Just weeks after their unit’s first prosecution was thrown out by a judge, the leaders of a state division that investigates police-involved deaths are heading out.

Allison Green, chief of the Maryland attorney general’s office’s Independent Investigations Division, and her deputy, Renee Joy, have resigned, office spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said in a statement. Both will leave the office after this week.

Neither Green nor Joy could be reached for comment.

The high-ranking shake-up is coming about two weeks after an Anne Arundel County judge threw out charges that the attorney general’s office brought against two county police officers accused of misconduct during a fatal 2023 pursuit in Pasadena. Circuit Judge Stacy McCormack said she tossed the case because the prosecutors’ investigation could have been tainted by impermissible evidence.

Though the judge’s decision spurred the change of leadership, the unit had already become “dysfunctional” under Green and Joy, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

In 2023, the attorney general’s office gained the authority through legislation to prosecute police, but its first foray in court this year didn’t make it past pretrial motions.

McCormack, the judge, said prosecutors needed to make sure that statements the officers, Kieran Schnell and Eddie Vasquez, were required to submit to their department’s internal affairs unit were not used as part of the criminal prosecution against them. But the judge ruled that she could not determine whether the compelled statements had been isolated as required, forcing her to throw out the criminal case.

Such comments are considered out of bounds for prosecutors in criminal cases. That’s because those required statements to internal investigators would violate the accused’s Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent and protect against self-incrimination if used at trial. McCormack said the attorney general’s office failed to develop the necessary protocols to wall off the compelled testimony.

In 2021, the attorney general created an independent division to investigate deaths involving police and make recommendations to local prosecutors. The statewide office gained exclusive authority to prosecute such cases in 2023 over the objections of almost all of Maryland’s local prosecutors.

Del. Luke Clippinger, who sponsored the legislation, said despite the setback in its first court case, the unit‘s independent work is still important and credited it for completing other investigations carefully.

“I hope to hear more from the attorney general as to the next steps for the” unit, Clippinger said.

Green, who took over the division in May 2024, previously worked for more than five years in the public integrity bureau of the Bronx County, New York district attorney’s office.

Joy, who has been with the unit since its inception, previously served for 16 years as the chief of the public integrity unit at the Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s office.

Defense attorney Andrew Jezic, who represented one of the Anne Arundel officers, downplayed the significance of McCormack’s ruling. He told The Banner that Joy was a talented prosecutor who was going to be a “real loss for the attorney general.”

But his counterpart on the case, defense attorney Peter O’Neill, described the judge’s ruling as an indication of broader challenges within the unit.

O’Neill said the division had a “taint team” to prevent compelled statements from reaching the prosecution, but he believes that there was still too much coordination inside the office. O’Neill noted that one of the members of the taint team was on the trial team of prosecutors.

Defense attorney Andrew Alperstein, a former prosecutor who has represented police officers, said strictly following protocols to isolate internal affairs statements from any criminal case against them is essential.

“If the statement is illegally obtained and they rely on the statement for the rest of the investigation, then the investigation is tainted,” Alperstein said.

Alperstein added that “people who did this in the past were well versed in this nuance in the law. I don’t know if the attorney general’s office is or not.”

“The prosecution, defense and trial of police officers has some very unique issues that are different from prosecuting, defending or even a court trying nonpolice officers,” he said. “It’s a difficult balance.”

Jonathan Smith, chief of the civil rights division, will lead the unit on an interim basis while “while a robust search for new leadership is underway,” Donelan said.

The office has a second case pending. In April, the office indicted an Anne Arundel County Police officer who allegedly chased a man 4 miles into Howard County in August and then fled the scene when the man died in an accident.

Officer Alexander Rodriguez is facing a January trial date on charges that include negligent manslaughter and misconduct in office. Next month, prosecutors are due in court for a motions hearing.