After providing only tenuous evidence linking Baumgarten to the crime scene, the State failed to show any other evidence that he was with Marketti on the day of the crime.

Tagged with: criminal law criminal procedure Howard County Sept. Term 2013 sufficiency of the evidence theft Zarnoch

Allowing trial judges to unilaterally reclassify the status of an individual’s driver’s license and bypass the MVA system severely impedes the ability of the MVA to monitor which Maryland-licensed drivers are currently permitted to drive.

Tagged with: Berger criminal procedure driver's license juries Montgomery County probation Sept. Term 2013 voir dire

If the General Assembly had intended to make a 10-year or 25-year sentence enhancement a prerequisite to a 40-year sentence enhancement, it would have expressly required a previous term of confinement of 10 or 25 years. It did not do so. Sentencing appellant as a fourth-time offender fulfilled the legislature’s intent to punish more harshly recidivist felony drug offenders.

Tagged with: criminal procedure Eyler_D sentencing Sept. Term 2013

Notwithstanding the Department of Corrections' written assurances to the contrary, there is currently a judgment requiring Doe to register as a sex offender—a judgment that, in light of Doe I and Doe II, is wrong.

Tagged with: baltimore city constitutional law criminal procedure Kehoe Sept. Term 2011

Appellant filed a petition for a writ of actual innocence and requested a hearing. Appellant asserted that the court improperly instructed the jury as to the mens rea required for the crime of attempted murder. The court denied appellant’s petition without a hearing. Appellant presents one issue: Whether the lower court erred by failing to grant a hearing on the merits.

Tagged with: criminal procedure Jury instructions Meredith Prince George's County res judicata Sept. Term 2010 writ of actual innocence

Appellant presents the following questions for our consideration: I. Did the trial court err by refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of mistake of fact? II. Did the trial court err in instructing the jury on the defense of honest belief?

Tagged with: criminal procedure jury instruction Sept. Term 2013 Thieme Wicomico County

The testimony at issue was a single response to a question asked during crossexamination. The court’s offer of a curative instruction was declined by defense counsel.

Tagged with: criminal procedure mistrial Sept. Term 2013 Sharer worcester county

Convicts released on probation must comply with the “lawful instructions” of their probation agents, Maryland’s top court has unanimously ruled in sending a convicted kidnapper and sex offender back to prison to serve out the remaining six years of his 20-year sentence.

Tagged with: criminal law criminal procedure probation

The court sentenced appellant, as a subsequent offender, to one year with all but ten days suspended for driving while impaired, and sixty days, concurrent, for refusing to take a breathalyzer test.

Tagged with: criminal procedure sentencing Sept. Term 2013 Thieme washington county

By twice indicating his acceptance and satisfaction with the jury as empaneled, without qualification, appellant waived appellate review of his claim that the State exercised its peremptory challenges in violation of Batson; however, his convictions should have merged for sentencing purposes.

Tagged with: Baltimore County constitutional law criminal procedure juries merger sentencing Sept. Term 2013 Sharer