Judge Who Allegedly Ate Evidence Against Him Died By Apparent Suicide Before FBI Could Arrest Him

After the allegations of hidden recordings of minors surfaced, the judge allegedly ate the memory card believed to contain evidence against him.

Jonathan Gray Newell (Photo from the Caroline County Circuit Court website)

This case takes a number of twist and turns before it’s all said and done. Jonathan Gray Newell, a Maryland judge since 2016 and the former top prosecutor in Caroline County, Maryland before that, was facing federal charges of child exploitation according to a complaint filed September 9th. When FBI agents went to arrest Newell on September 10th, they found him suffering from from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Newell was later pronounced dead.

Newell was accused of recording boys showering in his hunting cabin with a hidden camera. Police visited Newell’s cabin in July, after a minor told his parents he believed he saw a camera in the bathroom of the cabin. At that time, Newell denied he’d hidden a camera to record the boy.

But after the interview was over, Newell went into his bedroom, ostensibly to make a phone call and charge his phone. That’s when the alleged destruction of evidence took place, as reported by ABA Journal:

Investigators saw Newell reach under his bed, saw his hand closed in a fist, and saw him place his fist next to his mouth.

Investigators heard two “crunch” sounds from Newell’s mouth and saw him drink from a cup.

When investigators examined a recording device that had been placed under the bed, it did not contain an SD card. Newell was taken to the hospital for CT scans, which found that there was possibly a “metallic foreign body” in his bowel.

Investigators then obtained warrants, and according to affidavits in the case, the search “revealed numerous videos of minor males showering.”


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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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