Evelyn O. Cannon
MSA SC 3520-11502
Extended Biography:
Evelyn Omega Cannon has been a respected figure in the legal profession for more than 20 years. Since her appointment in 1996, she has been serving as associate judge of the Baltimore City Circuit Court, ruling in a number of high-profile cases.
Cannon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 23, 1950. She earned her bachelor's degree in history from the University of New Orleans in 1971. Cannon moved to North Carolina and earned a J.D. and a master of laws degree from Duke University Law School.
After graduation in 1976, Cannon went to work as a staff attorney for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Offered a position as assistant professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law, Cannon taught there for the next six years. In two of those years, she was recognized as Teacher of the Year, and in 1980 she was admitted to the Maryland bar. In 1983 Cannon went to work for the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland, serving as assistant attorney general for three years. She remained in the Attorney General's Office for the next 10 years as principal counsel in trial litigation for the State of Maryland and then as chief of litigation.1
One of the self-acknowledged highlights of her judicial career involved the 1996 trial concerning the poor state of Baltimore City schools. Cannon served as lead counsel for the State of Maryland in a case where both the city and the state were on trial for their responsibility for the schools' failure to meet proper educational standards. The case actually involved three lawsuits, including one twelve-year-old suit brought by special education students alleging that the city failed to meet their needs in a timely fashion as required by federal law.2 The lawsuit resulted in the 1996 Consent Decree, which created a city-state partnership in the Baltimore City Public School System. This in turn led to an increase in funding and a significant restructuring of Baltimore City Schools.3
Cannon was also a key player in the 1996 ruling upholding Maryland's right to hire the firm of Peter Angelos to pursue a case against the tobacco industry. As the state's top litigator, Cannon successfully defended the agreement that would give the Angelos firm 25 percent of any recovery in the claim against the tobacco industry for Medicaid reimbursement. Cannon convinced Judge William S. Horne to uphold the agreement, arguing that "...the tobacco industry is trying desperately to avoid its day of reckoning."4
Another high profile case in which Cannon was involved-this time as a judge-was a lawsuit alleging that a gun manufacturer and a store that sells pistols were responsible for the death of a three-year-old boy. The case occurred in 1999, around the time when Governor Parris Glendening was urging state lawmakers to adopt "smart gun" legislation. Judge Cannon dismissed the case, ruling that the manufacturer's failure to make the gun childproof did not make the gun defective under the product liability law.5
Judge Cannon also ruled on a case that was part of a five-year battle between Virginia and Maryland over a water pipe and control over the Potomac River. Historically, Maryland gained control of the Potomac River in a 1632 land grant from King Charles I of England, but a later agreement gave Virginia the ability to build improvements extending from its shoreline. Cannon ruled that Maryland could not deny the Fairfax Water Authority of Virginia the right to build a new water intake pipe in the river. She ordered the state of Maryland to grant the permits necessary to build the pipe, strongly reinforcing the water authority's position. A special master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in favor of Virginia a few months later.6
The mother of two children, Moe Bracy and Jacinta Evelyn Casey, Judge Cannon has been active in the Parents Association of Grace and St. Peter's School. She has also devoted her time to the YWCA of Greater Baltimore, serving as a board member and as president. In the judicial field, Cannon has demonstrated her willingness to give back to the community through pro bono work, for which she received an award from the Maryland Attorney General's Office in 1991. She has been honored by a number of other organizations as well, including the YWCA, the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys, the St. Thomas More Society, and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs. Twice, in 1997 and 2001, Cannon was chosen by The Daily Record as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women.7
Judge Cannon is involved in many professional organizations, serving as a member of the Family and Domestic Relations Law Committee, the Juvenile Law Committee, and as chair of the Criminal Law and Procedure Committee of the Maryland Judicial Conference. She was also a member of the United States Magistrate Merit Selection Panel for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
On a more personal note, Cannon has been a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and acknowledges that she has experienced significant spiritual growth through meditation, a practice in which she has been engaged for over seven years.8
Judge Cannon retired from the bench on December 3, 2012.
Notes:
1. Maryland's Top 100 Women (2001), The Daily Record,
on-line (http://www.mddailyrecord.com/top100w/01cannon.html)
2. Jean Thompson, "City, state
agree: Baltimore schools fail; Trial will determine who is responsible
for poor education." The Baltimore Sun, 16 October 1996.
3. Maryland's Top 100 Women (2001), The Daily Record,
on-line (http://www.mddailyrecord.com/top100w/01cannon.html)
4. Gregory C. Baumann, "Tobacco
Companies Assail State Suit as Unauthorized Industry Attacks Foundation
of Maryland's Multibillion-Dollar Claim, Says Engagement of Angelos on
Contingency Basis Violates Statute." The Daily Record, 15 May 1996.
5. "Judge rejects gun suit; She
concludes weapon lacking childproof device not defective; 'A pretty horrible
case'; Manufacturer, dealer sued by mother in death of 3-year-old." The
Baltimore Sun, 14 October 1999.
6. "Md. Loses Bid to Stop Fairfax
Water Pipe." The Washington Post, 13 April 2001; Matthew
Barakat, "Special master rules for Virginia,
against Maryland in river dispute." The Associated Press State & Local
Wire, 11 July 2001.
7. Maryland's Top 100 Women (2001), The Daily Record,
on-line (http://www.mddailyrecord.com/top100w/01cannon.html).
8. Ibid.
Biography written by Jennifer Copeland, 2002 summer intern, Maryland State Archives
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