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Former Maryland Public Defender Nancy Forster said she is looking forward to her day in court after she abruptly lost her job last week.

"I can tell you that there is real potential for a lawsuit," she said in an e-mail to The Gazette on Thursday.

Leaders of the legislature's two crime committees said Monday they would consider hearings into Forster's termination last week by the board of trustees that oversees her office.

In an e-mailed statement, Forster said Thursday that Wray McCurdy and Margaret Mead — the two members of the panel that voted for her termination — have "run roughshod over the [Office of the Public Defender] statute and its original intent."

Attempts to reach McCurdy and Mead on Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.

"There need not even be a Public Defender position with (McCurdy and Mead) on the Board since they expect the Public Defender to do everything they say or be fired. I look forward to my day in court," Forster wrote. "They are destroying a well run, efficient and effective agency all because they think they can. They have absolutely NO regard for the indigent clients OPD represents."

Forster will meet with her lawyers today at noon to discuss her options, including a potential lawsuit.

Sen. Brian E. Frosh, chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said he'd consider convening a hearing into the Forster's dismissal.

"I want to see how things shake out," said Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda. "I've heard good things about her replacement. I don't know yet. It's under consideration, let's put it that way."

Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, vice chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the General Assembly could look at the process of the firing, and the composition and size of the board.

"Before we would hold public hearings I would want some legal counsel on what legal effect would have on civil action," said Rosenberg (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore.

Forster has hired Baltimore attorney William H. Murphy Jr. and James McCollum of College Park to represent her.

Neither returned calls for comment Thursday.

On Aug. 20, the three-member Office of Public Defender Board of Trustees voted 2-1 to terminate Forster, according to a statement she sent out. She claimed the meeting was a violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act.

She said she was ordered to terminate "a well-respected African-American District Public Defender, for absolutely no reason."

Forster's statement also said he was asked to perform other "unlawful and wrongful acts." She refused.

The board member who voted against Forster's dismissal was Theresa L. Moore of Camp Springs. An attempt to reach her at her office was unsuccessful.

Elizabeth Julian, the Baltimore city public defender, has been selected acting public defender until a search finds a Forster's replacement, said Kimberlee Schultz, spokeswoman for the public defender's office.

Schultz refused to comment on Forster's assertion about unlawful or wrongful acts, but she said Julian will not be making any changes to the office. "Any changes will be up to whoever becomes the public defender," Schultz said.

Rosenberg called the dismissal "the Thursday night massacre," drawing a comparison to "the Saturday night massacre" when President Nixon ordered the firing of the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal; two resignations followed.

"I think when you're talking about a constitutionally protected guaranteed right, criminal defense for indigent citizens, that it clearly needs a review by more than three gubernatorial appointees," he said.

Among the changes could be the dismantling of the unit that handles death penalty crimes.

"When you're talking about capital punishment, it's critically important to have people who are experts," Frosh said. "The thought of assigning capital cases randomly to any public defender in the queue is unnerving."

Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr., a defense attorney and a Judiciary Committee member, praised Forster's work representing the public defender before the committee.

"I have nothing but the utmost respect for her," said Smigiel (R-Dist. 36) of Elkton. "It takes a lot it a lot of integrity to stand on principle, and it appears from the statement that was released that is what she's doing."