Tough justice: Sause honored by judiciary

Sause was appointed a judge in the Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court in 1988 and served until his retirement in October 2003, when he also stepped down as Chief Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, where he’d presided for a year over Cecil, Caroline, Kent, Talbot, and Queen Anne’s counties.

Beyond orchestrating the rules of law, Sause was remembered as a man of history, credited in helping secure a number of roadside markers throughout the county. A founding director of the Queen Anne’s County Historical Society in 1960, he also was a member of the Commission on Artistic Property and the chairman of the Centreville Heritage Commission from 1983 to 1991.

In a similar vein, Sause acted as both an observer and recorder of history, owning at one time The Queen-Anne’s Record-Observer, The Bay Times, and the Chester River Press. For several years, he was also part owner of The Star Democrat.

While a private funeral service for friends and family was held in December, April’s public memorial, which was recorded by QACTV, served as a professional, yet personal farewell in a familiar environment: the courtroom Sause guided for 15 years.

Sause’s wife of 58 years, Judy, and their son Barclay sat together in the jury box.

Beginning with a prayer from the Rev. Mary Friel of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, the witnessing band of clerks, colleagues and county officials stood as the memorial’s honorable speakers made their entrance: Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals Joseph Getty, QA Circuit Court Judge Lynn Knight, Court of Appeals Judge Brynja Booth, QA District Court Judge Frank Kratovil, and retired QA Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ross.

Getty, on his last day before retirement, joined Knight on the bench to remember his friend and colleague. Remarking how historians look for the meaning of life through past records, experiences and sources, and how lawyers look for the meaning of the law through precedent, Getty said in celebrating Sause, one honors not just a lawyer, but a historian as well.

The other judicial speakers, many of whom stood before Sause as defenders or prosecutors, remembered the late judge as an ardent, almost idealistic believer in the system — someone who demanded top-to-bottom efficiency in operations not for the purpose of self-righteousness, but because, as he said, “the law has no reason for being other than to serve the public.”

Remembering his own entrance and stay in the “House of Sause” — a cultural and legal shift from his earliest days of practice in Prince George’s County — Kratovil recalled having to adjust from operating within several courtrooms with several justices to working in a “one horse town.” The current District Court judge, like many of the day’s speakers, remembered Sause as someone who demanded both professionalism and production; Booth said arguing in front of Sause felt like arguing in Annapolis.

In fact, throughout the service, the two rules regularly cited as the keys to successfully steering a Sause case were to: No. 1, be on time, and No. 2, be prepared.

In an interview, Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Lance Richardson said that while it was important to remember Sause as a brilliant, tough and fair interpreter of the law, it was equally important for him to remember the judge’s wit and humor.

Richardson, who first started trying cases before Sause in the mid 1990s, remembered seeing some of his colleagues used as “cannon fodder” by the judge. But because he followed the rules, he said Sause appreciated him, unlocking a relationship filled with advice and, when appropriate, teasing.

Richardson recalled one jury trial in which he and Sause were involved. One of the prospective jurors not only knew Richardson in high school, but was the statistician for the wrestling team. Richardson was the captain. Sause was surprised by the attorney’s athleticism and proceeded to tell all his clients about it for the next decade, Richardson said.

Despite the late judge’s well-examined tough side, Richardson said the lawyers weren’t the only subjects of Sause’s wit. When the jury and witnesses weren’t around, Sause would engage with the defendants as well, Richardson said.

“They would go in front of this man petrified because of his reputation, and then he would start joking with them … and being kind to them,” Richardson said. “They weren’t sure what to make of it.”

Despite that humor, both Richardson and Sheriff Gary Hofmann described Sause as someone you would only, as a defendant, want to step before once. They said Sause was more than willing to give someone a second chance — with the exception of drug dealers, who both men recalled being subject to severe sentences — but said if they appeared in the “house” again, they would be held accountable.

“He was the judge who always gave the youth a chance,” Hofmann said. “He would listen to you once, but you wouldn’t want to go back in front of him a second time.”

Scott MacGlashan, who served as Clerk of the Circuit Court for eight years, through the judge’s 2003 retirement, said he felt Sause’s work on juvenile cases was his best.

MacGlashan commended Sause’s composure in presiding over tough situations. He remembered one custody battle in which he and Sause encountered the child in question on their way to lunch. The judge noticed he had two different shoes on, and when they spoke to the boy, he said each of his parents gave him a pair of shoes, and he didn’t want to make either mad.

MacGlashan said there have been few occasions where he was left speechless, and that interaction was one of them.

He acknowledged Sause’s devotion to “good common sense” as a guiding light in his judicial practice. Proud of the work they accomplished together — including the technological modernization of the court — MacGlashan said being fair to people, the “common” lesson Sause imparted, became a part of his own career.

“He and I both worked for the people. Not the other way around,” MacGlashan said in an interview. “Sometimes that gets lost, I think.”