ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The head of the Maryland attorney general's civil rights office has announced he is retiring, a decision that comes in the aftermath of legal problems.

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Carl Snowden released a statement by email Friday saying that he plans to retire effective Jan. 8. Snowden, a longtime Maryland civil rights leader, has a Jan. 7 court date on charges of violating his probation in a 2010 drunken driving case.

Snowden also was convicted last month by a Baltimore jury of misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He received a suspended 60-day sentence and a year of probation.

Snowden had been given probation before judgment in the 2010 case, but the judge erased that after being told it was an illegal sentence because of Snowden's previous probation for driving under the influence in 2003.