Cristina Gutierrez

Background

Gutierrez attended high school at Notre Dame Prep in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her undergraduate degree from Antioch College and her juris doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law. She was appointed as an attorney to the Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore and later joined the firm of Murphy and Associates, headed by former Baltimore City Circuit court Judge William H. Murphy, Jr.

Legal career

Gutierrez graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1980 and began her career with the Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore after a brief clerkship with then Judge William H. Murphy, Jr. After several years she left the PD's office and joined the firm of William H. Murphy, Jr. and Associates. By most accounts, Gutierrez was a tenacious attorney, representing many individuals with hopeless cases. In 1990 Jamal Craig, an employee of his mother's day care facility in Howard County, was charged with child abuse. Gutierrez represented Craig and he was acquitted of all charges. His mother, Sandra Craig, had also been charged with child abuse. Gutierrez joined her trial team and ultimately saw the case, Maryland v. Craig, go to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gutierrez represented a female Baltimore police officer who was accused of first degree murder after shooting her husband six times. Gutierrez created a "battered spouse syndrome" defense and her client was convicted only of the lesser second degree murder charge.

Gutierrez also represented Jacqueline Bouknight, a Baltimore woman who had been held for seven years on a contempt of court order for not revealing the whereabouts of her son to state social services officials. It was suspected the child had been murdered but no murder charges were ever filed.

In 1993 Gutierrez was made a partner in the firm and the firm's name was changed to Murphy and Gutierrez. Murphy and Gutierrez split in 1995 with Gutierrez eventually opening a solo practice.

Representation of Adnan Syed

On February 9 1999, the body of Hae Min Lee (Hangul: 이해민), an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, was found in Leakin Park. Lee's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested on February 28, 1999 and charged with first-degree murder. His family retained Gutierrez to represent their son. Syed's first trial ended in a mistrial, but after a six-week second trial, Syed was found guilty of Lee's murder on February 25, 2000 and given a life sentence, despite pleading his innocence. Syed did not speak in front of the jury. Syed's new attorney, C. Justin Brown has appealed the case and has stated that the basis for the appeal is mistakes made by Gutierrez during the trial. Brown says that Gutierrez failed to interview a witness, Asia McClain, who said she was with Syed at the time Lee was killed.

In February 2015, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals filed a decision allowing Syed to appeal his conviction on grounds his attorney Cristina Gutierrez had provided ineffective counsel for failing to seek a plea bargain during his trial. On November 6, 2015, ″Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch ordered that Syed’s post-conviction proceedings would be re-opened ′in the interests of justice for all parties.′″ On June 30, 2016, Judge Welch granted Syed's request for a new trial, ruling that Gutierrez "rendered ineffective assistance when she failed to cross-examine the state's expert regarding the reliability of cell tower location evidence," vacating Syed's conviction.

Disbarment

On May 24, 2001, the Maryland Court of Appeals announced Gutierrez had been disbarred (by consent). Gutierrez agreed to the disbarment, citing numerous health problems including multiple sclerosis.

Death

According to her son Roberto, Gutierrez had begun suffering the effects of multiple sclerosis in 1999, complicated by diabetes. She started to lose her vision and memory. By 2003, she was using a wheelchair and couldn't remember her son's name. She died on January 30, 2004 in Towson, Maryland after suffering a heart attack.