Criminal Law Supplemental jury instructions BOTTOM LINE: The circuit court did not err in giving a supplemental jury instruction, patterned upon the definition of consent set forth in the model second-degree rape instruction, in response to a jury question asking ...

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As young lawyers, we are often expected to push our comfort zone, which can mean taking on new matters to gain experience and advance in our profession. We all have our “firsts”– our first business transaction, our first trial, our ...

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Constitutional Law Capital punishment BOTTOM LINE: The Maryland death penalty statute, which allows the jury to find by a preponderance of the evidence that aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances, did not violate defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. ...

Tagged with: baltimore city capital punishment confrontation clause constitutional law criminal law maryland court of appeals

With the challenges of training behind me, I still felt no relief running dockets on my own. I had relied too heavily on the guidance of my trainer in fashioning plea offers. There is no formula to it; rather, a ...

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Administrative Law Historic preservation BOTTOM LINE: Where homeowner obtained permission from city historic preservation commission to replace his front porch with wood columns, commission’s decision denying his application for after-the-fact certificate of approval of fiberglass columns was not premised on ...

Tagged with: administrative law criminal law criminal procedure historic preservation Maryland Court of Special Appeals

Two weeks after I began in the state’s attorney’s office, the empty cubicle to my left became occupied by Pedro Shultz, a former law clerk with the judge I clerked for. Pedro was a former courtroom clerk and decided to ...

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In a time of economic uncertainty, more and more attorneys are venturing into fields they’ve never practiced. Recently, I witnessed an attorney well known for doing estate work handling a major traffic matter. This in itself is not an improper ...

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Administrative Law Appeals BOTTOM LINE: In a declaratory judgment action in which plaintiff raised administrative procedure issues relating to defendant’s standing to challenge a decision by the County Planning Board, the Court of Appeals was unable to reach the issues ...

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“You gotta grow a thick skin pretty fast in this line a work,” he said. I turned around and there stood a police officer leaning on the door to the liaison’s office where my showdown with seersucker ensued. He stood ...

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One of the most controversial issues facing the United States is the topic of immigration. Making the topic so difficult to discuss rationally is the complexity of the issue: Who deserves to get in? Who doesn’t? What do we do with those ...

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