Prosecutor Announces Bid to Replace Gansler

Democrat Has Been Deputy Since 1996

John McCarthy, the longtime deputy state's attorney for Montgomery County, announced his candidacy yesterday to become the county's top prosecutor.

McCarthy, a county prosecutor since 1982, is seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed State's Attorney Douglas F. Gansler (D), who is running for Maryland attorney general.

At his noontime announcement in Rockville, McCarthy highlighted his community ties, including work as a teacher at Good Counsel High School, a law professor at Montgomery College and a basketball coach in Montgomery County youth programs. His audience at the rally included law enforcement officials, defense lawyers, local politicians, former students and family members.

As a deputy state's attorney since 1996, McCarthy has handled some of the county's most notorious murder cases, including that of Samuel Sheinbein, a high school senior who fled to Israel after killing and dismembering a Silver Spring teenager.

If elected, McCarthy said, he would establish a team to prosecute people who use the Internet to solicit sex from children. He also said he would continue to work for passage of a law that would create a new criminal penalty for those who commit acts of violence in the presence of children. "These children are often the silent victims of domestic violence," McCarthy said.

McCarthy is the second candidate to say he will seek the Democratic nomination. Dan Fox, a Montgomery County business consultant and former prosecutor in Southern California, announced for the job in July.

Fox acknowledged yesterday that the county's Democratic establishment has lined up solidly behind McCarthy. "He is the inside man, so to speak," Fox said. "I know I am running against the status quo. . . . That office really needs to change."