Watts , J. This case arises out of a dispute regarding the unique process of pre-approving and licensing medical cannabis growers in Maryland for the first time under Md. Code Ann., Health Gen. (1982, 2015 Repl. Vol.) ("HG") 13-3301 et seq. In 2013, the General Assembly authorized the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Cannabis Commission ("the Commission"), Respondent, originally entitled the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission, to be responsible for pre-approving and licensing...
Getty , J. On November 12, 2007, the petitioner, Charles Reger, Jr., was moving a cafeteria table while working as a custodian for respondent Washington County Board of Education ("Employer"), when the table fell on Mr. Reger, pinning him to the ground. Following the accident, Mr. Reger was diagnosed with significant injuries, primarily to his back and neck, and was unable to perform his custodial work. Mr. Reger thereafter sought and received two different sets of disability benefits from...
PER CURIAM ORDER For reasons to be stated in an opinion later to be filed, it is this 28th day of July, 2017 ORDERED, by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, that the orders of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City denying intervention to Holistic Industries, LLC, Curio Cultivation, LLC, ForwardGro, LLC, SunMed Growers, LLC, Doctor's Orders Maryland, LLC, Green Leaf Medical, LLC, Kind Therapeutics, USA, LLC, and Temescal Wellness of MD, LLC ("Growers") be, and they are hereby reversed, and the...
Greene , J. This is a direct appeal pursuant to the DNA testing provisions of the DNA Evidence-Post Conviction Review. Md. Code (2001, 2008 Repl. Vol., 2016 Supp.), 8-201 of the Criminal Procedure Article (Crim. Pro.). Appellant Richard A. Edwards seeks our review of the denial, by the Circuit Court for Saint Mary's County, of his Petition for Post-Conviction DNA Testing. For the reasons set forth below, we shall vacate the judgment of the Circuit Court and remand this case to that court...
Greene , J. In this case, Jenny J. Copsey, the widow of Lance D. Copsey, individually and as the personal representative of the Estate of Lance D. Copsey, deceased, along with the minor children and mother of the decedent are the petitioners. They allege that the respondents, John S. Park, M.D. ("Dr. Park") and his employer, Brown, Croft and Frazier, P.A. ("Annapolis Radiology"), were negligent when Dr. Park interpreted radiological images on June 4, 2010, leading to Lance D. Copsey's ("Mr....
Getty , J. The Postconviction DNA Testing Statute provides for postconviction review related to DNA evidence for individuals convicted of certain enumerated offenses. See generally Md. Code (2001, 2008 Repl. Vol.), Criminal Procedure Article ("CP") 8-201. When the Maryland General Assembly passed the Statute in 2001, the legislature was responding to a nationwide concern over individuals being wrongfully convicted for serious crimes and held in prison for many years. Blake v. State,...
Barbera, C.J. "Voir dire," the French phrase meaning "to say the truth," describes the preliminary examination of prospective jurors to determine whether they are qualified and suitable to serve as jurors. The voir dire process is critical to ensuring that the courts honor the defendant's right to an impartial jury guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. 1 We decide in this case whether the voir dire...
Adkins , J. The Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City ("the Liquor Board") charged Respondent Steven Kougl and his company, Kougl, Inc., with violating provisions of the Rules and Regulations for the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City ("the Liquor Board Rules" or "the Rules") that regulate sexual conduct and prohibit illegal activity on a licensee's premises. The Liquor Board found that Kougl violated these Rules and ordered a 30-day suspension of...
Getty , J. This appeal requires us to determine whether a deoxyribonucleic acid ("DNA") analysis conducted in accordance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ("FBI") Quality Assurance Standards ("QAS") qualifies for automatic admissibility under 10-915 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article ("CJP") of the Maryland Code. Petitioner Richmond Phillips argues that the DNA evidence is not admissible because the analysis was not performed in accordance with standards established...
Greene , J. In this case, Petitioner, Kevon Spencer ("Spencer"), challenges the trial judge's finding that defense counsel's explanations for striking jurors, in light of a Batson Challenge, were a pretext for racial discrimination. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 97-98, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 1723-24, 90 L.Ed.2d 69, 88-89 (1986). Spencer argues that defense counsel provided valid, race neutral explanations; however, the trial judge did not point to evidence, on the record, to support the...
Arthur , J . This case principally concerns the powers of the Maryland Board of Public Works, "the highest administrative body in the Maryland state government." Alan M. Wilner, The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History (1984), at ix. Consisting of the Governor, the Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Treasurer, the Board of Public Works has the constitutional authority to "hear and determine such matters as affect the Public Works of the State, and as the General Assembly may confer...
Battaglia , Judge . William Todd Jamison, Petitioner, was indicted in 1990 in Baltimore County on fifteen charges related to a sexual assault; the charges included: first degree rape, second degree rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment, first degree sexual offense, second degree sexual offense, third degree sexual offense, attempted murder, robbery, theft, assault, battery, and impersonating a police officer. Jamison, thereafter, entered an Alford plea 1 to first degree rape and...
Greene , J. This case involves a joint criminal trial of two codefendants. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City denied Respondent Tevin Hines' motion for a severance in the trial of State v. Dorrien Allen ("Allen") and Tevin Hines ("Hines"). Hines argues that this was error because he was prejudiced by the admission into evidence of a statement made by Allen, which was inadmissible against Hines. At issue in this case is a question that this Court has never squarely addressed: the...
Adkins , J. Appellant Trendon Washington is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. He filed a petition for postconviction DNA testing pursuant to Maryland Code (2001, 2008 Repl. Vol., 2016 Supp.), 8-201 of the Criminal Procedure Article ("CP"). 1 The postconviction court dismissed his petition because he was not convicted of a crime of violence and is therefore not eligible for postconviction relief under the statute. We affirm the postconviction court's dismissal...
Watts , J. This attorney discipline proceeding involves a lawyer who failed to competently represent clients in two separate matters by failing to file a brief in an appeal and failing to obtain visas for a client and family in an immigration case, failed to communicate with a client, failed to perform work for which he had been paid, failed to keep a client's funds in an attorney trust account, delayed proceedings in an appeal, knowingly failed to respond to Bar Counsel, and engaged in...
Opinion by Wright , J. This appeal arises from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City entered on June 23, 2015, which affirmed the decision of appellee, the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City ("Liquor Board"), finding that appellants, Pedro Almazo Rojas, Carlos Navarro Sotelo, and Amigos Bar, Inc. t/a Amigos Bar violated Rule 4.05(a) "Prohibited Hours" and Rule 4.18 "Illegal Conduct" of the Rules and Regulations for the Baltimore City Liquor Board ("...
PER CURIAM ORDER. For reasons to be stated in an opinion later to be filed, it is this 14th day October 2016, ORDERED, by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, that the Respondent, Dalton Francis Phillips be, and he is hereby, disbarred, effective immediately, from the further practice of law in the State of Maryland; and it is further ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court shall strike the name of Dalton Francis Phillips from the register of attorneys, and pursuant to Maryland Rule 19-761,...
PER CURIAM ORDER For reasons to be stated in an opinion later to be filed, it is this 7th day October 2016, ORDERED, by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, that the Respondent, Mark Howard Allenbaugh be, and he is hereby, disbarred, effective immediately, from the further practice of law in the State of Maryland; and it is further ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court shall strike the name of Mark Howard Allenbaugh from the register of attorneys, and pursuant to Maryland Rule 19-761, shall...
Getty , J. Shakaira Simone Mollock ("Respondent") was admitted to the Bar of this Court on January 6, 2012. At all times relevant to this case, she maintained an office for the practice of law in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland ("Petitioner"), by Glenn M. Grossman, Bar Counsel, and Lydia E. Lawless, Assistant Bar Counsel, filed a Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action and after the disciplinary hearing recommended that we disbar Respondent...
Nazarian , J. This medical malpractice appeal presents questions about the burden of proof under Courts & Judicial Proceedings Article 3-2A-04(b)(4), known colloquially as the Twenty Percent Rule. After finding that Karen Streaker's expert witness failed to satisfy this rule, which disqualifies expert witnesses who devote annually more than twenty percent of their professional activities to activities that directly involve testimony in personal injury claims, the Circuit Court for...
