After more than 30 years in prison, 56-year-old Chris McBride is on track to go home. On April 7, 2026, Frederick County Circuit Court Judge Scott Rolle resentenced McBride to time served plus five years of supervised probation, clearing the way for his release under Maryland’s new Second Look Act.
McBride’s legal team asked the court to revisit his punishment using the 2025 law, which lets some people who were young adults when they committed serious crimes ask a judge to take another look at long sentences.
McBride was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder, after a Frederick County jury found he stabbed Carl Mantack to death in November 1993. He was denied parole in 2020. His attorneys filed a reconsideration petition the same day the Second Look Act took effect, and the case was argued this spring in Frederick County, according to The Baltimore Banner.
How Maryland's Second Look Act Works
The law, passed by the General Assembly in 2025 and effective Oct. 1, 2025, authorizes a circuit court to reduce the duration of a sentence for people who were at least 18 but younger than 25 when they committed the offense and who have served at least 20 years, as laid out in the Maryland General Assembly materials.
A fiscal and policy analysis by the Department of Legislative Services estimated that roughly 656 incarcerated people in the state meet the bill’s eligibility criteria. Before ruling on a petition, judges must weigh factors including the person’s age at the time of the offense, institutional conduct, program participation and evidence of rehabilitation.
Inside the Courtroom
At the April 7 hearing, Judge Rolle formally resentenced McBride to time served plus five years of supervised probation. When the proceedings wrapped up, people in the courtroom broke into applause.
"Don't be the one that blows this for everybody else," Rolle told McBride, according to The Baltimore Banner. Rolle, an associate judge on the Frederick County Circuit Court, then stepped down from the bench and shook McBride’s hand. Maryland Courts lists Rolle as an associate judge in Frederick County.
Prosecutors and Victims' Families
Frederick County prosecutors opposed the resentencing, arguing at the hearing that the parole board had not yet ruled and that public safety and victim interests weighed against early release.
That clash tracks with the broader debate that played out in Annapolis as the Second Look Act moved through the legislature, with opponents warning the law can require victims and families to relive traumatic memories, as The Washington Post reported during the bill's passage.
Legal Ripples Of A Second Look
The statute builds in procedural protections for victims and limits on repeat petitions. Judges must issue written decisions explaining how they weighed the specified factors, petitioners face caps on how often they can refile, and the court may not increase a sentence as part of the review.
The bill text and accompanying fiscal analysis detail those procedures and the victim-safety measures built into the process, including notice and the ability to submit impact statements. The Maryland General Assembly and the Department of Legislative Services analysis explain the statutory framework and limits.
McBride’s release will now be monitored by probation officers under court supervision, and his case is likely to be cited in other Second Look petitions as judges across Maryland start applying the new law. Observers say the coming months will reveal how consistently courts can balance community safety, victims’ interests and the evidence of rehabilitation the legislature intended to bring to the surface.
