Charges dropped against Abrams, Owen-Williams

Two former candidates had an altercation after GOP meeting in November

Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Douglas F. Gansler (D) asked Frederick County to appoint a special prosecutor to try the case to avoid any conflict of interest. Frederick prosecutors dismissed the charges in Montgomery County District Court on Friday.

The clash can be traced back to Oct. 2, when Owen-Williams dropped out of the County Council race to make room on the Nov. 7 ballot for Abrams. Abrams lost in the Sept. 12 GOP primary for state comptroller and sought a place on the GOP ticket in the County Council at-large race.

Owen-Williams said he withdrew to keep county GOP Chairman and at-large council candidate Tom Reinheimer from stepping aside for Abrams. Owen-Williams also claimed Abrams agreed to pay him $5,000 to cover his time and campaign expenses.

Abrams lost the County Council bid in an election that saw every Republican candidate in Montgomery County defeated.

After the Nov. 13 meeting, Owen-Williams followed Abrams to ask when he would be paid. In their criminal complaints, both men accused the other of grabbing him by the throat after a heated exchange. Owen-Williams, 42, also said that Abrams made racially charged remarks by calling him ‘‘boy” and that Abrams threatened to file criminal charges if he did not forgive the campaign debt. Both men were charged with second-degree assault, and Abrams, 63, also was charged with attempt to extort money through an accusation.

Last week, Owen-Williams said it was in the ‘‘interest of justice” for prosecutors to dismiss the charges.

‘‘Clearly the charges he filed against me were retaliatory,” Owen-Williams said. Since it was unlikely Abrams would have received any sentence other than probation if convicted, it was not worth proceeding with the case, Owen-Williams said.

‘‘Life is full of harsh realities, and one of those harsh realities is I’m probably not going to receive the money I’m owed,” he said.

Abrams said Friday that he had never agreed to pay Owen-Williams $5,000 for his campaign expenses. Owen-Williams filed paper work with the elections board showing his campaign expenditures were less than $1,000 that other contributors expressed interest in paying until the assault charges were entered.

‘‘I’ve always been a team player for the Republican Party, interested in building up the county party,” Abrams said. ‘‘The county and the state party’s finances...are in a shambles.”

Abrams said that the county GOP needs to rebuild from the ground up, but he is uncertain if he wants to be a part of the effort because of the charges and accusations made against him.

‘‘I’ve never been physically accosted in all my years,” Abrams said. ‘‘I was literally stunned by the whole thing that was going on.”

Abrams said when he referred to Owen-Williams as a ‘‘boy,” ‘‘it certainly was not done with any racial intent.”