Baltimore County State's Attorney candidates have spirited debate

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Handling crime and modernizing the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office were among the hot topics at a spirited debate hosted by WJZ and The Banner. It included all three candidates in the Democratic primary race for the county's top prosecutor. Investigator Mike Hellgren moderated the forum and is in your corner with the highlights from Towson.

[00:00:20]They faced off against a packed audience. Incumbent Scott Shellenberger has led the prosecutor's office for almost 20 years and is facing two veteran prosecutors who want his job.

[00:00:31]Welcome to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Debate. In their first debate, the candidates for Baltimore County State's Attorney made their cases. I've continued to try hard cases.

[00:00:40]Cases where the defendants are elected leaders, police, people in positions of trust.

[00:00:45]>> You have the challenger here, Ms. David, who is very nice, but there needs to be experience. There needs to be There need to be qualifications. You need to know how to do the job.

[00:00:56]>> Nobody is out in the community as much as I am. I am constantly talking to groups, constantly seeing people, constantly listening what the people of Baltimore County think about and care about when it comes to crime, and we take action on that every day. Incumbent Shellenberger noted violent crime is down, while challengers Laura Lipscomb, who heads the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit, and Sarah David, who handles public corruption cases with the Maryland State Prosecutor's Office, said more must be done to keep the county safe. I am absolutely disgusted right now with the juvenile crime that we are seeing in our community.

[00:01:34]I am disgusted.

[00:01:37]It is out of control, and we have got to get it under control. We lead in the state in juvenile crime under his leadership, and it's not because we're not arresting kids, because in Baltimore County we have 39 juvenile arrests per 1,000 juveniles. That's higher than Baltimore City. If you're 16 and 17, and you commit a carjacking, you should be treated as an adult. The people that are supporting Miss David believe that all juvenile cases should start all cases like that should start in juvenile court and make me wave them up to adult court.

[00:02:10]>> Shellenberger faced criticism the office needs to be more modern with better community outreach.

[00:02:14]>> We are very modern. We are right on the cutting edge all the time. People packed the Towson University Armory for the debate to get fresh perspective on the high-profile race. Only having two state attorneys for 50 years, that's something to think about. It's like uh change is good, but it's got to be good change.

[00:02:29]There are no Republican challengers.

[00:02:32]Early voting begins in 3 weeks. In your corner in Towson, Mike Hellgren, WJZ.

[00:02:38]And you can watch the entire hour-long debate on CBS News Baltimore. It streams tonight at 8:00.