Maryland’s top court will consider whether a judge’s television crime drama-inspired jury instruction that prosecutors need not present forensic evidence to prove guilt was a harmless mistake, given that the victim’s compelling testimony left jurors with no reasonable doubt that the defendant had robbed and assaulted her.

Tagged with: csi effect harmless error Jury instructions

A divided Maryland high court last week reinstated a man’s first-degree felony murder conviction, saying his attorney’s failure to request a jury instruction on the defense of alibi did not affect the jurors’ guilty verdict — even though four people ...

Tagged with: Adnan Syed. Sixth Amendment alibi defene ineffective assistance of counsel Jury instructions

ANNAPOLIS – Saying the jury was improperly instructed on the violent crime’s elements, a divided Maryland high court has overturned the first-degree child abuse conviction of a father who allegedly wrapped his son in plastic and tied his wrists to ...

Tagged with: child abuse expert testimony Jury instructions

State Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks is asking a federal judge to include a jury instruction on entrapment in his bribery and fraud case.

Tagged with: entrapment fraud Jury instructions nathaniel t. oaks

Criminals seeking to overturn post-1980 convictions based on “advisory” jury instructions are out of luck if their attorneys failed to object at trial, court says.

Tagged with: Jury instructions Stevenson v. State Unger v. State

Criminal-defense attorneys say they have lost an arrow in their quiver of methods to challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses who receive benefits in return for their trial testimony.

Tagged with: Jury instructions

A Maryland appeals court has overturned the conviction and 41-year prison sentence of a man accused of sexually abusing a pre-teen neighbor, saying he was denied his constitutional right to adequately cross examine the boy at trial and that the judge’s instruction to the jury improperly presumed a crime had been committed.

Tagged with: child sexual abuse cross-examination Jury instructions

ANNAPOLIS — The judges on Maryland’s top court were unusually silent Tuesday as an attorney for the state urged them to overturn their controversial 2012 decision that reopened courthouse doors to many inmates convicted of violent crimes before 1980. But ...

Tagged with: Jury instructions maryland court of appeals

Pham’s sentence for violation of a protective order by possession of a firearm must merge into his sentence for possession of a regulated firearm. We shall affirm in all other respects.

Tagged with: criminal procedure Howard County Jury instructions merger of sentences sentencing Sept. Term 2013 Wright

Mr. Betskoff raises two questions on appeal. He asks us to review his unpreserved objection to the jury instructions for “plain error” and contends that the circuit court erred in admitting the results of the field sobriety test.

Tagged with: carroll county criminal law evidence Jury instructions Nazarian reasonable doubt Sept. Term 2013