Edgewater man accused in wife’s killing released on house arrest amid prosecution appeal

A former Navy doctor accused of fatally stabbing his wife in Edgewater will be released on house arrest as Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess continues her appeal of rulings related to her alleged misconduct in the prosecution.

Circuit Judge Mark W. Crooks on Tuesday ordered James Strachan Houston released to his brother’s home in Frederick, where Crooks said the defendant is only allowed to leave for legal appointments and in the company of one of his attorneys or relatives.

It’s exceedingly rare for someone charged with murder to be released from jail ahead of trial, but the ruling followed a hearing Friday in which defense lawyers blasted Leitess for what they described as a series of indiscretions in her role as lead prosecutor on the case.

“We are here solely and exclusively because of the state’s unethical and, quite frankly, criminal behavior in the prosecution of Dr. Houston,” attorney John Robinson said of Leitess.

Crooks dismissed Leitess last May from the prosecution of Houston, whom prosecutors accused of killing his wife, Nancianne, as their polyamorous relationship unraveled in August 2024.

Houston, who sustained critical injuries in the deadly encounter, maintains he acted in self-defense. But prosecutors contend he staged a knife fight, accusing him of using his medical knowledge to inflict gory wounds on himself without risking death.

Crooks determined that Leitess withheld from the defense that a friend of Houston’s had told the state’s attorney that the defendant had reported that Nancianne threatened him with a knife in the past.

He also ruled that Leitess had made herself a witness in the case by speaking to Houston’s friend and approximately 14 other witnesses without another person present.

When the judge found that Leitess had been working on the case after he ordered her not to, he said the prosecutor’s office must create an ethical firewall between the state’s attorney and any prosecutors who continued working on the case. She was not to direct anything about the prosecution other than choosing the attorneys who would try the case, Crooks said.

Leitess, through the Maryland attorney general’s office, appealed her removal from the case and Crooks’ firewall order, filing under a rarely used provision in the law that allows the state to appeal a legal decision before trial. Unlike prosecutors, defendants have wide latitude to appeal legal decisions throughout their case.

The Supreme Court of Maryland recently ruled that Leitess did not have the authority to appeal her removal from the case, but that she could keep arguing about being sidelined from directing her prosecutors. The high court kicked the case back down to the intermediate appeals court for further argument.

Oral arguments are set for September in the Appellate Court of Maryland. If either side is not satisfied with the Maryland Appellate Court’s ruling, they can appeal to the Supreme Court.

In court Friday, Robinson called the appeal “factually frivolous” and said his client is enduring extended incarceration because of the prosecution’s “depth of deception” and “delay.”

When Crooks found out in May that Leitess hadn’t disclosed her conversation with Houston’s friend, he set a “fact finding” hearing to get to the bottom of the prosecution’s efforts to secure the friend’s testimony about Nancianne’s alleged threat and provide it to the defense.

During that hearing, the lead homicide detective invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination when asked if he’d “wiped” his cellphone to erase his communications with Leitess ahead of the hearing.

Crooks also said Friday that testimony about efforts to interview the friend by the detective and Leitess were “diametrically opposed.”

“What she testified to was absolutely not true, it was false, it was a lie,” Robinson said of Leitess.

On Friday, Assistant State’s Attorney David Russell argued that Crooks shouldn’t release Houston because he presents a danger to the public. The prosecutor said Houston stabbed his wife 22 times.

“This is not his self-defense; it’s her trying to defend herself — and fatally," Russell said.

In a statement, William Cockey, a state’s attorney’s office spokesperson, defended Leitess’ appeal.

“The State has the right to appeal legal rulings, and that process is separate from the public safety considerations that guide release decisions,” Cockey said in an email. “We will continue to address these matters through the appropriate legal channels.”

In court Friday, Russell also revealed that prosecutors from Montgomery County would be brought in to handle the case whenever it goes to trial.

Another one of Houston’s lawyers, David Putzi, argued that revelation made Leitess’ appeal irrelevant because she wouldn’t direct prosecutors from Montgomery County.

“The reason we’re here almost nine months later is entirely of the state’s attorney’s making,” Crooks said.

“Just because you can appeal maybe doesn’t mean you should,” he added.