HB 626

Did not advance

Custodial Interrogation of Minors - Admissibility of Statements (Exonerated 5 Act)

Sponsor: Gabriel Acevero (District 39)Committee: JudiciarySubject: Criminal Law - ProceduresStatus: Hearing 2/19 at 1:00 p.m. (as of Sep 4, 2026)

What this bill does

Official synopsis

Establishing a certain rebuttable presumption that a statement made by a minor during a custodial interrogation is involuntary and is inadmissible in a juvenile or criminal proceeding against the minor if the law enforcement officer intentionally used information known by the officer to be false in order to elicit the statement.

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Analysis reads the bill text, the fiscal note, and the witness list. It is generated by Claude and reviewed by nobody, so check the source documents before you rely on it.

Testimony (23)

MGA witness list

FAV 18FavorableUNF 4UnfavorableINFO 1Information only

Position	Witness	Organization	Testimony
FAV	Patinella, Franklobbyist	ACLU of Maryland	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Phillips, N. Scott	Legislative Black Caucus of MD	Written (PDF)
FAV	Quinn, Kelly	MD Coalition to Reform School Discipline	Written (PDF)
FAV	Qi, Lily	MD Legislative Asian American & Pacific Islander Caucus	Written (PDF)
FAV	Fair, Kris	MD Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus	Written (PDF)
FAV	Martinez, Ashanti	MD Legislative Latino Caucus	Written (PDF)
FAV	Carlson, Bill	Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform	Written (PDF)
FAV	Plante, Cecilia	Maryland Legislative Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	Walker, Evelyn	Maryland Office of the Public Defender	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Carter, Alita-Geri	Qualequity Access	Position only
FAV	Edwards-Luce, Aubrey	Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Phelps Jr, Ken	The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland	Written (PDF)
FAV	McNair, Lee	Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice Ministry	Position only
FAV	Warnken, Heather	University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform	Oral
FAV	Kaplowitz, Richard KAP	Year	Written (PDF)
FAV	Cichowski, Carol	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Delegate Acevero, Delegate Aceverolegislator	Individual	Oral
FAV	Lent, Michael	Individual	Position only
UNF	Jackson, Samiralobbyist	MD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.	Written (PDF)
UNF	Ball, Chaz	Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police	Oral
UNF	Brown, Kirsten	Maryland State's Attorneys' Association	Written (PDF)
UNF	Lipscomb, Lauren	Office of the State's Atty-Balto City	Oral
INFO	Vormelker, Will	Maryland Judiciary	Written (PDF)

Organizations on record

ACLU of MarylandFAV 1

Legislative Black Caucus of MDFAV 1

Maryland Alliance for Justice ReformFAV 1

Maryland JudiciaryINFO 1

Maryland Legislative CoalitionFAV 1

Maryland Office of the Public DefenderFAV 1

Maryland State Fraternal Order of PoliceUNF 1

Maryland State's Attorneys' AssociationUNF 1

MD Coalition to Reform School DisciplineFAV 1

MD Legislative Asian American & Pacific Islander CaucusFAV 1

MD Legislative Latino CaucusFAV 1

MD Legislative LGBTQ+ CaucusFAV 1

MD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.UNF 1

Office of the State's Atty-Balto CityUNF 1

Qualequity AccessFAV 1

Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the CourtsFAV 1

The Episcopal Diocese of MarylandFAV 1

Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice MinistryFAV 1

University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice ReformFAV 1

YearFAV 1

Registered lobbyists who testified

FAVPatinella, FrankACLU of MarylandRegistered for: ACLU of Maryland; American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland

UNFJackson, SamiraMD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.Registered for: Critical Response Group; Dell Technologies Inc.; Empower; Forward Financing; HDR Engineering, Inc.; Maryland Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs…