court as well as the District Court, he said.
2006 election
Three candidates are vying for two seats on the Howard County Circuit Court.
The Examiner will profile Judge Richard Bernhardt on Wednesday and challenger David Titman, an Ellicott City attorney, Thursday.
