2018 Champions of Children Conference 

C.T. Wilson was born and raised in the Midwest. Throughout his early childhood, he was moved in and out of foster homes and orphanages. In his early adolescence, he was placed in a permanent home. Despite a difficult childhood, he learned that obstacles meant to limit him could be turned into opportunities. Outside of the office, he describes the best part of his life as his family and his 3 daughters.

At the age of 18, to escape poverty, he joined the United States military as an enlisted combat soldier. It was the military that taught him the true value of justice, discipline and hard work.  He served in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia Herzegovina in both the combat and medical units. After 7 years, he was honorably discharged.

Wilson was accepted into Upper Iowa University where he graduated with a 4.0 grade point average and with cum laude distinction, obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Subsequently, he went on to continue his education at Howard University School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor and was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2003.

Soon after obtaining his admittance to the Maryland Bar, Wilson began working as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County. Shortly thereafter, he became the Chief Prosecutor in his district. He worked as prosecutor for Prince George’s County for approximately 7 years. After Wilson left the State’s Attorney’s Office, he began work as a solo practitioner with a focus in criminal defense. He opened his law firm the Law Offices of C.T. Wilson, LLC in April of 2012.       

In 2010, Wilson was elected to represent the 28th District in the House of Delegates at the Maryland General Assembly. During his first term, which officially began in 2011, he served on the Environmental Matters Committee and as a member of the Black, Democratic, and Veterans Caucuses. Delegate Wilson brought has brought forth several pieces of legislation that have become law including legislation that provided a 5 year extension to the age eligibility for an exemption from tuition for foster care recipients.

At present, he is serving his second term as State Delegate and continues to advocate for issues that he is passionate about including child abuse, foster youth, and veterans. During Session 2015, his bill to make March 30th Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day a holiday was the first piece of legislation signed into law by Governor Hogan. In addition, during this session he was assigned to the Economic Matters Committee and went on to become the House Chair of the Veterans Caucus. Wilson was also assigned to the Banking, Economic Development, Science and Technology, Business Regulation, and Consumer Protection and Commercial Law Subcommittees of the Economic Matters Committee and the Joint Committee on Cyber security, Information Technology and Biotechnology.

 In the Session that followed, Wilson held the first Annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day Reception in the House Office Building which hosted Vietnam Veterans and the Maryland Secretary for Veterans Affairs. In Session 2017, Wilson was appointed as the Chair of the Business Regulations Subcommittee and also sponsored two new events, the first event is the 1st Annual Veterans Legislative Day in Annapolis which allowed Maryland veterans to come down to the House Office Building where they could learn about legislation brought forth concerning them and meet legislators to discuss their concerns.  The Second Event is Foster Youth Day in Annapolis 2017 and this event gave foster youth from all over Maryland to meet with their representatives and shadow them for a period of time throughout a regular legislative day.

Over the 7 years during his tenure at the House of Delegates, Wilson has introduced a total of 62 and supported 435 pieces of legislation.  During Session 2017, Wilson re-introduced a few pieces of legislation which he has been advocating to get through the Assembly for the past couple of years including HB 642 – Civil Actions – Child Sexual Abuse – Statute of Limitations and Required Findings, HB 1389 - Income Tax - Subtraction Modification - Military Retirement Income - Individuals at Least 65 Years Old, and HB 1422 - Income Tax Check off - Maryland Veterans Trust Fund. In addition, he introduced other bills such as HB 1258 – Criminal Law – Assault in the Second Degree – Educators and HB 1401 – Vehicle Laws – Special Registration Plate – United States Armed Forces.

Of the 11 pieces of legislation brought forth during Session 2017, there is one that stood out from the rest. For this particular session it was call House Bill 642 – Civil Actions – Child Sexual Abuse – Statute of Limitations and Required Findings, however, this is not the first bill number that has been attached to a statute of limitations bill that Wilson has fought for. For the past 3 years, C.T. Wilson has been fighting to extend the statute of limitations in civil action cases for victims of child sexual abuse. Each time that Wilson would bring forth this legislation and despite his impassioned testimony as to the effects that child sexual abuse can inflict, his attempts were blocked by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee at the request of the Catholic Church.

 In light of Wilson’s personal connection to the issue and his own story that he bravely chose to share during his testimony to persuade his fellow legislators the simple request of granting the victims of this heinous acts more time, he garnered the attention not only from the news media but also from other victims who thanked him for his work and plead him to keep fighting on their behalf. Every year since the year Wilson introduced legislation to extend the statute of limitations, there have been local news stories covering his fight against the Judiciary Committee and the Catholic Church, and 2017 was no exception. Wilson was asked to participate in a documentary series that is now on Netflix known as The Keepers for his efforts to change the law surrounding child sexual abuse at the state level. This series discusses the unsolved murder of a nun named Sister Cathy Cesnik and the suspicion of the concealment of sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest at the school where this nun was a teacher. For his own part, Wilson divulged his struggle to get this legislation passed and the obstacles therein posed by the Catholic Church. His latest attempt to create the opportunity for some justice for victims of child sexual abuse, however, took a surprising turn and Wilson was able to work with the Catholic Church to amend the bill and get it passed through the legislature to go on to be signed into law by the governor becoming Chapter 12.

 

For more information about the Netflix documentary series The Keepers, please visit their website at: http://thekeepersimpact.com/