Service commemorates Baltimore criminal defense lawyer
A memorial service will be held Tuesday for prominent defense attorney Phillip McKay Sutley, who once convinced jurors to spare the life of a nun’s killer.
Sutley, 66, passed away suddenly Thursday in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse in Baltimore. It is believed that his death may have been caused by a heart condition.
Born in Baltimore, Sutley graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 1962. He served in the Army before attending the University of Baltimore School of Law, from which he received his degree in 1967.
He discovered his passion for criminal law in law school, said his son, Stuart Sutley.
“As a young guy in law school he thought [criminal law] was the place to make a difference,” Stuart Sutley said. “He always believed everyone deserved the right to a fair trial.”
Just last year, Phillip Sutley convinced the Court of Special Appeals to order a new trial for Carlos Joseph McClellan Jr., who had been convicted of first-degree murder in 1992. In the post- conviction proceeding, Sutley argued that the first jury had been instructed incorrectly on the meaning of “reasonable doubt.”
His highest-profile case came in 1993, when he defended Melvin Lorenzo Jones against the death penalty. After Jones was convicted of killing and sexually assaulting Sister MaryAnn Glinkain at her convent in Northeast Baltimore, Sutley pleaded with jurors to spare his client’s life. He invoked the words of Pope John Paul II and said that inhaling poisoned gas was “an agonizing end” that no one deserved.
Jones received a sentence of life without parole.
Sutley was known for caring deeply about his clients, and offered his legal expertise to those who could not normally afford an attorney of his caliber.
“He was committed to providing representation for people whether they could afford it or not,” said Judge Irma Raker, a longtime friend. “He didn’t abandon them if they lost and went to jail — if there was anything he could continue to do he did.”
“We have heard from so many of my father’s clients in the last few days that they felt he was a friend and trusted him,” said his son Stuart.
Sutley was also highly regarded by his colleagues, and known for being prepared for every case, large or small.
“I knew Phil since the days of law school,” said Judge John Grayson Turnbull Jr. “He was an absolute gentleman in the courtroom and was always prepared and considerate to his clients.”
His civility was not limited to judges and clients, however.
“He was respectful to everyone at the courthouse,” said Stuart Sutley, reflecting on a recent phone call he received from a courthouse security guard who told Stuart of how his father always took the time to exchange pleasantries with him.
When Sutley was not practicing law or acting as a board member on the Board of Governors of the Maryland State Bar Association, he was pursuing another passion — hunting big game. Sutley traveled all over the world, hunting in areas such as the Arctic Circle, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In his home state, Sutley hunted around his antique log cabin, which sits on 30 acres in Western Maryland.
“He loved the outdoors, and being with fisherman and hunters,” said Raker. “He was fun to be with.”
Sutley was the son of Dr. Percy Sutley, who practiced at Union Memorial Hospital, and Cathryn Sutley Swann, who survives her son.
Raised in Ruxton, he graduated from Friends School in 1958. He was recently recognized by Friends School as one of its all-time great athletes and inducted into its Hall of Fame.
Sutley went on to become an All-American lacrosse player at the Johns Hopkins University.
“The conversations [we had] would degenerate into nothing but lacrosse,” retired Judge Charles E. Moylan Jr. fondly recalled. “He was a key member of three outstanding [Johns Hopkins lacrosse] teams.”
Moylan first met Sutley while working as a prosecutor in the 1960s.
“I remember fondly what a superb trial lawyer he was,” said Moylan. “He would represent his clients vigorously, but he was someone you could deal with on a civil and cordial basis.”
In addition to his mother and son Stuart, Sutley is also survived by his wife Deborah Jennings, an attorney at DLA Piper; three other sons, Benjamin, Zachary and Christopher; daughters-in-law Elizabeth and Traci Sutley; sisters Sandra Sutley Kull and Sally Sutley Ross; brothers-in-law John Kull and Dan Ross; and seven grandchildren.