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Law digest – 4/1/15
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Criminal Procedure, Consecutive sentences: Where defendant was given consecutive sentences for multiple convictions arising from the same armed robbery, Court of Special appeals properly affirmed circuit court’s imposition of consecutive sentences because, under CR §4-204, imposition of separate consecutive sentences for two convictions of use of handgun in commissio[...]
RONALD QUITMAN ELLIS v. STATE OF MARYLAND
In 1981, Ronald Quitman Ellis (“Ellis”) pled guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter, and the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County imposed sentences for these convictions. Over twenty years later, Ellis challenged the sentences derived from his guilty plea in a motion to correct illegal sentences, identifying problems in […]
Opinions – 3/12/15: Maryland Court of Appeals
Criminal Procedure Eyewitness identification BOTTOM LINE: The extrajudicial photo identification of the defendant was not impermissibly suggestive where the photographs of four of the six individuals in the photographic array were slightly elongated in the face and torso. CASE: Smiley v. State, No. 37, Sept. Term, 2014 (filed Mar. 9, 2015) (Judges Barbera, Harrell, BATTAGLIA, […]
Law digest – 3/5/15
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Criminal Law, Rule of Lenity: Where there were two overlapping, but not identical, criminal offenses prohibiting individuals previously convicted of certain drug-related crimes from possessing certain types of firearms, the prosecutor had discretion to charge the defendant with the offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty without possibility of parole; therefore, th[...]
Opinions – 2/26/15: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Criminal Law Resisting arrest BOTTOM LINE: Evidence was sufficient to support defendant’s conviction for resisting arrest where jury credited police officers’ testimony that, when arresting officers asked defendant to stand and place her hands behind her back, she refused and struggled with officers as they attempted to handcuff her and continued to refuse to submit […]
Opinions – 2/26/15: Maryland Court of Appeals
Labor & Employment Exhaustion of internal union remedies BOTTOM LINE: When a union member claimed that his union and a fellow union member were liable for defaming him and sought monetary damages, the union’s internal remedies, which did not provide monetary damages, were inadequate and the union member was not required to exhaust them before […]
Opinions 2/18/15: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Criminal Procedure Jury instructions BOTTOM LINE: In defendant’s trial for murder, attempted murder and assault, circuit court erred in giving the jury a supplemental instruction on transferred intent after closing arguments because the instruction did not cure an error or confusion on the part of the jury but instead forced the defendant to respond […]
Law digest – 2/5/15
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Contract Law, Letters of intent: Letter of intent was enforceable as a binding contract because the plain language of the letter demonstrated that the parties intended to be bound and it expressed definite agreement on all material terms. Falls Garden Condominium Ass’n v. Falls Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., No. 30, Sept. Term, […]
Opinions – 2/5/15: Maryland Court of Appeals
Contract Law Letters of intent BOTTOM LINE: Letter of intent was enforceable as a binding contract because the plain language of the letter demonstrated that the parties intended to be bound and it expressed definite agreement on all material terms. CASE: Falls Garden Condominium Ass’n v. Falls Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., No. 30, Sept. Term, 2014 […]
Law digest – 1/28/15
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Criminal Procedure, Probation: Probation agent’s instruction — that defendant, who was released early from prison subject to mandatory supervision, comply with a condition of mandatory supervision by submitting to a polygraph test — was not outside the ambit of the condition of probation to obey probation agent’s lawful instructions; nor did […]
Opinions – 1/28/15: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Constitutional Law Separation of powers BOTTOM LINE: District court properly dismissed plaintiff’s lawsuit against the U.S. government for damages for the accidental killing of her husband and the intentional sinking of plaintiff’s fishing vessel during a NATO counter-piracy mission; allowing the action to proceed would thrust the courts into the middle of a sensitive […]
Opinions – 1/28/15: Maryland Court of Appeals
Criminal Procedure Probation BOTTOM LINE: Probation agent’s instruction — that defendant, who was released early from prison subject to mandatory supervision, comply with a condition of mandatory supervision by submitting to a polygraph test — was not outside the ambit of the condition of probation to obey probation agent’s lawful instructions; nor did it […]
