| Office: | United States Attorney for the District of Maryland |
| Term Start: | June 1, 1970 |
| Term End: | March 31, 1975 |
| Predecessor: | Stephen H. Sachs |
| Successor: | Jervis S. Finney |
| President: | Richard M. Nixon Gerald R. Ford |
| George Beall | |
| Birth Name: | George Beall VIII |
| Birth Date: | 17 August 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Frostburg, Maryland |
| Death Place: | Naples, Florida |
| Education: | Princeton University (BA) University of Virginia (LLB) |
| Occupation: | Attorney, prosecutor |
| Father: | J. Glenn Beall |
| Relatives: | J. Glenn Beall Jr. (brother) |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 1 |
| Known For: | Criminal prosecution of Spiro T. Agnew |
George Beall VIII (August 17, 1937 – January 15, 2017) was a prominent U.S. attorney. While serving as United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, he prosecuted Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew for bribery.[1] This prosecution ultimately led to Agnew's resignation as Vice President in 1973.[1]
Beall was born in Frostburg, Maryland, on August 17, 1937, a son of James Glenn Beall and Margaret (Schwarzenbach) Beall.[1] His siblings included John Glenn Beall Jr.[2] [1]
Beall received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1959; and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law,[1] in 1963. His first two marriages, to Linda Jenkins in 1961 and Nancy Roche in 1965, ended in divorces.[3] In 1980, he married Carolyn Campbell. He died in Naples, Florida, on January 15, 2017.[1]
After clerking for Chief Judge Simon E. Sobeloff of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Beall became a trial lawyer for a Maryland law firm.[4] In 1968, Spiro Agnew, the Governor of Maryland at the time, appointed Beall, a fellow Republican, to the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.[5] [1]
Beall was appointed United States attorney in June 1970,[1] initially on an interim basis.[6] Though he had never prosecuted a single case, Beall proved to be, in the words of his predecessor, a "tough act to follow" as United States Attorney for the District of Maryland: among other cases and investigations, he indicted and prosecuted Arthur Bremer for the shooting of presidential candidate, and Governor of Alabama, George Wallace; as well as a state legislator turned drug dealer; and Spiro Agnew, by then the Vice President of the United States.[7]
Two years after Beall took office, he opened an investigation into corruption in Baltimore County of public officials and architects, engineers, and paving contractors.[1] One contractor, Lester Matz, stated that he had been paying "Agnew kickbacks in exchange for contracts for years — first when Agnew was the Baltimore County Executive, then when he was Governor of Maryland and Vice President."[1] Another witness, Jerome B. Wolff, head of Maryland's roads commission, stated that his attic was filled with documentation that detailed "every corrupt payment he participated in with then-Governor Agnew."[1]
Despite being pressured by the White House and his brother (now a senator), Beall continued to allow his investigators to continue their work.[8] Agnew resigned as Vice President and pleaded no contest to tax evasion in the sum of $13,551.47 for 1967.[1] He was fined $10,000 and avoided prison time.[1]
Beall resigned on March 31, 1975,[9] and returned to private practice, specializing in commercial litigation.[1] His clients included the Baltimore Ravens while owned by Art Modell.[1]
In 1978, he worked as campaign chairman for his brother's failed run for Governor of Maryland.[10]
. James M. Cannon. Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History. 1998. University of Michigan Press. 0-472-08482-8. 184.