Maryland appellate courts have broad discretion to overturn pre-1980 convictions for violent crimes, as those guilty verdicts in all likelihood resulted from unconstitutional, “advisory” jury instructions, the state’s top court ruled Thursday.

Tagged with: due process State v. Waine Unger v. State

Attorneys for a convicted rapist and the state argued Thursday over whether Maryland appellate courts should routinely order new trials for inmates convicted of violent crimes before 1980 or if their appeals should be uniformly reviewed by circuit courts to determine if the convicts’ due process rights were in fact violated and a retrial is in order.

Tagged with: due process State v. Waine Unger v. State