A new judge has been assigned to the retrial of Charles Robert Smith, an Annapolis man accused of killing three people and wounding three others in a 2023 mass shooting following a neighborhood parking dispute.

Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Mark Crooks will take over the case, court records show, and as of Tuesday afternoon, jury selection was still scheduled to begin Sept. 24. Appointed to the bench in 2016 by then-Gov. Larry Hogan, Crooks’ judgeship followed a prosecutorial career in Maryland and New York, as well as a short legal stint in Hogan’s administration.

Circuit Judge J. Michael Wachs finalized his planned recusal from the case Friday, denying the defense’s motion for him to reconsider his decision. In March, he explained that comments from county State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess to the victims’ families and court personnel had created a “public perception” that he could not preside over the case fairly.

“I don’t blame myself for that. Not one bit,” Wachs said last month. “But it’s out there.”

Wachs declared a mistrial in Smith’s case in February after 11 days of testimony, finding that “transgressions” in Leitess’ questioning and conduct had made the case “unfair” for the defendant.

Public defender Anne Stewart-Hill had asked Wachs to reconsider his recusal, arguing that Leitess had engaged in an “off-the-record smear campaign” against him. She also said that Wachs leaving the case would compromise the public’s faith in the judiciary. Leitess’ statements, including a letter to another judge, were placed under seal and are unavailable to the public.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Judiciary, which handles public statements and interview requests for state judges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Wachs retired in November but was specially assigned to Smith’s case. He said last month that the decision to step away was made independently and “not lightly.”

The size of the case, with nearly 60 witnesses and more than120 exhibits at trial, was a lot for a retired judge to manage, he said, especially without his own office or staff. And while senior judges are limited in what they can earn in a year, Wachs said he would work some days pro bono to finish the retrial in a timely manner.

But bias, he said, was not an issue.

Smith has been in jail, primarily in protective custody, since June 11, 2023, when Annapolis Police officers responded to calls of gunfire on the 1000 block of Paddington Place. When they arrived, they found six people shot, three of them fatally: Mario Mireles, his father Nicolas Mireles and friend Christian Segovia Jr., all parents to young children.

Witnesses said the shooting sprang from an argument over a parked car near Smith’s house. They told authorities, and later the jury, that the defendant’s mother had confronted Mario Mireles, who was hosting a birthday party down the street, before her son came home.

When Smith arrived, the dispute erupted. Mario Mireles and Segovia were shot with a handgun, and when their friends and family rushed over to help, Smith shot four of them with an AR-15, killing Nicolas Mireles.

Smith faces 18 felony charges, including three counts each of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and an assortment of other charges, including hate crimes.

Smith has claimed self-defense, arguing he was protecting his family from other shooters. When given the chance to testify, Smith said several people, including the three men killed, had guns. Little forensic evidence in the trial supported that account, though prosecutors acknowledged one gun had been fired at Smith and hidden from authorities.

Public defender Denis O’Connell, who’s leading Smith’s defense with Felipe Gonzalez, declined to comment Tuesday. Stewart-Hill, another member of the defense team, will be retired by the scheduled retrial.

A spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office declined a request for comment.

In an interview Tuesday, Christian Segovia Sr., the father of the youngest man killed, said he felt the recusal was fair and that if Wachs stayed on the case, he would have felt the judge was biased. He said putting the retrial in a younger judge’s hands, someone with a career to consider afterwards, made him more comfortable.

“I’m not looking for favors. I’m looking for fairness,” Segovia said.

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