Andrew Sonner, who left a “groundbreaking” mark on Montgomery County’s criminal justice system, dies at 90

Andrew Sonner, who served as a Montgomery County prosecutor for more than 25 years before being appointed to what is now the Maryland Court of Appeals, died Oct. 13 at age 90.

A political heavyweight who shaped the criminal justice system in Maryland’s largest judicial district for decades, Sonner was a progressive who integrated prosecutors along both racial and gender lines, prioritized diversion and rehabilitation programs, and expanded the rights of offenders.

“Andy led the office inspired by and dedicated to using research and real-world metrics to decide what makes a community safer, and I think that was revolutionary,” said Montgomery County District Attorney John McCarthy, 17 years worked under Sonner for a long time.

“A lot of what we would call progressive today – it was just smart governance.”

Sonner was born in Ohio in 1934; His family settled in Garrett Park, north of Bethesda, in the 1940s. He graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and attended American University to receive both his bachelor’s and law degrees. He acquired the latter by attending evening classes while teaching history at Walter Johnson High School.

He was first elected prosecutor in 1970 and led the office until Governor Parris Glendenning appointed him to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, now the Maryland Appellate Court – the state’s second highest court – in 1996. He retired in 2004 but continued to serve as an assistant district judge. He wrote memoirs and served on numerous committees.

He has taught at the University of Maryland, Montgomery College and the American University College of Law. He hired a diverse group of lawyers, dozens of whom later became judges.

One of them was Ann Harrington, an administrative law judge for the Montgomery County Circuit Court from 2003 to 2009. Harrington, who worked for him from 1795 to 1989, was among the first women he hired, although there were several before her.

“He believed in integrity,” she said. “He believed that good government was good politics.”

Harrington and McCarthy said every September, Sonner will gather staff for a lecture in which he discusses the history of Montgomery County and its changing demographics to emphasize the importance of treating people fairly.

“We affectionately called it ‘Back to School,'” Harrington said. “He wanted us to be educated. He was always considered a teacher.”

John Debelius, an administrative judge in the Montgomery County Circuit Court from 2009 to 2017, said Sonner gave defendants more rights in pretrial proceedings, opposed the death penalty and was the first prosecutor in Maryland not to prosecute simple possession of marijuana.

Before Sonner took office, Debelius said, “discovery for the defense was what the police wanted to give them.”

“I think he understood that people who appeared before him in a criminal record were not necessarily bad people, that many of them had led very hard lives and did not have the advantages and advantages that many other people had.” he said. “It was much more important to get it right than to get a conviction.”

Sonner was an enthusiastic athlete until his 70s. He was a long-distance runner and, according to McCarthy, took pride in his tennis game.

McCarthy said he often went to Sonner’s house at 6:30 a.m. and played tennis before work, using a court Sonner shared with neighbors. But the games weren’t an excuse to talk about work.

“While you were playing tennis, you weren’t talking about social science research,” said McCarthy, who has been a prosecutor since 2007. “He was focused on beating you.”

“He is probably the seminal figure in criminal justice in this county over the last half century. He left an indelible impression on many people.”

Matt Campbell, whom Sonner hired after graduating from law school in the 1970s and became his deputy, said he and Sonner earned the enmity of the Fraternal Order of Police for charging a police officer with manslaughter in the early 1990s .

“He took a lot of criticism,” Campbell said. “He was fearless.”

Campbell last spoke with Sonner a few weeks ago, he said. Sonner’s health deteriorated and Campbell took his leave.

“I lost a great friend,” he said. “I knew him very well, and he probably knew me as well or better than I knew myself.”

According to an obituary posted on the Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Homes website, Sonner was preceded in death by his wife and a brother. He leaves behind two brothers, six children, eleven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, eight nieces and nephews, and a romantic partner from the last decade of his life.

His funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25, in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater at the Rockville Civic Center, 603 Edmonston Drive.