Mary Ann Ince

Mary Ann, born to Christian Joseph "Joe" Rapp and Mary Margaret Rapp on May 31, 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was the oldest of 6 siblings.

She was a loving mother and wife, an established appellate lawyer, a pianist, a mentor and a good friend to many.

Mary Ann received her music degree from Loyola University of New Orleans specializing in piano and graduated from Duquesne University Law School with a Juris Doctorate. She started her law career with the District Attorney’s office in Pittsburgh. After a period in private practice she joined the Pennsylvania Superior Court. In 1990 she joined the Maryland Attorney General’s office, from which she retired as the Deputy Attorney General of the Maryland Criminal Division in 2018. She was awarded the J. Joseph Curran, Jr. Exceptional Career Service Award.

Mary Ann’s love for advocacy resulted in her joining The Order of Barristers, an organization that encourages oral advocacy and brief writing at Duquesne University. In Maryland alone, she wrote over 1,000 briefs in the appellate courts and represented the State in nearly 200 cases that resulted in reported opinions. A small sample of the impact she has made includes: defending the State in Scott v. State, the seminal Court of Appeals case defining the “law of the case doctrine”; successfully challenging the Court of Special Appeals’ opinion in State v. San Martin Prado saving hundreds of convictions from reversal; and convincing the US Supreme Court to summarily reverse the Court of Appeals in Maryland v. Kulbicki.

She held license to practice law in the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and at the Federal level the US Supreme Court, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the MD District Court. She was also a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and Tarrant County Bar Association.

Mary Ann is survived by her husband Ilhan Ince, daughter Aylin Ince, mother Mary Margaret Rapp and siblings Kathleen Smith, Joan Owen, Chris Harvey, Joseph Rapp and Margaret Slade.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers contributions may be made in Mary Ann’s honor to Stand Up to Cancer or MD Anderson Cancer Center.

An online guestbook is available at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/grapevine-tx/mary-ince-8786833