Jaymi Sterling.HOLLYWOOD, Md. (March 9, 2022)—Jaymi Sterling, former Deputy State's Attorney for St. Mary's County who resigned two years ago, has said she is officially running for the post held by her former boss, State's Attorney Richard Fritz.
Sterling resigned from her post after a fast rise in the office after claiming she had witnessed questionable practices regarding spending of public dollars; Fritz said he initially demoted Sterling from her post because she had exceeded her authority regarding an internal personnel conflict between office employees.
In the interim Sterling, who is Gov. Larry Hogan's daughter, has been working as a prosecutor for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office.
Speculation had been building these past few months that Sterling would pursue an opposing political campaign to challenge Fritz, who has spent more than 20 years in the job.
Fritz has officially filed, while Sterling has not.
In her campaign announcement, Sterling said she would work to "return integrity to the office" and focus on curbing rising crime.
"As a prosecutor, I never shied away from taking on tough cases," Sterling said. "Throughout my career, I prosecuted some of the worst criminals in St. Mary's, Anne Arundel, and Frederick counties.
"As state's attorney, I will prioritize efforts to fight violent crime, corruption, drug dealing, drunk driving, domestic violence, sex offenders, and repeat offenders."
She said she would target dealers of synthetic opioids for prosecution.
"We cannot jail our way out of the opioid epidemic; enough is enough," Sterling said. "I am dedicated to cracking down on drug dealers who peddle this poison."
Sterling said community members had told her they were concerned there was a lack of transparency in the local criminal justice system and about "prosecutions not being evenly pursued."
"I believe community trust is a cornerstone of an effective state's attorney's office," Sterling said in her statement. "As a first step to regaining the community's confidence in an independent, non-partial state's attorney's office, I will not be accepting any campaign donations from criminal defense lawyers, criminal defense law firms, or their family members."
More information about Sterling's campaign can be found on her website at jaymisterling.com/
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