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| THE CRIMINAL LAW AND PRACTICE SECTION MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION 2008 ANNUAL SPRING DINNER MEETING AND AWARDS PROGRAM PRESENTATION OF THE 2008 ROBERT C. HEENEY AWARD TO THE HONORABLE MARY ELLEN BARBERA, COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS FOR THE STATE OF MARYLAND MAY 27, 2008 BY THOMAS L. HEENEY, ESQUIRE, PAST CHAIR OF THE SECTION COUNCIL: |
The Annual Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award by the Criminal Law Section Council of the Maryland State
Bar Association is now in its twenty seventh year. On this beautiful spring evening, we honor Court of
Special Appeals Judge Mary Ellen Barbera as this year's recipient.
As we gather once again, I have been asked to address the history of the award and its standard bearer,
my father. This coveted award recognizes that Maryland lawyer, who throughout his or her distinguished
career over a lifetime, mirrors the highest professional standards and achievement in the field of criminal
law achieved by Bob Heeney. This award was conceived and implemented by this very State Bar Association
Criminal Law Section Council in 1981, the year of my father's untimely death at age 58. It was intended to
be a model of excellence to guide all lawyers in the great state of Maryland who accepted the noble calling
of pursuing justice in the arena of the criminal law.
The Robert C. Heeney award is an inspiration to all Maryland lawyers because it symbolizes the integrity of
person and excellence of achievement that we all strive to fulfill in our daily work.
Recipients of this award made exemplary, lifetime, contributions to the Maryland criminal justice system.
We as defense lawyers, prosecutors, law professors, legislators, and judges know, in our hearts, that a
substantial number of those recipients have profoundly shaped us by their sparkling careers. A veritable
Hall of Fame in Maryland criminal law comprises the past recipients, including:
This beautiful, permanent, memorial plaque contains all of the names and dates of the past recipients, and
it traditionally is prominently displayed for a one year period in the Courthouse, Law School, or Legislative
chamber room where the honoree practiced, judged, taught, or legislated. Year after year it rotates across
our state. This evening, it will return to the Montgomery County Courthouse where Bob Heeney practiced.
But, who was Bob Heeney? Everyone here now knows what the award is all about, but a fuller
understanding, beyond the mere plaques, requires that you know something about the man behind the
award:
On the one hand, many of you already knew Bob Heeney. I see assembled in this beautiful addition to Mrs.
K's Tollhouse in Silver Spring, Montgomery County:
Judge Elizabeth Boethe
John McCarthy our State's Attorney
John Monahan our past Bar Association's President
Paul DeWolfe our Public Defender
Hon. Charles Day, Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court
I also see a host of others including former recipients of this coveted award. All knew him personally as
well. He was a lawyer's lawyer, a dedicated partisan for the defense and a special friend to those who
worked with him. His gentle nature, his humor, and his exuberant Irish temperament and love of fellowship
endeared him to all these people.
On the other hand, as the years have gone by since 1981, there are likely more present this evening who
did not know Bob Heeney personally than those who did. Allow me, then, the privilege of a testimony:
Bob Heeney was proud to be a lawyer. He saw the profession as a calling to help those in need . He felt
that in so doing, he would leave the world a bit better. This award stands for a lifetime of meeting the
highest professional standards and achievement in the field of criminal law. Bob Heeney did not practice law
for the money or the prestige because he saw too much of real life to be impressed by either. On the
contrary, he always advocated the fundamental point that being graced with the privilege to practice law
gave a priceless opportunity to help people. "Seize the day" he counseled.
He was affectionately known as the "Patron Saint of Young Lawyer's." For years, the young lawyers were
shown the torch of advocacy for those in legal need, those citizens accused. They wanted to help but
needed the guidance to find and follow the "path." Bob Heeney provided this. There is a well known story
of the John McAuliffe tribute at the Memorial Mass of Bob Heeney in February 1981. From the pulpit, the
former young associate of the Heeney law firm and later one of the Court of Appeals' brightest lights- said
"I carried Bob Heeney's briefcase- and was proud and honored to do so."
Not to say that the tutoring was always stellar! Jack Quinn was a young associate with the Montgomery
County law firm of Heeney, McAuliffe, Rowan and Abell back in 1974. Now a prominent lawyer in the State,
Jack was then assigned to "pinch hit" for Bob in a Prince George's County bribery case involving certain
WSSC employees. There were many lawyers involved in this multi defendant criminal prosecution. One was
Joe DePaul. Jack said to my Dad: "I've never had a bribery case, what am I supposed to do?" Bob said
"Don't worry about it, whatever Joe DePaul does, you just do the same thing?"
His early years in life instilled the humility and compassion he retained, even in the later years of
professional triumph. His own father worked for the City of Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. Back
then, fire engines were not motorized. They were horse drawn. He was very good at what he did. His job
was to feed the horses. The work sometimes resulted in layoffs. The Depression came with all of its
economic devastation. Nonetheless, as a young schoolboy, Bob Heeney was thrilled when he started to
read. While reading his homework lessons out loud at the family kitchen table, one evening his father
planted himself over Bob's rear shoulder, staring intently at the printed page of the grammar school text
held by the child. This continued and became a routine part of many school days and family life. It was only
later that Bob Heeney realized all along he had been teaching his father how to read.
Ninth grade was a struggle. It seems he was the class clown, more interested in entertaining and
showmanship than in scholastic achievement. One who had a lifetime impact was Sister Miriam who in 9th
grade changed his life forever. Things then became quite serious regarding school, work, and family
contribution.
His first job, which he retained through high school graduation, was a Western Union telegram delivery boy
on bicycle. All of the accomplished lawyers here experienced or vicariously learned that, on occasion, the
necessities and misfortunes of life require a delay of college, graduate school, a career, and indeed one's
very dreams. His secret was to pursue the dream always. In the case of Bob Heeney, his family, including
four younger brothers and sisters, had little money, and his own dreams required deferral. There was,
however opportunity knocking at the front door following high school graduation. That was a good job at a
factory in Newark with Remington Ram, installing components in communication devices which would be
needed in the coming war.
World War II was his greatest opportunity because after serving four years in the Army, principally in
Eritrea in North Africa, 1946 brought the Honorable Discharge, Marriage, and significantly, the GI bill. This
was followed by Georgetown University (school of Foreign Services), and Georgetown Law School- a seven
year endeavor compressed into four years. Bob Heeney was in the fast track of hungry, spirited lawyer
type thoroughbreds. This pursuit of excellence was not to end until his untimely death at age 58 in 1981.
He was the first part time Assistant State's Attorney, later President of the Montgomery County Bar
Association, and was Vice President of the Maryland State Bar Association.
The man had no fear in a courtroom. However, he claimed before every criminal jury trial he had, which
included over 100 capital cases, he could not keep his breakfast down. Not a single life was lost on his
watch. As others have noted, he was a devastating cross-examiner. Looking through the Maryland
Reporter, you would be amazed at the number of Briefs he filed with the appellate Courts on cutting edge
issues. He was lead counsel in the notable Giles/Johnson rape case in 1962. Meaningful criminal justice in
Montgomery and Prince George's Counties was unrecognizable in that time and place. He fought the good
fight. On the other hand, he never took himself seriously.
Take the time one day and read the old correspondence in your attic that you have retained. Some time
ago, I retrieved a forgotten treasure trove of correspondence between us beginning 42 years ago when I
was just a college student. Two letters I think you will find revealing: the first is his discussion about the
early, lean years of the law practice. Dinners, he said, consisted of beans and hot dogs (I do recall
prodigious amounts of Gunther beer for the grown-ups). He said "I may have had several thousand dollars
in my left pocket, but since it was not mine, the ethical lawyer makes do with his own money in his
separate right pocket, as little as that may be." While no doubt preparing and musing what his next day
courtroom performance would be like, he mailed a letter to me. In effect it said "It is possible the jury will
not agree with the defense, but I am sure going to look good putting it on!" Sister Miriam may have
instilled in Bob Heeney life lessons of substance and seriousness, but showmanship and razzle dazzle were
never far behind!
As a youngster during a Christmas vacation, I shadowed him in the Courthouse one day. A colleague came
up and said 'Hi, Bob. Merry Christmas to you." I never forgot his reply: "You know, for me it really is not a
time to be merry. Three of my own are still in prison this Christmas."
His most fulfilling professional endeavor was the 1974 Federal criminal trial in which indicted Sioux Native
Americans were put to trial for their actions in the 1973 siege of the Pine Ridge Reservation in the tiny
town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This arose from their protest of the 1890 U.S. 7th Calvary
massacre of 300 Lakota Sioux at the same location. The underlying event was the subject the acclaimed
book authored by Dee Brown Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.
In the summer of 1973, the jailed Sioux were able to have a telegram delivered to Bob Heeney at the
annual convention of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. They sought lawyers to
represent them at their eventual trial. As President, my Dad issued a call to arms, a strike force was
formed, and NACDL lawyers from around the country, led by my Dad, came to their defense pro bono.
They won big and all 100 occupiers were acquitted. The trial court's decision is reported in U.S. v. Garmillo,
380 F.Supp. (E.D. Nebraska 1974). It was the NACDL's finest hour.
The Native Indians showed great respect for the volunteer lawyers and my Dad. They smoked the peace
pipe in the Teepee on the reservation where the lawyers lived through out the pre-trial and protracted trial
stage. Through translators, the leaders expressed thanks and respect for the victory of the day. Of deep
interest to my Dad, was his clients' opposition to an earlier order of the Court. Upon Motion by my Dad,
the Court vindicated the Defendants' assertion that they had the right to ignore the "All Rise" command of
the bailiff when the white Judge in black robes ascended to the bench to start the morning's trial or
resuming the session from a recess. They believed that no man should stand for another man, since such
an action was reserved only for the creator, the Great Spirit. The Judge agreed and dispensed with the
tradition, out of respect for the beliefs of those in the culture that were put to trial.
With this background of the namesake of the award this evening to Judge Barbera, you will now hear from
others how Judge Barbera has contributed so significantly to the administration of justice in Maryland in so
many different ways over her distinguished career.
Judge Barbera, you would have liked Bob Heeney, and Bob Heeney would have liked you! You
are both cut from the same cloth!
Judge, congratulations on your exemplary career and your richly deserved award!
Bar Association is now in its twenty seventh year. On this beautiful spring evening, we honor Court of
Special Appeals Judge Mary Ellen Barbera as this year's recipient.
As we gather once again, I have been asked to address the history of the award and its standard bearer,
my father. This coveted award recognizes that Maryland lawyer, who throughout his or her distinguished
career over a lifetime, mirrors the highest professional standards and achievement in the field of criminal
law achieved by Bob Heeney. This award was conceived and implemented by this very State Bar Association
Criminal Law Section Council in 1981, the year of my father's untimely death at age 58. It was intended to
be a model of excellence to guide all lawyers in the great state of Maryland who accepted the noble calling
of pursuing justice in the arena of the criminal law.
The Robert C. Heeney award is an inspiration to all Maryland lawyers because it symbolizes the integrity of
person and excellence of achievement that we all strive to fulfill in our daily work.
Recipients of this award made exemplary, lifetime, contributions to the Maryland criminal justice system.
We as defense lawyers, prosecutors, law professors, legislators, and judges know, in our hearts, that a
substantial number of those recipients have profoundly shaped us by their sparkling careers. A veritable
Hall of Fame in Maryland criminal law comprises the past recipients, including:
- Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Murphy.
- Judges Irma Raker, Howard Chasnow and John McAuliffe, Court of Appeals, retired. Court of Special
Appeals Judge Robert Murphy. - Judges Charles Moylan, the late Richard Gilbert, Andrew Sonner,
- Elsboeth Boethe, Frederick Motz
- Of course, defense attorneys Alan J. Goldstein and Victor Crawford posthumously, and the late Fred
Warren Bennett. - Prof. David Aaronson
- Attorney General Joseph Curran, Legislators Joseph Owens and Sen. Walter Baker
- Most recently, Judge Charles G. Bernstein and William C. Brennan, Esq.
This beautiful, permanent, memorial plaque contains all of the names and dates of the past recipients, and
it traditionally is prominently displayed for a one year period in the Courthouse, Law School, or Legislative
chamber room where the honoree practiced, judged, taught, or legislated. Year after year it rotates across
our state. This evening, it will return to the Montgomery County Courthouse where Bob Heeney practiced.
But, who was Bob Heeney? Everyone here now knows what the award is all about, but a fuller
understanding, beyond the mere plaques, requires that you know something about the man behind the
award:
On the one hand, many of you already knew Bob Heeney. I see assembled in this beautiful addition to Mrs.
K's Tollhouse in Silver Spring, Montgomery County:
Judge Elizabeth Boethe
John McCarthy our State's Attorney
John Monahan our past Bar Association's President
Paul DeWolfe our Public Defender
Hon. Charles Day, Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court
I also see a host of others including former recipients of this coveted award. All knew him personally as
well. He was a lawyer's lawyer, a dedicated partisan for the defense and a special friend to those who
worked with him. His gentle nature, his humor, and his exuberant Irish temperament and love of fellowship
endeared him to all these people.
On the other hand, as the years have gone by since 1981, there are likely more present this evening who
did not know Bob Heeney personally than those who did. Allow me, then, the privilege of a testimony:
Bob Heeney was proud to be a lawyer. He saw the profession as a calling to help those in need . He felt
that in so doing, he would leave the world a bit better. This award stands for a lifetime of meeting the
highest professional standards and achievement in the field of criminal law. Bob Heeney did not practice law
for the money or the prestige because he saw too much of real life to be impressed by either. On the
contrary, he always advocated the fundamental point that being graced with the privilege to practice law
gave a priceless opportunity to help people. "Seize the day" he counseled.
He was affectionately known as the "Patron Saint of Young Lawyer's." For years, the young lawyers were
shown the torch of advocacy for those in legal need, those citizens accused. They wanted to help but
needed the guidance to find and follow the "path." Bob Heeney provided this. There is a well known story
of the John McAuliffe tribute at the Memorial Mass of Bob Heeney in February 1981. From the pulpit, the
former young associate of the Heeney law firm and later one of the Court of Appeals' brightest lights- said
"I carried Bob Heeney's briefcase- and was proud and honored to do so."
Not to say that the tutoring was always stellar! Jack Quinn was a young associate with the Montgomery
County law firm of Heeney, McAuliffe, Rowan and Abell back in 1974. Now a prominent lawyer in the State,
Jack was then assigned to "pinch hit" for Bob in a Prince George's County bribery case involving certain
WSSC employees. There were many lawyers involved in this multi defendant criminal prosecution. One was
Joe DePaul. Jack said to my Dad: "I've never had a bribery case, what am I supposed to do?" Bob said
"Don't worry about it, whatever Joe DePaul does, you just do the same thing?"
His early years in life instilled the humility and compassion he retained, even in the later years of
professional triumph. His own father worked for the City of Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. Back
then, fire engines were not motorized. They were horse drawn. He was very good at what he did. His job
was to feed the horses. The work sometimes resulted in layoffs. The Depression came with all of its
economic devastation. Nonetheless, as a young schoolboy, Bob Heeney was thrilled when he started to
read. While reading his homework lessons out loud at the family kitchen table, one evening his father
planted himself over Bob's rear shoulder, staring intently at the printed page of the grammar school text
held by the child. This continued and became a routine part of many school days and family life. It was only
later that Bob Heeney realized all along he had been teaching his father how to read.
Ninth grade was a struggle. It seems he was the class clown, more interested in entertaining and
showmanship than in scholastic achievement. One who had a lifetime impact was Sister Miriam who in 9th
grade changed his life forever. Things then became quite serious regarding school, work, and family
contribution.
His first job, which he retained through high school graduation, was a Western Union telegram delivery boy
on bicycle. All of the accomplished lawyers here experienced or vicariously learned that, on occasion, the
necessities and misfortunes of life require a delay of college, graduate school, a career, and indeed one's
very dreams. His secret was to pursue the dream always. In the case of Bob Heeney, his family, including
four younger brothers and sisters, had little money, and his own dreams required deferral. There was,
however opportunity knocking at the front door following high school graduation. That was a good job at a
factory in Newark with Remington Ram, installing components in communication devices which would be
needed in the coming war.
World War II was his greatest opportunity because after serving four years in the Army, principally in
Eritrea in North Africa, 1946 brought the Honorable Discharge, Marriage, and significantly, the GI bill. This
was followed by Georgetown University (school of Foreign Services), and Georgetown Law School- a seven
year endeavor compressed into four years. Bob Heeney was in the fast track of hungry, spirited lawyer
type thoroughbreds. This pursuit of excellence was not to end until his untimely death at age 58 in 1981.
He was the first part time Assistant State's Attorney, later President of the Montgomery County Bar
Association, and was Vice President of the Maryland State Bar Association.
The man had no fear in a courtroom. However, he claimed before every criminal jury trial he had, which
included over 100 capital cases, he could not keep his breakfast down. Not a single life was lost on his
watch. As others have noted, he was a devastating cross-examiner. Looking through the Maryland
Reporter, you would be amazed at the number of Briefs he filed with the appellate Courts on cutting edge
issues. He was lead counsel in the notable Giles/Johnson rape case in 1962. Meaningful criminal justice in
Montgomery and Prince George's Counties was unrecognizable in that time and place. He fought the good
fight. On the other hand, he never took himself seriously.
Take the time one day and read the old correspondence in your attic that you have retained. Some time
ago, I retrieved a forgotten treasure trove of correspondence between us beginning 42 years ago when I
was just a college student. Two letters I think you will find revealing: the first is his discussion about the
early, lean years of the law practice. Dinners, he said, consisted of beans and hot dogs (I do recall
prodigious amounts of Gunther beer for the grown-ups). He said "I may have had several thousand dollars
in my left pocket, but since it was not mine, the ethical lawyer makes do with his own money in his
separate right pocket, as little as that may be." While no doubt preparing and musing what his next day
courtroom performance would be like, he mailed a letter to me. In effect it said "It is possible the jury will
not agree with the defense, but I am sure going to look good putting it on!" Sister Miriam may have
instilled in Bob Heeney life lessons of substance and seriousness, but showmanship and razzle dazzle were
never far behind!
As a youngster during a Christmas vacation, I shadowed him in the Courthouse one day. A colleague came
up and said 'Hi, Bob. Merry Christmas to you." I never forgot his reply: "You know, for me it really is not a
time to be merry. Three of my own are still in prison this Christmas."
His most fulfilling professional endeavor was the 1974 Federal criminal trial in which indicted Sioux Native
Americans were put to trial for their actions in the 1973 siege of the Pine Ridge Reservation in the tiny
town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This arose from their protest of the 1890 U.S. 7th Calvary
massacre of 300 Lakota Sioux at the same location. The underlying event was the subject the acclaimed
book authored by Dee Brown Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.
In the summer of 1973, the jailed Sioux were able to have a telegram delivered to Bob Heeney at the
annual convention of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. They sought lawyers to
represent them at their eventual trial. As President, my Dad issued a call to arms, a strike force was
formed, and NACDL lawyers from around the country, led by my Dad, came to their defense pro bono.
They won big and all 100 occupiers were acquitted. The trial court's decision is reported in U.S. v. Garmillo,
380 F.Supp. (E.D. Nebraska 1974). It was the NACDL's finest hour.
The Native Indians showed great respect for the volunteer lawyers and my Dad. They smoked the peace
pipe in the Teepee on the reservation where the lawyers lived through out the pre-trial and protracted trial
stage. Through translators, the leaders expressed thanks and respect for the victory of the day. Of deep
interest to my Dad, was his clients' opposition to an earlier order of the Court. Upon Motion by my Dad,
the Court vindicated the Defendants' assertion that they had the right to ignore the "All Rise" command of
the bailiff when the white Judge in black robes ascended to the bench to start the morning's trial or
resuming the session from a recess. They believed that no man should stand for another man, since such
an action was reserved only for the creator, the Great Spirit. The Judge agreed and dispensed with the
tradition, out of respect for the beliefs of those in the culture that were put to trial.
With this background of the namesake of the award this evening to Judge Barbera, you will now hear from
others how Judge Barbera has contributed so significantly to the administration of justice in Maryland in so
many different ways over her distinguished career.
Judge Barbera, you would have liked Bob Heeney, and Bob Heeney would have liked you! You
are both cut from the same cloth!
Judge, congratulations on your exemplary career and your richly deserved award!
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