September 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants, Batch 2: The Smell of Retroactivity
This morning saw a surprise second batch of certiorari grants from the Supreme Court of Maryland. Both cases address the retroactivity of the 2023 statute that prohibits “law enforcement officer[s from] initiat[ing] a stop or a search of a person, a motor vehicle, or a vessel based solely on . . . the odor of burnt or unburnt cannabis.” Md. Code, Criminal Procedure § 1-211(a)(1).
In the second of the two cases, Judge Friedman authored a concurring opinion expressing his belief that Appellate Court’s reported opinions, giving the statute prospective-only operation, were wrongly decided. He also noted that other pending appeals raised the same issues.
Read More…September 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in seven cases. The highest-profile case addresses whether the State may pursue an interlocutory appeal in the prosecution of Dr. James Strachan Houston, a retired Navy doctor accused of murdering his wife. And in Walston v. Lindsay, the Court will be addressing another jurisdictional puzzle over the scope of review in District Court appeals to circuit courts (following a puzzle last Term).
Read More…Timing is Everything: Palmer v. State, Reported Opinion by the ACM
On August 28, 2025, the Appellate Court of Maryland published Marconi Palmer, Jr. v. State (No. 1728, September Term, 2023, reported opinion by Beachley), addressing the sufficiency of the evidence in a DUI case. Specifically, the ACM held, as a matter of first impression, that a temporal connection is needed between a defendant’s last operation of a vehicle and his observed intoxication to support a conviction for driving under the influence or impaired by alcohol. Because there was insufficient evidence to prove that Palmer was under the influence at the time of the accident, the ACM reversed the convictions for DUI and DWI. The dissent (Judge Zic) disagrees with the majority’s reliance on the “temporal connection” which comes from out-of-state case law and would have affirmed the convictions because the circumstantial inferences were sufficient for a jury to find that Palmer drove under the influence of alcohol. Stay tuned, this case may go up.
Read More…Maryland’s Justices Trade Red Robes for Black
By Alec Sandler
Guest Contributor
Maryland court watchers may have noticed a change on Friday morning. After wearing their red robes on the first day of arguments for the September 2025 Term, the justices of the Supreme Court of Maryland traded their distinctive red robes for new black ones.
The Court has not made a public comment, but the “opening day” red robes suggest that the justices will continue to wear red robes on ceremonial occasions. Today’s black robes match the nation’s other 49 state supreme courts, whose justices all wear black.
[Update: The Court’s website now explains: “Beginning with the 2025 Term, the Supreme Court of Maryland will be wearing red robes for ceremonial occasions, including the first oral argument day of each term and for bar admissions ceremonies. The Court will return to wearing black robes on most other court days.”]
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Maryland Appellate Blog 