Petitions for Writ of Certiorari -- January 2017

PETITIONS FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

September Term, 2016

Granted January 9, 2017

Sadie M. Castruccio v. The Estate of Peter A. Castruccio et al. - Case No. 79, September Term, 2016

Issues – Estates & Trusts - 1) Is a Will validly executed if (a) the witnesses did not sign on the same page as the testator, or on one physically connected to it, (b) the Will contained no proper attestation clause, and (c) the Will was not otherwise regular on its face because it expressly stated the pages were initialed but they were not? 2) Can a presumption of due execution attach to such a Will, where the only confirmation that the witnesses signed in the presence of the testator is a common font and consecutive page numbering? 3) Can summary judgment as to the validity of the Will properly be granted where two of the witnesses testified the Will was stapled when they signed, and one testified the pages were initialed, but the Will submitted for probate was never stapled or initialed?

Bashawn Montgomery Ray v. State of Maryland - Case No. 81, September Term, 2016

Issues – Criminal Law – 1) Under this Court’s decisions in Cuffley v. State, 416 Md. 568 (2010) and Baines v. State, 416 Md. 204 (2010), which require that a plea agreement is construed according to what a reasonable lay person in the defendant’s position would have understood it to mean, would a reasonable lay person understand a “cap of four years on executed incarceration” to mean that the court could impose suspended time in addition to a four-year term of non-suspended incarceration? 2) Where the trial court bound itself to a “cap of four years on executed incarceration,” but the term “executed” was never explained to Petitioner and he was never informed that the court could impose suspended time in addition to incarceration for up to four years, and the court sentenced him to ten years’ incarceration, with six years suspended, is the sentence imposed on Petitioner illegal?

Eddie Lee Savage, Jr. v. State of Maryland - Case No. 82, September Term, 2016

Issues – Criminal Law – 1) Did CSA err when it concluded that the defense expert’s neuropsychological examination and DSM-IV diagnosis based on a standard battery of tests were subject to Frye-Reed? 2) Where the unrefuted evidence presented at the Frye-Reed hearing established that the defense expert’s methodology consisted of “validated measures that have scientific acceptance and approval within the community of neuropsychologists” and Petitioner was diagnosed under the DSM-IV, did CSA err when it concluded that the defense failed to meet the Frye-Reed standard? 3) Did CSA err when it affirmed the trial court’s exclusion of the defense expert’s conclusion that Petitioner “views the world through an untrusting and suspicious perspective, and often is hyper-vigilant to possible threats”? 4) Did CSA err when it permitted the State in closing argument to impeach Petitioner’s testimony based on his failure to tell the police at any time prior to trial that he acted in self-defense?

Stephanie L. Smith v. State of Maryland - Case No. 80, September Term, 2016

Issues – Criminal Law – 1) Do the holdings in Cuffley v. State, 416 Md. 568 (2010) and Baines v. State, 416 Md. 204 (2010), under which a plea agreement is construed according to what a reasonable lay person in the defendant’s position would have understood it to mean, apply when the State challenges a sentence allegedly imposed in violation of Md. Rule 4-243(c)? 2) Would a reasonable lay person in Petitioner’s situation have believed that probation before judgment was precluded by the plea agreement where the agreement was silent as to probation before judgment and required Petitioner to pay restitution? 3) Under Md. Rule 4-243(c), which provides in part that “if [the guilty plea] is accepted, [the judge] may approve the [plea] agreement or defer decision as to its approval or rejection until after such pre-sentence proceedings and investigation as the judge directs,” is the court bound to the plea agreement upon accepting the guilty plea or may it reject the agreement after accepting the plea, and if the latter, did the trial court reject the agreement after accepting Petitioner’s guilty plea? 4) Did CSA err in holding that Petitioner’s sentence was imposed in violation of Rule 4-243(c)?

State of Maryland v. Robert L. Copes, Jr. - Case No. 84, September Term, 2016

Issue – Criminal Law – Did the trial court err in excluding the evidence recovered by the police?

State of Maryland v. Otis Rich - Case No. 83, September Term, 2016

Issue – Criminal Law – Where the trial court denied Respondent’s coram nobis petition challenging his 2001 conviction without a hearing, in light of Smith v. State, 443 Md. 572 (2015), did CSA err in not remanding this matter to the trial court for a hearing to determine whether Respondent was, in fact, unaware of the nature of a conspiracy charge at the time of his plea?

 

Denied January 23, 2017

Abdulahad v. Boyle - Pet. Docket No. 190
Ali v. Davis - Pet. Docket No. 379
Burks, Jamar Tyrone v. State - Pet. Docket No. 450
Byroade, Gerald Kent, Jr. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 425
Callaway, Charick S. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 487
Carey v. Estate of Turecamo - Pet. Docket No. 440
Cartney v. Hoy - Pet. Docket No. 385
Colbert, Lamont Eugene v. State - Pet. Docket No. 423
Cunningham v. Begal Enterprises - Pet. Docket No. 445
Democracy Capital Corp. v. Monument Bank - Pet. Docket No. 460
Enow v. Armstrong & Cheris, Chtd. - Pet. Docket No. 330
Gibson-Watts v. Thompson - Pet. Docket No. 337
Giles, James v. State - Pet. Docket No. 486
Gordon, Ashley Nicholle v. State - Pet. Docket No. 475
Griffin, Charles v. State - Pet. Docket No. 447
Gross, Marcus Allen v. State - Pet. Docket No. 340
Horowitz v. Gurvitch Rabin etc., PC; Bregman, Berbert, etc., LLC - Pet. Docket No. 471
Howard, Curtis v. State - Pet. Docket No. 480
Huffman, Joshua A. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 477
Hutton v. Thodos - Pet. Docket No. 285
Jareaux v. Proctor - Pet. Docket No. 454
Johnson v. Xerox Education Solutions - Pet. Docket No. 456
Mason, Phillip v. State - Pet. Docket No. 458
McEachern, Kintrell Todd v. State - Pet. Docket No. 468
Milburn, Christopher Allan v. State - Pet. Docket No. 466
Miller v. Md. Health Insurance Plan - Pet. Docket No. 448
Monbo v. Avalonbay Communities - Pet. Docket No. 408
Moore, Jeffrey J. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 361
Oakley, Abduallah Hannibal v. State - Pet. Docket No. 493
Oladipupo, Larry Adesina v. State - Pet. Docket No. 481
Oladipupo, Larry Adesina v. State - Pet. Docket No. 482
Ramsay v. Sawyer Property Mgmt. - Pet. Docket No. 461
Rouhani v. Lakeside REO Ventures - Pet. Docket No. 476
Simpson, Eatric B. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 426
Thomas, Renaldo v. State - Pet. Docket No. 433
Thomas, Ukeenan Nautica v. State - Pet. Docket No. 539 and conditional cross-petition
Turner, Lamont, Jr. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 478
Vernon, Jerome Lamont v. State - Pet. Docket No. 473
Walls-Bey, Bryant v. State - Pet. Docket No. 375
Yi v. Yi - Pet. Docket No. 451