Retention of Justice Peter Killough, Supreme Court of Maryland, Circuit 4 (For Continuance in Office)
What does this office do?
- Deciding trials in the county
- Ruling on evidence and setting sentences in criminal cases
- Deciding family, probate, and civil disputes
Affects: Public Safety and Crime Control, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, Housing Affordability,
Peter Killough
Nonpartisan · Incumbent · Official site
Justice on the Supreme Court of Maryland since July 2024, after six years as a Prince George's County Circuit Court judge. A former Army captain and University of Virginia law graduate, he directed the state's Medicaid fraud control unit as an assistant attorney general.
Track record
Track record — General
General · 26 records
Dissented when the court ruled for Baltimore City in a lawsuit over a 2019 sewage backup into a home. He argued that a homeowner harmed by a nuisance does not have to prove the city acted wrongfully.
July 29, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Dissented when the court upheld a St. Mary's County father's convictions for sexually abusing his 15-year-old daughter. He argued that evidence of uncharged abuse of her friends and an improper cross-examination question required a new trial.
July 28, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion holding that juvenile court keeps its power over a child aged 10 to 12 who is cleared of a violent charge but found involved in a lesser offense from the same incident.
July 22, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion reinstating the convictions of two men in a 2019 Baltimore murder. The court held the trial judge made no obvious error in allowing a gun-match expert's testimony, and that closing the courtroom to protect jurors was justified. Three justices dissented on the courtroom closure.
July 21, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Dissented when the court held that Potomac Edison's power lines and substations qualify for a state sales tax exemption for production equipment. He argued the utility only moves electricity made elsewhere, so it is a middleman, not a manufacturer.
July 17, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion holding that a parent who leaves a newborn under the Safe Haven Act can still be found to have neglected the child, letting the state arrange long-term care. Two justices partly dissented.
July 15, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Dissented when the court sent back a $25,000 attorneys' fee award to Sugarloaf Alliance, which had won a public records dispute with Frederick County and sought $48,813. He argued the trial judge's reduced award was within the judge's discretion.
July 14, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Agreed only with the outcome when the court left John Calvin Dove Jr. off the District 12B House of Delegates ballot. He objected that the majority found a false address claim the trial judge had not found, and skipped the residency-deadline question.
July 13, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Partly dissented when the court dismissed climate change lawsuits by Baltimore, Anne Arundel County and Annapolis against oil and gas companies. He argued federal law did not block the claims about deceptive marketing, and that the public nuisance and failure-to-warn claims deserved to go forward.
March 24, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote a concurrence in an opioid case brought by Anne Arundel County, agreeing that the county's public nuisance claim against Express Scripts and other pharmacy companies failed. He objected that the majority went too far by ruling out all future suits of that kind.
March 23, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion holding that Maryland's 2023 law barring searches based only on the smell of cannabis does not cover searches before July 1, 2023. The court upheld the use of evidence from two earlier searches.
March 3, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion disbarring lawyer Judith Marie Hamilton for mishandling a client's divorce case and failing to cooperate with the bar's investigation.
January 27, 2026
Source: mdcourts.gov
Partly agreed and partly dissented in Baltimore v. Varghese, joining the ruling that the city was immune for how it designed a cable barrier along a promenade. He argued the case belonged back before a jury on the city's failure to warn the public, not ended in the city's favor.
December 23, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion in Reyes v. State, holding that a judge may raise a sentence before the sentencing hearing ends. The court upheld the defendant's increased sentence.
November 24, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion in Shepperson v. State, upholding the denial of a new trial for a man convicted of sexual offenses and armed robbery. New DNA testing that found no usable DNA did not require a new trial, the court held.
July 24, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion disbarring lawyer Gary Pisner for taking money from a family trust for his own use and filing a long series of baseless lawsuits.
July 14, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Dissented in Ledford v. Jenway Contracting, where the court held that workers' compensation law bars an adult child's wrongful death suit against a parent's employer. He argued the adult daughter of a worker killed on the job was entitled to sue.
July 1, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Wrote the court's opinion in In re M.Z., holding that a parent may appeal when a juvenile court closes a child-welfare case over the parent's objection.
March 24, 2025
Source: mdcourts.gov
Was confirmed by the Maryland Senate as a Supreme Court justice on February 3, 2025, by a vote of 38-2.
February 3, 2025
Source: marylandmatters.org
Wrote the Supreme Court of Maryland's opinion in Hollins v. State, ordering a new trial for a man convicted of attempted murder. The court held the trial judge wrongly refused to consider a self-defense jury instruction about the victim's violent character.
December 23, 2024
Source: mdcourts.gov
Was appointed by Governor Wes Moore to the Supreme Court of Maryland on July 25, 2024, filling the Prince George's County seat. He had served on the county Circuit Court since 2018.
July 25, 2024
Source: governor.maryland.gov
Was replaced as the Prince George's County Circuit Court's lead juvenile judge by the court's chief judge on September 8, 2022, following complaints that he was too lenient on young offenders. In August 2022 he had sentenced a teen who killed 13-year-old King Douglas to home monitoring, not the secure facility prosecutors sought.
September 8, 2022
Source: fox5dc.com
Won election to the Prince George's County Circuit Court on November 6, 2018, with 173,856 votes. Six sitting judges were on the ballot for six seats.
November 6, 2018
Source: elections.maryland.gov
Was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to the Prince George's County Circuit Court on November 29, 2017, while serving as director of the state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
November 29, 2017
Source: thedailyrecord.com
Asked Maryland's top court, as People's Insurance Counsel, to stop deferring to insurers on unclear policy terms and read them in policyholders' favor, in a State Farm case over a collapsed carport. The court agreed in January 2014 to hear the case.
January 29, 2014
Source: thedailyrecord.com
Argued as Maryland's People's Insurance Counsel, the state's advocate for insurance customers, that Allstate unlawfully stopped selling new homeowner policies in coastal Maryland. The Court of Special Appeals rejected his arguments 3-0 on May 10, 2011.
May 10, 2011
Source: thedailyrecord.com
Sources: elections.maryland.gov2 · msa.maryland.gov