Governor Hogan Announces Final Judicial Appointments

Final Appointments Include First Hispanics to Serve on Prince George’s County Circuit and District Courts 190 Total Judicial Appointments—Including More Female, Hispanic, and Asian Judges Than Any Other Governor
Governor Calls for Continued Focus on Adding Diversity to the Judiciary

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today announced the final judicial appointments of his administration:

-Darren Sebastian Johnson, the first Hispanic to serve on the Prince George’s County Circuit Court

-Stenise Lanez Rolle, Prince George’s County Circuit Court

-Llamilet Gutierrez, the first Hispanic to serve on the Prince George’s County District Court

In total, Governor Hogan has made a record 190 judicial appointments—including six of the seven judges on the Supreme Court, and seven of the 15 judges on the Appellate Court. Statewide, the governor has appointed more female, Hispanic, and Asian judges than any previous governor.

“While I am proud of the sheer number of judicial appointments we have made, I am just as proud of our success in ensuring that the composition of our courts better reflects the great diversity of our state,” said Governor Hogan. “I urge the state’s leaders, judges, and legal community to continue to build on the work we have done to add diversity to the bench. Lastly, I want to thank the three chief legal counsels during our administration—Bob Scholz, Mike Pedone, and Chris Mincher—who have helped me deliver on these commitments. ”

Many of the governor’s appointments have been ‘historic’ firsts:

-The first African American chief judge of the Appellate Court and the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as an appellate chief judge

-The first Hispanic and Afro-Latina appellate judge

-The first Asian American appellate judge and the youngest woman appointed to the Appellate Court

-The first Supreme Court chief justice from Carroll County in at least 115 years

-The first Supreme Court justice from Harford County in at least 100 years

-The first Appellate Court chief judge from the Western Maryland appellate district and Howard County

-The first Appellate Court judge and later chief judge from Calvert County

-The first Appellate Court judge from Washington County

For Prince George’s County Circuit Court: 

Magistrate Darren Sebastian Johnson has served as a Family Division Magistrate at the Prince George’s County Circuit Court since February 2018, and presides over the truancy docket. In addition to his family law experience, Mr. Johnson has a civil administrative background and served for seven years as an Appeals Officer and Attorney Advisor at the National Appeals Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Johnson began his career as a law clerk at the Superior Court for the District of Columbia and served as an associate in private practice from 2005-2007, before joining the law offices of Hoover & Hoover, LLC where he primarily handled juvenile and criminal matters for four years. He left his criminal practice to become an EEO contractor for PCS Enterprises, Inc. In 2011, he joined the National Appeals Division for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Johnson is the first Afro-Latino judge to be appointed to the Prince George’s County Circuit Court. He received his B.A. from Howard University, and his J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.

Magistrate Stenise Lanez Rolle has served as a Foreclosure Magistrate in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County since 2019, and works in conjunction with the Foreclosure Coordinating Judge to adjudicate the nearly 2,000 residential and commercial foreclosure cases filed in Prince George’s County each year. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Rolle has worked as a litigator, an administrator of judicial education, and a magistrate. Her legal career began in 2002 at Parks & Crump, LLC, a boutique law firm in Tallahassee, Florida, until she left in 2006 to form her own solo practice while working as an independent contractor for Gary Roberts and Associates, LLC. In 2010, Ms. Rolle relocated to Washington D.C. and joined the University of Maryland as the Director of Graduate Student Legal Aid in 2013. In 2018, Ms. Rolle joined the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts as their Manager of Judicial Education where she oversaw, planned, and developed all mandatory educational programming for judges and magistrates. She received her B.S. and M.A.S. from Florida A&M University, and her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.

For Prince George’s County District Court: 

Llamilet Gutierrez has been a prosecutor with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office since March 2021, and previously served as the Executive Director of the Amara Legal Center where she managed, hired, and recruited staff and oversaw office operations from 2018-2021. Prior to joining the Amara Legal Center, she served as an Assistant Public Defender in Prince George’s County. Ms. Gutierrez served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Nicholas E. Rattal, Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, from 2012-2013. Ms. Gutierrez is the first Hispanic judge to be appointed to the Prince George’s County District Court. She received her B.A. from Dickinson College, and her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.