Criminal procedure — Illegal sentence — Merger of first-degree assault and attempted first-degree murder
A jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County found Craig Smith, appellant, guilty on charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and first-degree burglary. The court sentenced appellant to serve forty years for attempted murder, a concurrent twenty years for assault, and a consecutive twenty years for burglary. In his timely filed appeal, appellant raises two questions for our consideration:
1. Did the circuit court err by failing to comply with Maryland Rule 4-215(e)?
2. Must the sentence for first-degree assault merge into the sentence for attempted first degree murder?