J. CHARLES (CHARLIE) SMITH III, State’s Attorney
Office of State’s Attorney Courthouse
100 West Patrick St., Frederick, MD 21701
(301) 694-1523; fax: (301) 600-2195
e-mail: jcsmith@statesattorney.us
Elected in 2006, J. Charles “Charlie” Smith III is the State’s Attorney for Frederick County, Maryland. He is in his 5th elected term, and currently the longest serving State’s Attorney in Maryland. In 2023, he was elected as President of the National District Attorneys Association.
Born and raised in East Baltimore, State’s Attorney Smith was one of five children of Charles and Norma Smith. He attended Eastern Tech High where football led him to college. Smith graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Finance in 1986. He then pursued a Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law, graduating with Heuisler High honors in 1990.
He began prosecuting cases in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office in 1991. He left prosecution to spend several years in private practice, only to return to prosecuting in the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1998. At that office, he served as the Chief of the Special Victims Unit and as the Office’s Deputy State’s Attorney (First Assistant). During that time, he prosecuted many of his office’s high profile violent crime and death penalty cases and has the distinction of trying the first ICAC (internet crimes against children) case in the State of Maryland.
He is a Past President of the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association and became involved with the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) in 1999 when teaching at the National Advocacy Center (NAC) in Columbia, SC. Over the years, SA Smith taught Trial Advocacy courses, Career Prosecutor courses, as well as other courses such as Cross Examination and Juror Selection, Brady, and Ethics.
In 2015, he was elected by his peers as the NDAA Maryland State Director. As such, SA Smith served on the NDAA Legislative Committee, Investment Committee, and Executive Committee. In 2019, he was elected as NDAA Treasurer, elected as NDAA President-Elect in 2022, and currently serves as President of the NDAA.
SA Smith is very involved in the Frederick County and City communities, serving on numerous Boards such as the Frederick Rescue Mission, Faith House, Frederick Hospice, and Child Advocacy Center.
He is married to his wife, Desiree’ Smith, a recently retired Special Agent for the FBI. They live in Middletown, Maryland where they raised their four children: Mattie, Hank, Delaney, and Carson.