Political consultant Julius Henson has appealed a Baltimore Circuit judge’s decision that he violated parole by filing to run for the state Senate, a move that will keep him out of jail until the court rules.
The appeal was filed Wednesday, the same day the Court of Special Appeals struck down a provision in the sentence of former Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold that barred him from running for office while he is on probation.
Russell Neverdon, Henson’s attorney, said in a news conference Thursday he was encouraged by that ruling.
“I think that the Leopold [case] corroborates what our position is and now we have some precedent to actually give us that meat or nuts and bolts that we would need for this,” Neverdon said.
Leopold was convicted in Anne Arundel Circuit Court of two counts of misconduct in office in January 2013 for using officers on his police detail and other county employees to do personal tasks and run campaign errands.
The Special Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, but ruled that the power to decide who is eligible to run for office lies with the state Board of Elections.
Henson was convicted of a campaign law violation for leaving the authority line out of a robo-call script aimed at suppressing the black vote in the 2010 gubernatorial election.
He served 30 days on that conviction and was on three years’ probation under the condition that he not work in a campaign when he filed to run for the East Baltimore Senate seat held by Nathaniel McFadden for 20 years.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Emanuel Brown ruled that violated the terms of Henson’s probation and sentenced him to four months in jail. But he gave Henson 30 days to appeal.
Neverdon said he will be ready to argue the appeal in the fall, but suggested the lower court reconsider the sentence in light of the Leopold ruling.