October 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
By Steve Klepper (Twitter: @MDAppeal)
Six days after granting expedited review of a Baltimore City ballot dispute, the Court of Appeals issued its regularly scheduled monthly batch of certiorari grants. The five grants include Norman v. State (previously covered by Chris Mincher as part of his COSA Dissent Watch feature), involving pat-downs of passengers when officers smell marijuana during a traffic stop. Continuing the theme of impaired driving, the Court of Appeals accepted two petitions by the MVA in cases where drivers refused intoxication tests. The entire list, including questions presented, appears after the jump. Read More…
Maryland high court grants expedited hearing for Baltimore City Council ballot
By Steve Klepper (Twitter: @MDAppeal)
This past Thursday, which seems like a political lifetime ago, the Court of Appeals of Maryland granted certiorari in the following case:
Linda H. Lamone, et al. v. Ian Schlakman, et al. – Case No. 50, September Term, 2016
Issue – Election Law – Did the trial court err in entering an ex parte temporary restraining order that requires the Appellants to remove the name of a qualified candidate from the ballot in Baltimore City Councilmanic District No. 12 for the 2016 General Election?
The Court of Appeals will hear the argument at a special sitting on October 18.
Green Party nominee Ian Schlakman and independent candidate Frank W. Richardson filed suit against the State Administrator of Elections, seeking to remove Dan Sparco (a self-described “Unaffiliated Democrat”) from the ballot. According to an August article by the Baltimore Sun’s Luke Broadwater, Sparaco “acknowledges he missed the state’s deadline,” but he “gained access to the ballot through his own federal lawsuit, which alleged that Maryland’s February filing deadline was unconstitutionally too early.” Sparaco “agreed to drop his suit once State Board of Elections officials agreed to let him on the ballot if he gathered enough signatures.” Read More…
Another September 2016 Certiorari Grant
Though the usual collection of Court of Appeals certiorari grants came a little earlier than expected this month, the judges’ regularly scheduled monthly conference did result in one more:
State of Maryland v. Douglas Ford Bey II – Case No. 48, September Term, 2016
Issue – Criminal Law – Did CSA err in concluding that Criminal Law § 3-315, which prohibits engaging in a continuing course of conduct with a child, prohibits more than one conviction and sentence per victim, regardless of the duration of the abuse or the type of sexual acts committed?
Bey poses some interesting questions of interpretation that prompted a short concurrence by Judge Friedman in the lower appellate court. (The Court also summarily granted certiorari and remanded to the Court of Special Appeals the case of Antwann Gibson v. State of Maryland – Case No. 48, September Term, 2016.)
August 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
It’s been a slightly elongated layover since the Maryland Court of Appeals made their July certiorari decisions, but, with nine new cases, it’s clear the gears are starting to grind for the upcoming term. Included in the mix is Johnson v. State (we called it!), the much-publicized prosecution for the murder of Phylicia Barnes that ended in acquittal… or did it? Some big double-jeopardy questions in that one for the Court to figure out. Check out the rest of the grants after the jump.
July 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals went only 2½ weeks between conferences. But we still get new cert grants! This round will need to hold us for a while, because the next conference is August 18.
The biggest news is that the Court of Appeals will directly review the Hogan Administration’s appeal of an injunction entered against it in a dispute regarding the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission. The full list of grants, with questions presented, appears after the jump.
June 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are here, but the Court of Appeals of Maryland is still hard at work, cranking out another batch of certiorari grants. Does heading out into the stifling, stuffy heat make you feel like you’re suffocating? Well, have hope: The Court is going to figure something out about toxic air pollutants in commercial parks. Also in the slate: questions about voir dire, searching for records subject to the Public Information Act, and the writ of actual innocence. See the full lineup after the jump.
May 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals of Maryland has posted its certiorari grants from its May 19 conference. This month’s list is unusually heavy on civil cases, with only one criminal appeal compared to four civil appeals. Perhaps most notably, Seley-Radtke v. Hosmane addresses the burden of proof in defamation actions brought by private individuals. The full list appears after the jump. Read More…
April 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals of Maryland has posted its certiorari grants from yesterday’s conference. The biggest news is that the Court will review the decision of the Court of Special Appeals holding that, under the Supreme Court’s decision in Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Motor Vehicle Administration properly rejected a “MIERDA” vanity plate. Alan Sternstein’s December post criticizing the Court of Special Appeals decision is here.
The full list of grants, with questions presented, appears after the jump. Read More…
March 2016 Maryland certiorari grants
At this point, that the Court of Appeals of Maryland is intent on taking fewer cases is old news, but it still feels a little jarring when (essentially) only three cases get through in a month. On Friday, the Court agreed to hear questions regarding polling of jurors, declaratory judgment actions, and expert testimony for certain types of DNA evidence. Check out the specifics after the jump.
February 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
For those staying on top of the prosecutions of the police officers implicated in the death of Freddie Gray — which Michael Wein has been covering for the Blog — last week was a big development, as the Maryland Court of Appeals postponed their trials to consider (assuming the issue is even properly appealed at all) whether defendant William Porter can be compelled to testify in those trials if his testimony won’t be used in his own upcoming retrial. As the story has been reported pretty much everywhere, we won’t recount all the details here; instead, we’ll note that, the day after the Court’s decisions, it released a bunch of other certiorari grants spanning some noteworthy issues. Check them out after the jump.
Maryland Appellate Blog 