Rosalyn B. Bell
MSA SC 3520-13101
Biography:
Throughout her tenure as a judge in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Rosalyn Blake Bell was considered an expert in family law and divorce. She worked diligently to stamp out gender discrimination within the legal system by promoting women as legal professionals and by working to ease the bias that she perceived the courts practised against female litigants. Judge Bell has devoted her energies to the continued education of lawyers and judges, especially in the application of genetic evidence to court proceedings.
Rosalyn Blake was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1923. After attending Trenton High School and obtaining a bachelor of science degree from Simmons College, the newly married Blake and her husband, attended National University Law School, now at the George Washington University. After completing her first year of law school, Judge Bell gave birth to her eldest son. She continued her studies and managed her family life until her graduation with honors in 1951. For the next ten years, Bell devoted her energies to her family, and in the 1960s entered into private practice with her husband.1 Her son would later join his parents in the firm Bell, Bell, and Bell.2
During her years in private practice, Rosalyn Bell assumed leadership roles within the legal community. She was trustee (1973-1978) and later director (1973-1977) of the Montgomery-Prince George's Continuing Legal Education Institute. She also served as vice-president (1976-1978) and then trustee (1979-1980) of the Maryland Institute for the Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers. Both of these organizations focus upon the formation of education programs designed to update lawyers on the latest legal developments and opinions.3 The District of Columbia Women's Bar Association recognized Judge Bell as the Women Lawyer of the Year for 1975. In 1976 and again in 1989, Bell served as governor of the Maryland State Bar Association.
Judge Bell's achievements as a lawyer were recognized in 1978, when she was appointed Judge of the District Court of Maryland for District 6, Montgomery County. She was the first women to serve on the District Court and after two years, was elevated to Associate Judge for Montgomery County Circuit Court, 6th Judicial Circuit.4 A local newspaper described Judge Bell as "a hard-driving judge who opens her courtroom early and closes it late."5
While on the Circuit Court, Judge Bell was involved in a controversial case which pitted a defendant's right to a fair trial against the freedom of the press. Timothy Joseph Buzbee was accused of raping seven women in the Aspen Hill section of Montgomery County during the early 1980s. Buzbee's defense argued that the hysteria generated by the press and the sensationalism surrounding his trial jeopardized the ability of the court to seat an impartial jury and consequently, ensure that Buzbee received a fair trial. Judge Bell agreed and barred the press from pre-trial hearings, issued a gag order, and sealed specific records from public scrutiny. Three local newspapers, The Montgomery Journal, The Washington Post, and the Montgomery County Sentinel, filed suit in the Court of Special Appeals seeking to reverse Judge Bell's order.6 In Journal Newspapers Inc. et. al. vs. State of Maryland et. al., the Special Appeals Court overturned Judge Bell's order and allowed press coverage.7
Despite the publicity over the Buzbee trial, in 1983, Governor Harry Hughes appointed Judge Bell to the Court of Special Appeals as member at-large. Judge Bell's appointment was controversial because she replaced retiring judge David T. Nelson, the only African-American on the court. Many lawyers had pushed for the appointment of an African-American to succeed Judge Nelson.8 As only the second woman to have served on the Court of Special Appeals, Judge Bell served with distinction for ten years until her retirement in 1993.
Throughout her long career, Judge Bell was recognized as an authority in family law, especially divorce law. Through her writings and decisions, Judge Bell shaped the way alimony payments were determined by the courts. In 1981, many states, including Maryland, changed their characterization of alimony from a long-term source of income to a short-term allowance. Alimony now provided the divorced homemaker with temporary financial support until she was able to re-enter the workforce and gradually become self-supporting. At the same time that a women's potential to earn money became a factor in determining alimony payments, the courts acknowledged that the standard of living of the divorced parties would be unequal. In addition, the courts ruled that alimony payments should be decided on a case-by-case basis resulting in inconsistent monetary awards. Judge Bell explored the effects of this development on financially dependent spouses in a treatise entitled "Alimony and the Financially Dependent Spouse in Montgomery County." This thesis was submitted and accepted by the University of Virginia Graduate Program for Judges. In this study, Judge Bell discovered that the income of divorced women decreased dramatically while the income of divorced men increased. Sadly, children suffered the most from the worsened financial condition of their mothers. Judge Bell concluded that the changes in the domestic law of Maryland have not benefited financially dependent spouses and have subjected many to poverty.9 In the many divorce appeals heard by Judge Bell, she narrowed the gap between the incomes of the divorced parties and consequently, influenced the alimony decisions of the lower courts.10
In addition to her published work on alimony, Judge Bell has authored a legal text entitled "Maryland Civil Jury Instructions and Commentary."11 In conjunction with the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, she also wrote, "Trial of a Domestic Case."12 Judge Bell was also a member of the Governor's Task Force on Family Law.
Judge Bell's expertise in family law reached beyond the bounds of divorce and into child custody. She wrote an opinion that reversed a lower court ruling granting unsupervised, overnight, visitation between a sexually abusive father and his young daughter. In part to escape the visitation order, the child and her mother had moved to Kentucky, resulting in a legal battle over jurisdiction of the case. The mother appealed to the Court of Special Appeals which overturned the visitation order and transferred jurisdiction to Kentucky. In her majority opinion, Judge Bell wrote, "Where the evidence is such that a parent is justified in believing that the other parent is sexually abusing the child, it is inconceivable that the parent would surrender the child to the abusing parent without stringent safeguards."13 Judge Bell and the Court held that the best interests of the child were the primary determinant of visitation rights and custody awards.
Judge Bell's expertise had not gone unnoticed. In recognition of her many achievements in family law, in 1992, the Women's Law Center of Maryland established the Rosalyn B. Bell Award. This award is given annually for accomplishments in family law. Past honorees included Judge Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman of the Baltimore City Circuit Court (1997), Judge Albert J. Matricciani, Jr. of the same court (2000), and Judge Robert M. Bell of the Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate Circuit (1999).14
During her long career, Judge Bell has also worked tirelessly as an advocate for women in the court system. In 1987, she became a founding member of the Maryland Special Joint Committee on Gender Bias in the Courts. The goal of the Committee was to investigate whether people who use and work within the Maryland judicial system face sexual discrimination. The Committee studied the courtroom experiences and legal outcomes of those involved in domestic violence cases, child custody cases, and alimony awards. The panel also investigated the sexual discrimination of witnesses and litigants of both sexes, and the discrimination of female judges, lawyers, and courtroom employees by other legal professionals. After concluding that gender bias does exist within the Maryland judicial system, the Committee made recommendations to be enacted by a wide range of groups, including the courts, the state legislature, law schools, state's attorneys, and judges. In May 1989, the nine-member Committee issued a detailed report entitled, "Gender Bias in the Courts."15
In response to the report, a second committee called the Select Joint Committee on Gender Neutrality was established. With twenty-one members, this committee was charged with taking action against bias and sexual discrimination. The initial focus of the committee was the education of the judiciary. Judge Bell led the first seminar, sensitizing judges to discriminatory courtroom demeanor.16 The work of both committees has helped to promote women as legal professionals, changed the sexists attitudes and behaviors of court room personnel, and eliminate sexual bias in legal opinions.
In her years on the Court of Special Appeals, Judge Bell has been involved in many sensational cases. Probably the most notorious case was that of Kirk Bloodsworth who, in 1984, was convicted of the first degree murder and rape of a young girl and originally sentenced to death. After an appeal overturned his conviction, Mr. Bloodsworth was retried, convicted, and sentenced to consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Still maintaining his innocence, he appealed again, this time on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Judge Bell heard the appeal and upheld the conviction.17 Five years later, technological advances enabled the analysis of genetic evidence to clear Bloodsworth and to eliminate him as a suspect in the crime. A Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge ordered him released from prison and on December 23, 1993, he was pardoned by Governor William Donald Schaefer.18 The Bloodsworth case became a rallying point for death penalty foes and focused Judge Bell upon a new legal issue, genetic testing.
While the tale of Kirk Bloodsworth played out in the laboratories and courts, on April 22, 1993, Judge Bell faced mandatory retirement.19 During the latter stages of her career, Judge Bell has concentrated her abilities on the legal and ethical issues surrounding genetic testing and research. She served as guest editor and wrote an article in a special edition of the Judges Journal: Genetics in the Courtroom.20 Judge Bell has also served on the board of directors and as chair of special projects at the Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts. This organization was devoted to educating lawyers and judges on the application of the genetic sciences to the legal profession.21
In addition to her work on the legal ramifications of genetics, Judge Bell has immersed herself in other issues of importance to the public. She was appointed to lead a panel investigating the handling of rape charges, later dropped, against four Montgomery County high school students.22 In March 1994, she was appointed to the Heath Care Decisions Advisory Council whose mission was to educate health care providers and the public about the Health Care Decisions Act of 1993 which allowed for living wills and health care directives.23
From genetic testing to sexual discrimination and divorce, Judge Bell has devoted her life to issues which effect every American. She has worked tirelessly to ease the interaction between the public and the legal profession. In 1993, recognition of Judge Bell's many achievements culminated in her induction into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
Notes:
1. Maryland State Archives SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Biographical Series),
Rosyln Blake Bell, MSA SC 3520-13101.
2. Kenneth Weiss, "Judge Bell
is 'a hard-working lady'," The Montgomery Journal, 3 November
1983.
3. Maryland Institute for the Continuing Professional Education
of Lawyers, "MICPEL Homepage,"accessed 29 June 2001. http://micpel.edu/
4. Robert, S. Horowitz, ed., "Opinion:
Rosalyn Bell elevated to 2nd highest court." The Montgomery
Journal, 3 November 1983.; Weiss, "Judge Bell."
5. Weiss, "Judge Bell."
6. Horowitz, "Opinion."
7. Journal Newspapers Inc. v State Of Maryland, 54 Md. App. 98
(1983). accessed 28 June 2001 through Lexis Nexis.
8. Horowitz, "Opinion."
9. Rosalyn Blake Bell, "Alimony and the Financially Dependent
Spouse in Montgomery County," Family Law, Fall 1988 .
10. For a discussion of changes in Maryland divorce law, see:
Bricker v Bricker, 78 Md. App. 570 (1989). accessed 28 June 2001 through
Lexis Nexis.
11. Rosalyn Blake Bell, Maryland Civil Jury Instructions and
Commentary, (Charolttesville, Virginia: Michie Co.), 1993.
12. Rosalyn B. Bell,
Trial of a Domestic Case, (Baltimore,
Maryland: MICPEL), 1996.
13. Carol L. Bowers, "Convicted
abuser denied custody of daughter, 5," The Baltimore Sun, 18
November 1992.; Hanke v Hanke, 94 Md. App 65 (1992). accessed 29 June 2001
through Lexis Nexis.
14. For Judge Matricciani: The Women's Law Center of Maryland,
Inc., "Annual Meeting," Homepage. accessed 3 July 2001. http://www.wlcmd.org/annualmeeting.html.;
for Judge Robert Bell: Maryland State Archives, Maryland Manual On-Line,
"Judicial Branch," accessed 2 July 2001. http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/29ap/html/msa11654.html
15. Maryland Special Joint Committee on Gender Bias in the Courts,
"Gender Bias in the Courts," Administrative
Office of the Courts, Annapolis, Maryland, (1989).
16. Lisa Leff, "Overruling
Sexual Bias," The Washington Post, 20 November 1989.
17. Bloodsworth v. State of Maryland, 76 Md. App. 23 (1988).
18. Peter Herman, "DNA
test clears man in girl's murder, lawyer says: Nine years after crime in
Rosedale, convicted man awaits freedom at last," The Baltimore Sun,
28 June 1983.; Glenn Small, "Nine-year
prison 'nightmare' ends as former convicted killer is released: DNA test
leads to exoneration," The Baltimore Sun, 29 June 1983.; Glenn
Small, "Schaefer exonerated
man once sentenced to die: Waterman eligible for restitution," The
Baltimore Sun, 23 December 1983.
19. Sheridan Lyons, "Judge Murphy named to Md. Appellate court,"
The Baltimore Sun, 26 June 1983.
20. Rosalyn B. Bell, "Instructing Juries in Genomic Evidence,"
Judges'
Journal of the American Bar Association: Genetics in the Courtroom,V36:3
(1997).
21. The Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts,
"About Us." Accessed 27 June 2001 http://einshac.org/einshacabout.html/
22. Associated Press, "Bell
to Head Rape Investigation Panel: Retired CSA Judge to Direct Review of
Montgomery Case," The Daily Record, 22 December 1993.
23. Maryland State Archives, Biographical Series, "Maryland
Women's Hall of Fame," accessed 29 June 2001. http://www.mdsa.net/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/bell.html
Written by Lisa McTaggart, summer intern, Maryland State Archives
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