About Judge Donnell W. Turner
On September 1, 2022, Judge Donnell W. Turner was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to
be an Associate Judge of Prince George’s County Circuit Court. Prior to his appointment, Judge
Turner was vetted by more than a dozen bar associations from Prince George’s County and
around Maryland. Since taking the bench, Judge Turner has presided over a variety of serious
criminal, civil, and family law cases. In addition to his regular duties on the bench, Judge Turner
currently serves on the Judicial Council’s Equal Justice and Court Access Committees.
Judge Turner is a native Prince Georgian who attended Prince George’s County Public Schools,
including his alma mater, Parkdale High School, in Riverdale, Maryland. He is also a graduate
of the University of Maryland at College Park with a B.S. in Finance, and he obtained his law
degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Judge Turner’s legal career spans over 30 years, including more than 25 years in public service.
After spending the first several years of his career practicing labor and employment law, Judge
Turner joined the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office as an Assistant State’s
Attorney, where he prosecuted hundreds of felony and misdemeanor cases, including homicides,
sexual assaults, and robberies. Judge Turner later became a federal prosecutor, having served as
an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and as a Trial Attorney in the
Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice. During his tenure at DOJ, Judge
Turner investigated and prosecuted numerous international drug trafficking, money laundering,
and corruption cases. Throughout his career as a prosecutor, Judge Turner has tried over one
hundred jury trials in state and federal courts. In addition, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Judge
Turner served as appellate counsel on behalf of the United States.
After spending more than a decade at DOJ, Judge Turner returned to the Prince George’s County
State’s Attorney’s Office, where he served initially as Deputy State’s Attorney, and later as
Principal Deputy State’s Attorney. As Principal Deputy, he oversaw an office of over 200
employees, including 100 attorneys. In addition to his administrative duties, Judge Turner
continued to prosecute serious criminal cases, including homicides, white collar, and police
misconduct cases. Then, in 2018, Judge Turner was appointed as Inspector General of the Prince
George’s Police Department by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. In this role, Judge Turner
was responsible for detecting and preventing waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and
misconduct within the Department, in addition to identifying and ensuring best practices and the application of fair, constitutional policing in Prince George’s County. During this period, Judge Turner also served as the inaugural Director of the Prince George’s County Office of Integrity, Compliance, and Police Accountability, in which he was responsible for overseeing two agencies that were created by the Maryland legislature in 2021 to address matters related to police oversight and accountability, the County Police Accountability Board and the Administrative Charging Committee.
Judge Turner’s commitment to public service also includes serving on the Board of Directors of
Community Legal Services of Prince George’s County, and the Prince George’s County Bar
Association, as well as membership on the Maryland State Bar Association’s Judicial
Appointments Committee, and the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission’s Peer Review Committee. Judge Turner also volunteers with the First Tee Junior Golf Program of Greater
Washington, D.C., the Maryland High School Mock Trial Competition, and the Charm City
Classic Mock Trial Competition. In addition, from 1998 until 2017, Judge Turner taught as an
adjunct professor at Prince George’s Community College. Judge Turner currently resides in
Bowie.