Meet Roya Hanna

A former prosecutor and gun violence prevention advocate, Roya Hanna is running for Baltimore City State’s Attorney because she believes that we can and must do more to address the biggest challenges Baltimore faces.

Roya’s parents taught her the values of hard work and helping others from an early age. Her father immigrated from Egypt and met her mother in California when he was a professor. They moved to Haiti to help build a school and later joined the State Department so they could continue helping people in other countries. Roya grew up in Haiti, Samoa, Tanzania, Czechoslovakia, Morocco, Canada, and Israel. She attended the University of Maryland and then went on to law school at the University of Maryland.

After graduating from law school, Roya began her career at the National Center for Community Prosecution and Gun Violence Prevention. There she worked with local prosecutors to reduce gun violence in their communities and developed effective prevention programs. Wanting to do more in her own community, Roya became a prosecutor in Baltimore City. She was there for 12 years, trying over 100 jury trials and litigating countless motions. In her time there, she served in the homicide, nonfatal shootings, felony narcotics, misdemeanor, and juvenile units. She tried and convicted gang members and a retired police officer for shooting an unarmed man.

In her last four years in the State's Attorney’s Office, Roya tried murder cases almost exclusively – and she never lost a homicide case. While in homicide, she would respond to the scene and interview witnesses, sometimes in the middle of the night, and guide the investigation to help make the strongest possible case. When dealing with nonviolent crimes, she learned to effectively use the tools that curb the cycle of incarceration, including with diversion programs, substance abuse treatment, and community service.  

Now as a defense attorney, Roya has watched firsthand as some of her clients spend thousands of dollars and lose years of their lives awaiting trial, all for a crime that the state can never prove because there is insufficient evidence. 

Roya spends time working with youth and working to clean up the city, and she is deeply concerned about the declining quality of life that she sees in the city. Roya believes that the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office can and should be doing more to reduce the homicide rate, end senseless gun violence, end human trafficking, increase transparency, and improve the lives of all city residents.