Warren B. Duckett Jr., a longtime chief prosecutor, judge and leading Democratic political figure in Anne Arundel County, died yesterday of complications from multiple sclerosis at the Ginger Cove Retirement Community in Annapolis. The lifelong Annapolis resident was 64.
Lawyers, judges and politicians described Mr. Duckett as one of the county's leading public figures of the past 30 years. Political newcomers sought his advice and support, and established politicians used him as an arbiter. In legal circles, he was known for his compassion, even toward those accused of terrible crimes.
"Politics was his life," said his son, Warren B. Duckett III, an Annapolis lawyer. "He was perceived as the quintessential politician, but behind his love for politics was really his love for people."
Veteran state Sen. Philip C. Jimeno, an Anne Arundel Democrat, described the elder Mr. Duckett as a master communicator and compromiser.
"He was a mentor to many of us," Mr. Jimeno said. "As a newly elected politician, you're ready to set the world on fire, but he brought us down to earth. He was somebody you could always go to for advice."
Though a consummate politician, he was not political as a prosecutor, said Eugene M. Whissel, who served as an assistant state's attorney under Mr. Duckett in the 1980s.
"He wanted us to do what was right and what was just, and he would handle all the other issues," Mr. Whissel said.
Mr. Whissel called his former boss "the most generous, kind-hearted human being I have ever known."
Mr. Duckett graduated from Annapolis High School in 1957. He went to the University of Maryland, College Park on a lacrosse scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in government and politics in 1962. He earned his law degree from the University of Maryland in 1966.
He began practicing the next year. He was a partner in the law firm of Turk Manis & Duckett from 1968 through 1975. From 1967 through 1969, he was also an assistant state's attorney in Anne Arundel County.
He began his political career in 1970, when he was elected to the Anne Arundel County Council. Three years later, he was appointed state's attorney to replace Raymond G. Thieme Jr., who left for a judgeship.
Mr. Duckett then ran for the office and won, serving as the county's chief prosecutor for 15 years.
During his tenure, he started one of the first victim-witness assistance programs to help crime victims and their families. In 2001, the office created an annual Commitment to Justice award bearing his name and made him the first recipient.
Among the more high-profile cases Mr. Duckett prosecuted was one against 17-year-old Larry Swartz of Cape St. Claire, accused of killing his adoptive parents in 1984. Reflecting on the case years later, Mr. Duckett said he was so troubled that he tearfully embraced his son, who was about the same age as Swartz, upon hearing of the arrest.
Mr. Duckett never brought the case to trial, saying he did not believe Swartz would benefit from either institutionalization or two life sentences in prison. In a plea bargain, Swartz was sentenced to 12 years in prison and was paroled after eight.
"I think he is going to be an asset to the community. I think a lot of folks, including me, would like to be proud of him," Mr. Duckett said of Swartz in 1993.
His handling of the case caused some to label him soft on crime, but he said that was not the case.
"I feel like I'm fair. I have no problem sentencing people to a life sentence," he told The Sun in 1995 when, then an Anne Arundel County Circuit judge, he decided to retire at age 55. "I'm compassionate, but I don't think I'm weak."
Mr. Duckett served two terms as president of the Maryland State's Attorneys' Association and was involved in several other law enforcement organizations.
"He was truly the father of modern prosecution in Anne Arundel County and, for the most part, of the state of Maryland as a whole," the county's current State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee said through a spokeswoman.
In 1988, Mr. Duckett was appointed to the county Circuit Court after receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that year. A judge before heightened security tucked officials away from easy public access, Mr. Duckett enjoyed having people wander into his chambers for a chat.
"People would just walk in. I loved it. I was always more of a politician than a judge anyway," he told The Sun in 1997.
On the advice of his physicians, Mr. Duckett retired in 1995, saying he was a "victim of a disease no one understands."
But he continued in civic activities, which had always been a large part of his life. He served as president of the county YMCA and of the local Multiple Sclerosis Society, and was a member of the Annapolis Rotary Club, the Annapolis Jaycees, the Ancient South River Club and the Anne Arundel County Commission on Disability Issues, among numerous organizations.
For 25 years, he taught law at Anne Arundel Community College, which now gives a law enforcement scholarship in his honor. He was also active in the Anne Arundel County Bar Association.
Mr. Duckett received many honors for his legal work and community service. Among them, he was given an exceptional service award by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1986 and was named Multiple Sclerosis Society Individual of the Year in 1991.
Services are scheduled at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Anne's Episcopal Church on Church Circle in Annapolis.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 43 years, Judith L. Duckett of Annapolis; two daughters, Stephanie D. Brandquist and Pamela D. Brewer, both of Annapolis; and six grandchildren.
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun
