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Lawmakers are criticizing department officials' “woefully inadequate” response to the killing of a parolee

Top corrections officials told lawmakers Thursday about a series of actions they took after the May 31 attack on slain parolee Davis Martinez as he made a phone call in Chevy Chase.

Lawmakers didn't seem impressed.

“This hearing was woefully inadequate, and I think we can do better when we come back,” Del said. Ben Barnes (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George's) at the end of the three-hour hearing. “I hope that when we get back, you have plans for us, concrete plans to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

At the joint hearing, lawmakers – the Senate Judiciary Procedure and Budget and Taxation Committees and the House Judiciary and Appropriations Committees – said they planned to hold another hearing in December to consider possible action in the next session of the House General meeting be prepared.

The joint hearing came nearly five months after the killing of 33-year-old Martinez, who was the first Maryland parolee killed in the line of duty.

Martinez, a six-year veteran of the agency, told his supervisor on the morning of May 31 that he was going to check on Emanuel Edward Sewell, who was released on parole after serving 21 years of a 40-year sentence for sexual assault Burglary. Martinez said he expects to be finished by noon.

Maryland probation officer Davis Martinez, who became the first agent to die in the line of duty on a call in Montgomery County on May 31. Photo courtesy of the Maryland Department of Public Safety.

But Martinez never returned and his superiors never checked on him. When colleagues noticed he hadn't returned that afternoon, they became concerned and called police, who went to Sewell's home in the 2800 block of Terrace Drive.

They saw Martinez's car in the parking lot and heard his phone ringing from a dumpster on the property. Police broke down the door to Sewell's apartment, where they found Martinez's body wrapped in plastic and shoved under a bed. He was beaten and stabbed repeatedly.

Sewell was arrested a day later in West Virginia and brought back to Montgomery County, where he was charged in Martinez's death.

The killing led to the firing of three top officials at the state Department of Probation and Parole and the suspension of home visits by parole officers – an activity that remains suspended nearly five months later. Currently, the department has redeployed its armed warrant officers to conduct home visits as needed while parole officers work in the office.

Carolyn J. Scruggs, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, told lawmakers Thursday that a department investigation found no violation of probation and parole policies in actions taken before Martinez's death. However, she said it was clear that “the mindset around supervisory practices within DPP needs to be strengthened”.

She said the department had created “red flags” in probation officers' files to highlight concerns about possible violence and that staff teams were now reviewing probation officer transfers. Scruggs also said the department has launched a series of “think tank” meetings with frontline agents across the state to discuss ways to safely resume home visits by agents. Proposals emerged from these meetings, including better equipment, joint home visits, and arming agents.

Scruggs said the department is working to reduce the high vacancy rate, with 25 new parolees about to be sworn in and another 40 in the pipeline undergoing background checks.

She has accelerated the purchase of more effective pepper spray and better ballistic vests for agents, she said, and is working with local police departments to develop plans for police to assist agents when needed. So far, only Baltimore City appears to be close to signing a policing agreement, Scruggs said, but the department has reached out to Howard County and all municipal police departments in Prince George's County. The department has also stationed armed security guards at its offices, she said.

“In conclusion, I would like to say that I am confident that the new leadership at DPP [Division of Parole and Probation] “We will continue to ensure staff safety is maintained and we find proven and effective ways to improve our oversight within the department,” she said after a roughly 20-minute presentation.

AFSCME members wore pins with a drawing of a panda that Agent Davis Martinez had drawn for a friend shortly before his death.

But officials with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3661, which represents agents, said they are still waiting to cooperate with the department but are sidelined.

“We have repeatedly requested cooperation to develop policies and procedures that will keep us safe,” said Rayneika Robinson, president of Local 3661. “The agency continued to refuse to cooperate with the union.”

While she said the union is “cautiously optimistic” about the presence of new leadership in the department, Robinson said there is still work to be done.

“We have yet to be invited to participate in developing the policies and procedures that directly impact those we represent,” she told lawmakers.

Lawmakers appeared frustrated by the pace of progress.

“In the five months since the most critical incident, in which one of the DPP agents was killed in the line of duty, without adequate responses from regulators … no guidelines have been presented to improve security,” Senator William G. Folden (R-Frederick) asked Robinson.

“That’s right,” she said.

“This is…concerning,” Folden said.

Lawmakers also made clear they will take up the issue in the 2025 General Assembly and plan to hold another all-party meeting by then to get more answers.

“I think it's very, very important that we get back together … before we go back in January because I think it's very important for both AFSCME and the department to have open and honest conversations with each other,” Del said . Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City)> “And I think it’s up to us to make sure that happens before the session starts.”

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