A specially assigned prosecutor on Monday dropped the criminal case against Del. Caylin Young, who had been accused of hitting a woman in the chest during an argument on New Year’s Day.

Young, 38, a Democrat from Baltimore, appeared at Eastside District Court for his trial on a charge of second-degree assault. He was charged on Jan. 3 after a woman made the allegations to a district court commissioner, a judicial officer who is not required to have a law degree.

Baltimore County Assistant State’s Attorney John Magee dismissed the case. He explained in detail to Baltimore District Judge Katie M. O’Hara that he believed there was “not sufficient admissible evidence” to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

Magee said he spoke at length with the woman who filed the charges and assigned a detective to investigate her allegations.

The prosecutor said he also reviewed text messages as well as transcripts of testimony from a recent hearing in which a judge denied her request for a protective order against the delegate.

The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office recused itself from the case due to a conflict of interest.

“I’m ready to get back to work,” Young said after the hearing.

Young’s attorney, Robbie Leonard, said Magee essentially delivered what his closing argument would have been at trial.

“You’re not going to hear me say that a prosecutor is 100% correct that many times, but his recitation of the facts was right on,” Leonard said in an interview.

District court commissioners can only rely on what people write in an application for charges, which they swear is true under penalty of perjury.

Advocates maintain that the system provides a critical option to some survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, who might be reluctant to call police or do not believe that law enforcement will take their concerns seriously. The Banner has found that the process can be easily abused and wreck lives.

In 2023, Young faced a charge of second-degree assault after a man told a district court commissioner that the delegate attacked him during an event at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture in Baltimore four months earlier.

But another attendee of the event happened to record cellphone video, which showed that Young did not use physical force. Prosecutors later dropped the case.

Outside the courtroom, Capri Shorter, the woman who alleged Young assaulted her on New Year’s Day, said she was prepared to testify at trial.

Shorter said that while prosecutorial discretion is important, “a victim’s right to have their case heard should not be contingent upon the state’s attorney’s confidence in the likelihood of conviction.”

Domestic violence, she said, is complex. It frequently takes place without witnesses. But “complexity should not equate to silence.”

“I was prepared to submit to the scrutiny that comes with seeking justice,” Shorter said. “Dismissal of my case not only closes my case, it reinforces the fear that many survivors carry that their voices will be weighed not by truth but by the perceived odds of success in a faulty system.”

Through tears, Shorter read from a statement she was going to make to the judge. She stood next to her father, Jeffrey Shorter, chief of Baltimore City School Police.

Young is a longtime friend of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and has twice worked for him.

One week after being charged in the most recent case, Young resigned from his position as deputy director of the Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights.