Hon. Carlos Acosta

The Honorable Carlos F. Acosta is a Maryland Circuit Court judge sitting in Montgomery County, MD. Prior to this appointment, he was a Maryland State District Court judge. Before going to the bench, he served as Inspector General for the Prince George’s County Police Department. In that role Judge Acosta functioned as the independent authority over the Internal Affairs Division, as well as being responsible to investigate systemic or programmatic issues affecting the police department’s missions. Previously, he served as Deputy State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County and as a Trial Attorney for the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Gang Squad. As a federal prosecutor, he also served as program manager for the Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training program for the Mérida Initiative (Mexico). Judge Acosta has taught at the American University Washington College of Law as an adjunct Associate Professor of Law since 1997. In that capacity, he currently teaches in the Trial Advocacy Program instructing courses in prosecutorial ethics as well as prosecuting complex homicides. Judge Acosta also lectures internationally in diverse areas from international wildlife smuggling to gang prosecution to trial advocacy.