An Anne Arundel County judge dismissed the criminal charges this week against two county police officers who state prosecutors accused of misconduct during a fatal 2023 pursuit in Pasadena.

Circuit Judge Stacy W. McCormack’s decision to toss the case Tuesday means the Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s first police prosecution failed before the case could even go before a jury.

McCormack’s ruling centers on statements that the judge determined the officers, Kieran Schnell and Eddie Vasquez, were forced to give to internal affairs investigators with the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

Such comments, known in the law as compelled statements or testimony, are out of bounds for prosecutors in criminal cases because they violate the accused’s Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent and protect against self incrimination.

Maryland lawmakers created the attorney general’s Independent Investigations Division in 2021 to investigate all deaths involving police. Two years later, the General Assembly gave the unit the power to prosecute such cases instead of local state’s attorneys.

“There are no — and I stress no — written policies, procedures, training manuals, emails, guides of any kind to members of this unit of the attorney general’s office to protect and isolate compelled testimony,“ McCormack said Tuesday, after two days of testimony.

The judge said she had no choice but to dismiss the charges.

The attorney general’s office can appeal McCormack’s ruling.

“We are reviewing the court’s decision to determine next steps,” said Kelsey Hartman, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, in a statement, adding that the prosecutors believe their “case against the officers does not rely on any compelled statements.”

In a joint interview, lawyers for Schnell and Vasquez described McCormack’s ruling as legally sound but said that although they were pleased the judge threw out the charges, they were disappointed not to be able to clear their clients’ names in front of a jury.

“We were looking forward to a trial to prove that these gentlemen were not only not guilty, but truly innocent. These charges were baseless,” said Peter O’Neill, Schnell’s attorney.

Both officers came from law enforcement families and neither had disciplinary records, said Vasquez’s attorney, Andrew Jezic.

“They both loved being on the roads, being officers,” Jezic said.

O’Neill described Schnell and Vasquez as “true public servants who were risking their lives to try to apprehend” someone driving a stolen car at speeds of up to 100 mph on Dec. 7, 2023.

But state prosecutors said Schnell and Vasquez were speeding without their emergency lights activated while chasing the 2011 Infiniti G37 over the Stoney Creek Drawbridge. The car was going fast and didn’t have its lights on, according to authorities.

After going over the bridge, the car crashed into a utility pole at the intersection of Fort Smallwood and Bar Harbor roads. Responders pronounced the car’s passenger, 22-year-old Damione Gardner, of Baltimore, dead at the scene.

The vehicle’s driver, Meziah Johnson, pleaded guilty in June to automobile manslaughter, drug possession and theft of up to $25,000. McCormack sentenced him to five years incarceration, suspending all but 18 months in jail.

Johnson, 25, is locked up at the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Annapolis. His attorney was not available for comment Wednesday.

Traffic cameras showed the vehicles zipping over the bridge; the officers’ body cameras captured what happened after the crash.

“Sir, are you OK?” Schnell asked after he tried to open the driver’s door.

The December indictment of Schnell and Vasquez on charges of misconduct in office were met with skepticism by police officials and defense attorneys.

Anne Arundel Police Chief Amal Awad said at the time that her agency was “not aware of any conduct demonstrated by our officers that rises to the level of a violation of criminal law.”

O’Neill and Jezic applauded Awad, along with other officers, for attending the recent hearings in support of their clients.

“I can’t thank the chief enough,” O’Neill said. “She stuck her neck out for these officers. She stood behind them. She showed professional courage.”

The charges focused on what the officers said after the crash, with prosecutors accusing them of lying about what happened.

O’Neill said officers confronted by internal affairs “are advised this is a compelled statement” before the questioning begins, and that if they refuse to comply, “actions could be taken against you, including but not limited to termination from the police department.”

The defense attorneys described a chilling effect from inappropriate prosecutions of police.

“When you have prosecutions that are not well thought through or unfair it has a chilling effect on police work, good police work around the state,” Jezic said. “Officers are scared of doing normal things, brave things, like the officers did in this case.”

Added O’Neill: “Why the attorney general’s office felt this was the test case for Anne Arundel County is beyond me.”

The attorney general’s office has only one other active prosecution, having secured an indictment against Anne Arundel County Police Officer Alexander Rodriguez in April. Prosecutors say Rodriguez chased a motorcyclist 4 miles into Howard County in August and then fled the scene when the man died in a crash.

Police department spokesperson Justin Mulcahy said Schnell and Vasquez had their police powers fully restored Tuesday, after McCormack’s ruling. He added that an investigation by the department’s “Office of Professional Standards” is ongoing.

Both officers became emotional when McCormack announced her ruling, Jezic said.

He and O’Neill said they suffered from the publicity around their indictments, beginning with a news conference where Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced the charges.

“They’ve had to go through the trauma of a potential trial, hiring lawyers, expending money that they don’t have,” O’Neill said. “You don’t have an agency to go to and say, ‘Can I have my reputation back?’”

Once Vasquez calmed down, Jezic recalled, he turned to his attorney and said: “I just can’t wait to get back on the road.”