The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office’s decision to terminate its partnership with the city’s flagship anti-violence program is “neither legally required nor factually justified,” according to an outside opinion commissioned by Mayor Brandon Scott.

The opinion, from former Assistant State’s Attorney Tara Barnes, comes less than two weeks after State’s Attorney Ivan Bates released an outside analysis he had solicited that backed his decision to cut ties with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE.

When he announced the split in December, Bates said he’ll still prosecute cases brought through the office’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, but he was critical about what he said is a lack of transparency from MONSE about the services it provides. The “veil of secrecy” the agency operates behind has caused serious concerns about whether prosecutors can comply with disclosure obligations, Bates argued in a letter to Scott.

Not so, Barnes said. She concluded that “neither the sheer proximity of an ‘official partnership’ nor the closeness of a collaboration between MONSE and the state’s attorney even remotely sets the table” for such disclosure requirements, and that they were stretching the interpretation to create a conflict that doesn’t exist.

Unlike police, who work hand-in-glove with prosecutors and whose work must be turned over, “there are no indicators that MONSE functions as an agent for the [State’s Attorney’s Office] in any capacity, let alone as a participant in the investigation or prosecution of an SAO case,” Barnes wrote. ”Disclosure obligations — especially those with Constitutional implication — do not arise merely because information exists somewhere within government, because an entity coordinates with City agencies, or because a relationship can be labeled a ‘partnership.’”

Asked to comment, Bates said: “Sounds like I will see the mayor in court.”

Barnes, who Gov. Wes Moore appointed to the Commission on Judicial Disabilities that investigates and considers discipline for judges, also disagreed that MONSE providing financial assistance to victims constituted potential “impeachment” evidence that must be disclosed to defense attorneys, because “it does not come from, or on behalf, of the SAO.”

To the extent MONSE coordinates with police and prosecutors, who also administer assistance to victims, it’s to avoid duplication of services — “it does not involve directing testimony, shaping witness statements, or influencing prosecutorial decisions,” Barnes wrote.

MONSE, through its victim services arm, provides financial assistance to victims of crime, such as paying for funeral services or providing rental assistance.

Emails obtained via a public information request show staffers for Bates and Scott have sparred for months over the disclosure of records related to financial assistance.

On Jan. 1, after repeated requests from Bates’s staff, J.D. Merrill, Scott’s chief of staff, turned over a list of about 50 people who have received financial benefits from MONSE’s victim services program.

Two days later, Deputy State’s Attorney Tom Donnelly sent an exasperated reply, accusing city officials of withholding a full list of names. Donnelly argued more than 300 people have participated in MONSE’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, making the list inadequate.

“This discrepancy joins a long list of seeming intractable problems with transparency and accuracy of information received from MONSE’s programs,” Donnelly wrote.

Later that day, Merrill wrote back, suggesting Donnelly’s email showed either an “inexplicable” misunderstanding or “malicious intent” to sever the relationship with MONSE.

“Since I know you and your team are gifted lawyers, I am forced to believe it is the latter,” Merrill said.

The list provided by the city included only participants in the victim services program because that was what the state’s attorney’s office requested, Merrill said. The state’s attorney already had access to a broader list of participants in the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, he argued.

“This seems to be a clumsy attempt at ignoring any evidence that challenges your preconceived notions and the politically-motivated outcome leadership in your office seems to desire. ... I respectfully request that your office stop the embarrassing antics of trying to create a nonexistent dispute between our teams and be honest about that fact.”

Bates’ outside legal analysis was conducted by Lydia Lawless, the former bar counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission. She said if prosecutors don’t believe they’re receiving timely and accurate information that they believe they need to disclose, “it should, in the interest of protecting the integrity of its prosecutions and defendants’ Constitutional rights, end its formal partnership with MONSE,” Lawless wrote.

Scott’s office slammed the opinion, calling it biased and based on slanted information provided to her by Bates with the goal of ending the partnership with MONSE.

But the Maryland Office of the Public Defender expressed serious concern about the situation, saying it appeared trials had proceeded “without evidence that could have changed verdicts, sentences or whether charges were brought at all.” Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue said her office would review “affected cases” and seek remedies.

Barnes served as a city prosecutor from 2003 to 2012. She’s also an emeritus chair of the judicial appointments committee for the Maryland State Bar Association.