November 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Supreme Court of Maryland today granted review in two criminal and two civil appeals.
Read More…October 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grant
The Supreme Court of Maryland today granted review today in one case, a petition by the State involving the reach of the Court’s Daubert decision on firearms expert testimony, Abruquah v. State, 483 Md. 637 (2023).
Read More…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…August 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Supreme Court of Maryland today granted review in two civil appeals and one criminal appeal.
Read More…July 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Today the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in three civil appeals and one criminal appeal.
Read More…June 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in two civil appeals and two criminal appeals. The headline case is Santana v. State, in which Judge Nazarian authored a concurrence suggesting the case was an appropriate vehicle for the Supreme Court of Maryland to reconsider the Double Jeopardy standard for when a defendant claims that the State’s recklessness forced a mistrial.
Friday also marked the first time, since Justice Michele Hotten retired from the Supreme Court of Maryland, that certiorari was granted to review an Appellate Court decision she authored.
Read More…Maryland Certiorari Statistics, 2024 Term
The judiciary’s annual statistical reports give the overall grant rate for civil and criminal certiorari petitions. But, because unrepresented (pro se) parties file the majority of petitions each year, the overall statistics are not terribly helpful for lawyers in advising their clients regarding the odds of certiorari.
Below are the statistics for the Court’s 2024 Term (petitions docketed 3/1/2024 to 2/29/2025), alongside the statistics for the 2023 Term (3/1/2023 to 2/29/2024) and 2022 Term (3/1/2022 to 2/28/2023) for comparison.
Read More…May 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Today the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in one civil appeal and two criminal appeals. In two of the opinions under review, Judge Harrell dissented from the Appellate Court’s opinion).
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