Executive Team
Executive Team
The Executive Team is responsible for ensuring the efficient operations of the State’s Attorney’s Office for Carroll County and for establishing all office policies and procedures to ensure the highest quality and ethical standards in criminal prosecution. The Executive Team routinely collaborates with local law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders to develop comprehensive crime fighting strategies. Members of the Executive Team serve on statewide commissions and local boards to promote the interest of the County on a broader scale.
Members of the Executive Team, as well as other members of the State’s Attorney’s Office, routinely speak to community groups, various law enforcement agencies and to students and staff of the Carroll County Public Schools to educate the community about the criminal justice system.
The Executive Team of the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office takes great pride in our attorneys and staff.
Haven Shoemaker Jr.
State’s Attorney
The State’s Attorney, Haven N. Shoemaker Jr., was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His family then moved to North East, Maryland and he attended high school in his home town. He went on to attend and graduate from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a B.A. in Political Science. He served in the Army National Guard and then went on to attend and graduate from Widener University School of Law, magna cum laude in 1992, and was admitted to the Maryland bar that same year.
Mr. Shoemaker then opened his own law firm in in 1994 which remained successfully active until he was elected as the Carroll County State’s Attorney in November of 2022. He has been an active member of the community through membership in many civic organizations such as the American Legion, Hampstead Lions, 29th Division Association Post No. 48, and many others. Mr. Shoemaker also pursued an extremely successful political career. He began as a member of the Hampstead Town Council 1997-2003, was then elected the Mayor of Hampstead in 2003 and held that office until 2010. He served as a Carroll County Commissioner from 2010-2014. He then was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and served in Annapolis from 2015-2023.
Now, Mr. Shoemaker heads a team of prosecutors, victim advocates, case managers, investigators, and administrative staff seeking justice in all criminal cases in the County
Sandra Johnson
Deputy State’s Attorney
Ms. Johnson grew up locally, attending North Carrol High School and McDaniel College (WMC at the time). She graduated from the Syracuse University College of law in 1998. She joined the State’s Attorney’s Office in 2003 as the office’s first dedicated juvenile prosecutor. She later transitioned through District Court and then into the Circuit Court general Felonies Unit and became Deputy State’s Attorney in June of 2022 under interim State’s Attorney Allan Culver. IN January 2023 she was appointed as Deputy State’s Attorney by newly elected State’s Attorney Haven N. Shoemaker.
Michael Stewart
Special Counsel
As Special Counsel, Mr. Stewart advises the elected State’s Attorney on legal, ethical and policy matters pertaining to the duties and prerogatives of the office. Mr. Stewart graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University Baltimore in 1988 and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1993. After being admitted to practice law in 1993, he engaged in private practice concentrating in several areas of law, including workers’ compensation, personal injury, estate planning, criminal and traffic matters, and government and administrative law.
In 2017, he was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals (MSBCA), a quasi-judicial panel and part of an executive branch agency that has jurisdiction over appeals involving bid protests and contract disputes between contractors and the State of Maryland. Mr. Stewart resigned as a member of the MSBCA at the end of 2022 and was sworn in as Special Counsel to the Carroll County State’s Attorney in January 2023.
Melissa Hockensmith
Deputy State’s Attorney
Ms. Hockensmith is a graduate of Francis Scott Key High School, York College of Pennsylvania, and a 1993 graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law. In 1997 she joined the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office as one of the first dedicated domestic violence prosecutors in the state. Having a banking and finance background she became the Economic Crimes Unit Chief in 2000 and was also part to the Circuit Court Team. She has more than 25 years of experience prosecuting everything from DUIs, arson and complicated homicide cases.