Legal Expert

Based on his three decades as a law professor, Byron L. Warnken serves as a legal expert and/or consultant, in multiple arenas, in local, national, and international settings, to include litigation more than ten times), legislation (more than three dozen times), and the media (more than 800 times).

Before the Judicial Branch of Government

For 15 years, Professor Warnken has been retained in (1) civil rights cases (addressing issues of police conduct in the Fourth Amendment use of force and search and seizure context and the Fifth Amendment confession context), (2) constitutional law challenges (addressing the application of numerous provisions of the federal and state Constitutions), (3) civil and disciplinary cases involving the conduct or performance of attorneys (addressing allegations of legal malpractice, legal ethics and misconduct, the reasonableness of legal fees, and the Maryland and Model Rules of Professional Conduct), and (4) post conviction proceedings (addressing issues of ineffective assistance of counsel).

In 1991, Professor Warnken testified as an expert, analyzing the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in Department of Social Services v. Bouknight, as it affected the Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination and the removal of counsel under the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. In 1997, he testified, in a civil suit in Wisconsin, on whether the media should be permitted access to police disciplinary files.

Before the Legislative Branch of Government

For 18 years, Professor Warnken has testified before Congress, the Maryland General Assembly, and the Baltimore City Council. In 1992, he testified before the Crimes and Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on the power of Congress to enact federal legislation preempting state legislation and providing due process protections for law enforcement officers in administrative disciplinary proceedings. Congress reprinted his 86-page law review article on the topic as an appendix to the House Report. He provided legislative strategy for National Association of Police Organizations and served as the lead draftsperson, with the Fraternal Order of Police and International Brotherhood of Police Officers, on the Law Enforcement Officers’ Accountability Act of 1997. In 1994, for his legislative work on the “Crime Bill,” he was invited to the White House for the bill signing ceremony.

For two decades, Professor Warnken has testified before the Maryland General Assembly, primarily in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and House Judiciary Committee. He has testified on topics such as (1) establishment of article 47 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, which was adopted, providing state constitutional rights to crime victims; (2) the history of Maryland’s “first in the nation” Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights; (3) qualified immunity for police officers sued for state constitutional violations; (4) reduction of the time a judge can retain jurisdiction over a sentence; (5) federal preemption of Maryland legislation; (6) Sixth Amendment right to confrontation; (7) criminal legislation; and (8) pretrial release. He has served on the Maryland Criminal Code Revision Committee since it began in 1991.

Before the Executive Branch of Government

In 1990, Professor Warnken analyzed the impact of the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 on a proposed City Council bill to regulate, through zoning, community-based treatment and residential facilities. He provided a 49-page Memorandum of Law to then Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, analyzing the interplay between the United States Constitution, the Maryland Declaration of Rights, and federal, state, and local legislation and administrative regulations. The City of Baltimore adopted his analysis as the City’s position, and he testified four times before the Baltimore City Council.

In 1995, Professor Warnken provided a written analysis on the constitutionality of a newly proposed Baltimore City Juvenile Curfew Ordinance, which was drafted after the Court of Appeals of Maryland struck down, as unconstitutional, a similar juvenile curfew ordinance in Frederick, Maryland, on federal and state constitutional grounds, including overbreadth, void for vagueness, violation of the First Amendment freedoms of religion and association, and violation of Fourth Amendment search and seizure. The City of Baltimore adopted his analysis as the City’s position.

For Television, Radio, and Print Media

For 28 years, Professor Warnken has served, on more than 800 occasions, as a legal expert for local, national, and international television, radio, and print. Locally, he is a legal television analyst (WJZ, WBAL, WMAR, Maryland Public Television, and Fox 45) and legal radio analyst (WBAL, WYPR, WTOP, and WCBM). Nationally, he has been a guest on Larry King Weekend, C-Span’s Washington Journal, CNN Crossfire, ABC News, Court TV’s Cochran & Co., MSNBC, Geraldo Rivera Live, Sinclair Broadcasting, Hannity & Colmes, News Talk Television, National Public Radio’s “Justice Talking” series of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, MetroNews, KNRC Denver, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

For the national print media, Professor Warnken has provided analysis for the Associated Press, Magellan News Service, the Christian Science Monitor, the National Jurist, MetroNews, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Charlotte Observer, and Richmond-Times Dispatch, the Des Moines Register, the Orlando Weekly, Police magazine, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. For the local print media, he has provided analysis for the Baltimore Sun (regular analysis, plus four op-ed pieces), the Baltimore Examiner, the Daily Record, the Jewish Times, the Howard County Times, and the Trooper magazine (two columns annually).