Prince Frederick courthouse braces for murder trial

It could be one of the most watched trials in the history of Calvert County. The trial of Brandon Ross Holbrook, 49, of Reedsville, Pa., begins March 31 and is expected to last 10 days.

Holbrook is charged with killing Huntingtown resident Joseph Shymanski, 51, at his Calvert County home in early September 2023. Holbrook is accused of then transporting Shymanski’s body to his Pennsylvania home and dismembering it.

Shymanski was a celebrated photographer whose professional base was in Washington, D.C.

His many acquaintances in the nation’s Capitol held a candlelight vigil for Shymanski four days after he was reported missing while authorities in Calvert and Mifflin County, Pa., were conducting their investigations.

“I can’t recall anything bigger,” Burgess Wood, court administrator, told Southern Maryland News.

Wood was not a county employee when the last high profile murder trial was held in 2007 at the Calvert County Courthouse in Prince Frederick. During that proceeding, Graham Buckmaster of Chesapeake Beach, then 60, stood trial for shooting to death of his estranged girlfriend, Lisa Moore.

In that case, the defendant was found guilty after a five-day trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Buckmaster’s attempts to appeal the conviction have been unsuccessful.

For the upcoming trial, Calvert courthouse officials’ plan is to have two separate courtrooms — one where the judge, clerks, attorneys, the defendant and jury will be located and a second for observers and the press, in which the proceedings in the other courtroom can be seen and heard via stream.

On Monday, a jury will be picked, a process that often takes the entire first day of the trial.

Wood said there will be additional security within the courthouse. He confirmed that media outlets, including regional television, have indicated they have plans to provide reports from the trial venue.

While no cameras or recording devices are allowed in the courtrooms, the electronic media will be permitted to report on the proceedings in the outdoor areas adjacent to the courthouse on Main Street and King Street.

“We are trying to direct them to the courtyard,” Wood said. “We are asking they do not block our path to sidewalks.”

With a major trial underway and a massive, ongoing construction project across the street from the circuit courthouse, parking on Main Street will be at a premium. Wood said there was hope the nearby district courthouse on King Street could provide some additional parking, but officials from that facility have not given the OK for that to happen as of earlier this week.

“There will be signage,” in the Main Street/King Street area to direct attendees to available parking, Wood said.

In an email to Southern Maryland News, Anneli Werner, a close friend and colleague of Shymanski, said, “We are expecting several national news programs to be covering the trial.”

On Monday, speaking by phone, Werner said a sizable contingent of Shymanski’s family and friends will be attending the court proceedings.

“We don’t have any experience. We are not knowing what to expect,” Werner said. “We are going to mobilize family and friends to be there every day, almost.”

The blend of family, friends and colleagues have united under the slogan "Justice for Joe" and have rented a house for the duration of the trial.

Acknowledging the testimony given during the trial could be extremely grisly, Werner said, “We’ve been dealing with this for 18 months. We have been braced. This is a very strong group.”

In addition to murder, Holbrook is charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, firearm use in a violent crime and altering physical evidence in a criminal procedure.

On Jan. 26, 2024, the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a notice with the circuit court of its intention to seek life without the possibility of parole for the defendant.

Holbrook’s trial has been previously scheduled and postponed twice.

Last September, Holbrook, through his attorney Thomas C. Mooney, rejected an offer to plead guilty to first-degree murder.

“That would leave the defendant open to the harshest penalty possible,” Mooney told Judge Mark Chandlee during the plea hearing.

Chandlee will preside over next week's trial.

Benjamin G. Lerner and Christopher J. Monte of the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office will be prosecuting the case.

Kurt William Wolfgang, a Leonardtown-based lawyer, is listed in court papers as the “victim’s attorney.”