The candidates for St. Mary’s County Circuit Court Judge faced each other Thursday night at a public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters (LWV). Sparks flew on several occasions during the debate as the candidates Judge David Densford and challenger Joseph Stanalonis, a prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s office, attempted to differentiate themselves for the crowd that packed the Lexington Park: Library meeting room.
League rules allowed for a three-minute opening statement from each candidate followed by individual questions from the audience and then closing statements. In his opening statement Stanalonis emphasized his 16 years of experience as a prosecutor. He started doing juvenile cases, and said since then, “I have prosecuted just about every type of case.” He emphasized his concern for children gleaned from that first year on the job. “I learned how important it is to work with children in the community.” He said he has worked over the last 16 years on programs for children both within his office and out in the community.
Densford emphasized his 27 years of defense attorney experience, plus prosecuting several cases as a special prosecutor for the state, plus his two months of experience on the bench since being found “highly qualified” for the position (unlike Stanalonis) by the Judicial Nominating Commission and then appointed by the governor.
At one point during the forum Stanalonis was asked what one thing differentiated him from Densford. Stanalonis said that Densford did not support the sex offender registry and told him so on several occasions. Densford Interrupted and said “That’s not true,” and said he had never told Stanalonis that.
During his closing statement Densford said that Stanalonis’ concern about children constituted “sending them away.” Stanalonis bristled at that during his closing statement. He reiterated that he has spent his career working with children and the purpose of juvenile detention was not for punishment but for rehabilitation.
Stanalonis blasted Densford for making statements that he had only handled six jury trials and lost three of them. Stanalonis said he had counted the number of cases in his head and they totaled at least two dozen. He also said he had never had a case reversed
Densford emphasized that being a judge involves more than criminal work. “Eighty percent of what we do has nothing to do with prosecution,” he said. In response to a question Stanalonis admitted he has had no experience with divorce, custody, personal injury, property cases or wills.
In response to a question about how to increase the role of victims in cases, Stanalonis said more needed to be done on scheduling so that people don’t have to sit so long in court. He said they should be spread out more evenly throughout the day and week so that so many cases aren’t scheduled at one time.
Regarding how the courts are now being run, Densford said, “I think the court is working pretty well. We could always be mor
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