Case Name: George Wendell SOUTHERN v. STATE of Maryland
Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Decision Date: 2002-09-17
Citations: 371 Md. 93
Docket Number: No. 109
Parties: George Wendell SOUTHERN v. STATE of Maryland.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maryland Reports
Volume: 371
Pages: 93–125

Head Matter:
807 A.2d 13
George Wendell SOUTHERN v. STATE of Maryland.
No. 109,
Sept. Term, 2001.
Court of Appeals of Maryland.
Sept. 17, 2002.
Martha Weisheit, Assistant Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner.
Diane E. Keller, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, on brief), Baltimore, for respondent.
Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL and BATTAGLIA, JJ.

Opinion:
CATHELL, Judge.
George Wendell Southern, petitioner, was indicted by a Grand Jury in Prince George's County on two counts of robbery and related offenses due to his alleged participation in the robberies of two 7-Eleven stores on the morning of February 19, 2000. On September 20, 2000, the Circuit Court for Prince George's County denied petitioner's Motion to Suppress. On September 22, 2000, after a jury trial, petitioner was convicted of two counts of robbery and one count of second-degree assault. On November 9, 2000, the Circuit Court imposed a sentence of ten years incarceration without the possibility of parole for the first robbery count and a consecutive ten-year sentence on the second robbery count.
On November 15, 2000, petitioner noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. In that appeal, petitioner argued that at the hearing on his Motion to Suppress and after petitioner challenged the constitutionality of his initial detention, the State failed to put on any evidence to sustain its burden of proving the constitutionality of the stop and, thus, petitioner's motion should have been granted. In a reported opinion, Southern v. State, 140 Md.App. 495, 780 A.2d 1228 (2001), the intermediate appellate court, after agreeing that petitioner properly had raised the issue of the constitutionality of the initial stop, held that the State had the burden of establishing the constitutionality of the stop, that the State had not presented evidence sufficient to meet that burden, and that the Circuit Court had not ruled on the issue. Nevertheless, the Court of Special Appeals did not reverse the convic tions, but, instead, ordered that petitioner's convictions were to remain in effect pending further proceedings and remanded the case to the Circuit Court for the purpose of reopening the suppression proceeding to give the State the opportunity to introduce evidence relating to the constitutionality of the stop and for the Circuit Court to then rule on the constitutionality of the stop.
On December 13, 2001, we granted Southern's Petition for Writ of Certiorari and denied the State's Conditional Cross-Petition. Southern v. State, 367 Md. 88, 785 A.2d 1292 (2001). Petitioner presents one question for our review:
"Where the defense challenged the legality of an initial stop at a suppression hearing and the State failed to introduce any evidence on that issue, was it proper for the Court of Special Appeals to order a limited remand at which the State will have a second opportunity to introduce evidence supporting the legality of the stop?"
We answer no to petitioner's question and reverse. We hold that it was improper for the Court of Special Appeals to remand and reopen the suppression proceeding in order to provide the State with a second opportunity to present new evidence on the constitutionality of the initial stop. The Court of Special Appeals should have reversed the convictions and remanded the case to the Circuit Court for a new trial.
I. Procedural Facts
a. Motion to Suppress
Petitioner filed two one-page omnibus motions, both stating inter alia that he "moves to suppress any and all evidence obtained by the State in violation of the defendant's rights as guaranteed by the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and the Maryland Declaration of Rights."
The Circuit Court for Prince George's County held a hearing on petitioner's motions on September 20, 2000. The Circuit Court addressed the pre-trial motions and asked the State, "|w]ell, which motions are we taking up first?" The prosecutor responded, "I.D., and then the statement." The State then proceeded to call various witnesses to testify about the events on the day of the robberies. The Circuit Court heard evidence relating to the circumstances of the post-apprehension show-up identification and denied petitioner's motion to suppress the identification. In respect to the issue of the validity of petitioner's initial apprehension, the testimony was limited to the following:
"The first to testify was Officer Richard Pippin of the Prince George's County Police. He testified that on February 19th, 2000, he responded to a call regarding a robbery at a 7-11 on Old Branch Avenue. When he arrived, he spoke to a Carolyn Pryor, and approximately 15 minutes later drove her and one other individual several blocks away to Wolverton Avenue. He told her that the police had apprehended a suspect fitting the description of the person who had robbed the 7-11....
"The next witness called by the prosecutor was Corporal Charles Burgess. He stated that he had responded to the report of the robbery and had been involved in the apprehension of a suspect, together with a K-9 officer....
"Officer Monty Burkhalter . testified that Corporal Burgess had handed over the Petitioner to him after he was apprehended.... Burkhalter stated that at the time the Petitioner was turned over to him, he had already been arrested and was in handcuffs.
"The State's next witness on the identification was Carolyn Pryor. She stated that she had been a customer in the 7-11 on the morning of the robbery, and as she was approaching the cashier, a man came in the door with dark red T-shirt or bandanna covering the lower part of his face. He jumped over the counter and began kicking the cash register, and while he was doing this the bandanna or T-shirt kept falling down. She described this person to the police after the incident, and they took her to another location to see if she could identify a person they had apprehended. When she saw the suspect, she told the police officer, 'That's him.'
"Gail Alexander was called as a defense witness on the motion. She stated that on the morning of the robbery she was getting some coffee at the 7-11 on Old Branch Avenue when she heard noises coming from the area of the cash register. When she looked up, she saw a white male attempting to pull out the cash register drawer and saw that over his face he had a red shirt, which kept falling down. Later after the police were called, she and Ms. Pryor accompanied Officer Pippin to an area where they were holding a suspect. She stated that when they arrived at their destination the suspect was removed from the back seat of the police car and made to stand up and face them. She recalled that at that time 'he was handcuffed with his hands behind him.' Ms. Alexander testified that although she heard Ms. Pryor identify the man as the robber, she (Ms. Alexander) was unable to identify his face. She also told the officers that the man wasn't wearing the same clothes that the robber had worn."
The balance of the evidence proffered at the suppression hearing (as well as most of that discussed next above) was completely unrelated to the events surrounding the apprehension of the petitioner. In its brief to this Court, the State conceded as much, saying: "None of the witnesses called during the suppression hearing described the circumstances of the K-9 tracking or the initial detention of Southern."
The following dialogue then transpired regarding the evidence as to other matters then before the motions hearing judge:
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, the State is saying they [have] my client in custody, and there was a stop by a K-9, and obviously the seizure of whatever they seized from him, and two statements, the statement to Detective Cheeks and the statement to Detective Arscott.
"THE COURT: Okay.
(Pause in the Proceedings)
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, we're seeking to suppress the stop and anything that flowed from that. I believe evidence was seized from him when he was stopped by Officer Peton, I can't remember how they — Peton, and his K-9, and Officer Burgess. So anything that was seized from that stop.
"THE COURT: Okay.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: The defendant's statement to Officer Cheeks, which was memorialized in writing allegedly by Mr. Southern and also as it appears by Officer Cheeks. There's also an oral statement that was allegedly given to Corporal Arscott at the hospital. We're moving to suppress that. And there was a search of the vehicle. Officer— responded to the car, and Officer Stuehmeier seized it, and they are alleging my client had custody of that vehicle."
The State then presented testimony regarding petitioner's time in custody, petitioner's statements, and the seizure of a cash register drawer from the automobile petitioner allegedly drove to the stores. There was no evidence at the suppression hearing describing the initial detention of petitioner or the reasons, i.e., probable cause supporting that apprehension.
After the State concluded its presentation of testimony on the omnibus motion, the following exchange between the court and counsel occurred:
"THE COURT: Any further evidence?
"[STATE'S ATTORNEY]: No, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: Okay. Anything further?
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: 1 will not present any witnesses, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: All right. Are you going to argue, or you want to submit?
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I would like to argue.
"THE COURT: Go ahead and argue. First of all, what are you going to argue about?
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I'm going to re-argue with regard to the search and seizure and the stop, when they stopped the defendant, about the identification, and the statements of Detective Cheeks and—
"THE COURT: Then go ahead and start.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Okay. Your Honor, with regard to the stop, the defendant should really be the starting point for everything. We really have no evidence. What we have is Officer Burkhalter, who did not participate in the stop of Mr. Southern, who indicated the description that was given was a white male, and he really didn't have anything further than that. I believe it was five-eight to five-ten.
"Other than that, the next thing we know is we have Mr. Southern stopped and witnesses driving by. So I don't think the State has established probable cause — I would therefore like you to suppress the identification based on that."
Petitioner's counsel then argued about the statements and the search of the vehicle; however, during petitioner's argument that the identification should be suppressed because the stop was unconstitutional the trial court interrupted the discussion.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: . With regard to the search of the vehicle, I don't believe the State satisfied under the rules who the owner is, or who searched it, or where it came from. And for that reason we would ask that — but most importantly, we would ask that the I.D. be suppressed because the stop was — .
"THE COURT: The Court finds that the defendant was identified by a witness as the person who perpetrated the robbery and was arrested as a result of that. He was taken into custody. That a vehicle was recovered in close proximity to the second location of the robbery. That the vehicle belonged to someone other than the defendant, and that someone gave permission to the police to search it by written consent.
"That the defendant was not detained unduly. That he was advised of his constitutional rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona. That he waived his constitutional rights pursuant to the same decision. That he gave a statement. That he answered questions and fully cooperated with the police, and this was not after an undue delay.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: And Your Honor, with regard to the oral statement and identification that flowed from the stop?
"THE COURT: You mean the oral statement when he said: It was my girlfriend's?
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Right.
"THE COURT: The Court finds specifically that was not as the result of any custodial interrogation, that he made that statement when two other police officers were in fairly close proximity but not really in the same location as he was. And that does not run afoul of any 5th or 6th Amendment right because it wasn't a custodial interrogation. It was a statement that was made voluntarily by him, not in response to any question.
"So, quite frankly, I wasn't aware that was your challenge on it. I didn't know that was the subject of your challenge. Because as I heard it, he wasn't answering any questions. So I deny the motion to suppress.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Thank you, Your Honor."
The suppression proceeding ended and the trial commenced with opening statements.
b. The Court of Special Appeals' Ruling
On appeal, petitioner presented several questions for review to the Court of Special Appeals, only one of those questions is now involved in the case sub judice. Petitioner asked the intermediate appellate court, "[d]id the State fail to sustain its burden of proving at the motion to suppress hearing that the appellant's detention was constitutional?" Southern v. State, 140 Md.App. 495, 499, 780 A.2d 1228,1230 (2001).
The Court of Special Appeals held that the trial court erred in failing to rule on the issue of the propriety of the initial stop of petitioner and remanded for the purposes of such a ruling, noting that in its brief to that court the "State admitted] that 'virtually no evidence was presented at the suppression hearing regarding the circumstances of [petitioner's] initial stop.' " Id. at 504, 780 A.2d at 1234. Then, the Court of Special Appeals stated in its opinion the well settled rule that:
"The State bears the ultimate burden of proving that evidence seized without a warrant should not be suppressed. Nevertheless, it is 'always the burden of the defense to raise the issue of unlawful search and seizure.... ' The failure to raise a suppression issue before the hearing court amounts to a waiver to seek relief upon appellate review. Moreover, the motion to suppress must be presented with particularity in order to preserve an objection."
Id. at 505, 780 A.2d at 1234 (citations omitted); see Carter v. State, 367 Md. 447, 788 A.2d 646 (2002).
Before the Court of Special Appeals, the State contended that petitioner had failed to properly challenge the propriety of the initial stop in his motion to suppress. The Court of Special Appeals held that at the suppression hearing defense counsel's comments were sufficient to "articulate[ ] his challenge to the initial stop," and because the suppression court had not ruled on the propriety of the "initial stop" and instead focused on events surrounding the show-up procedure, the Court of Special Appeals ordered a limited remand pursuant to Maryland Rule 8-604(d)(l) "so that the court may rule on the propriety of the initial stop." Southern, 140 Md.App. at 505-07, 780 A.2d at 1234-35.
The Court of Special Appeals also opined on whether' the State was entitled to introduce new evidence on remand and held that the trial court on remand could "hear additional evidence concerning the propriety of the initial stop." Id. at 513, 780 A.2d at 1239.
The correctness of the Court of Special Appeals' holding that would allow the State to reopen the suppression proceeding and to present additional evidence on the initial stop, is the issue presented for our resolution.
II. Discussion
a. The Right to Remand
The right of an appellate court to remand, in lieu of other methods of disposition, is specifically recognized in Rule 8-604(d). Davis Sand & Gravel Corp. v. Buckler, 231 Md. 370, 190 A.2d 531 (1963). Section (d) of this Rule was designed to permit the appellate court, in the interests of justice and judicial expediency, to remand a case for further proceedings instead of entering a final order affirming, reversing, or modifying the judgment from which the appeal was taken. Eastgate Associates v. Apper, 276 Md. 698, 350 A.2d 661 (1976).
b. The Purposes for a (Limited) Remand
Rule 8-604, governing dispositions by Maryland's appellate courts, reads:
"(a) Generally. As to each party to an appeal, the Court shall dispose of an appeal in one of the following ways:
(1) dismiss the appeal pursuant to Rule 8-602;
(2) affirm the judgment;
(3) vacate or reverse the judgment;
(4) modify the judgment;
(5) remand the action to a lower court in accordance with section (d) of this Rule; or
(6) an appropriate combination of the above.
(d) Remand. (1) Generally. If the Court concludes that the substantial merits of a case will not be determined by affirming, reversing or modifying the judgment, or that justice will be served by permitting further proceedings, the Court may remand that case to a lower court. In the order remanding a case, the appellate court shall state the purpose for the remand. The order of remand and the opinion upon which the order is based are conclusive as to the points decided. Upon remand, the lower court shall conduct any further proceedings necessary to determine the action in accordance with the opinion and order of the appellate court."
There are certain times and types of cases where the limited remand is the proper disposition, but Rule 8-604(d) is neither an "antidote" for the errors of the State or of counsel nor a method to correct errors committed during the trial itself. See Reid v. State, 305 Md. 9, 501 A.2d 436 (1985); Comptroller of Treasury v. Panitz, 267 Md. 296, 297 A.2d 289 (1972); Earl v. Anchor Pontiac Buick, Inc., 246 Md. 653, 229 A.2d 412 (1967).
The limited remand is proper in various circumstances, particularly when the purposes of justice will be advanced by permitting further proceedings. Butler v. State, 55 Md.App. 409, 462 A.2d 1230 (1983). See McMillian v. State, 325 Md. 272, 600 A.2d 430 (1992) (remand was proper where a question was not previously addressed to the trial court because of an error of law); Bailey v. State, 303 Md. 650, 496 A.2d 665 (1985) (a limited remand was needed to determine whether a discovery violation prejudiced the defendant); Warrick v. State, 302 Md. 162, 486 A.2d 189 (1985) (remand when necessary to answer whether the State properly complied with disclosure provisions for discovery); Mahammitt v. State, 299 Md. 82, 472 A.2d 477 (1984) (a remand to determine facts regarding a grant of postponement relating to a statutory speedy trial claim served the interests of justice); Wiener v. State, 290 Md. 425, 430 A.2d 588 (1981) (where the issue on restricted (limited) remand is collateral to and not an integral part of a criminal trial and advances the purposes of justice, remand is proper — in reference to the right to counsel). But see Lipinski v. State, 333 Md. 582, 636 A.2d 994 (1994) (the court may remand under 8-604(d) and while the rule may be suitable to correct procedures subsidiary to the criminal trial, it can never be utilized to rectify prejudicial errors committed during the trial itself, here a mistaken definition of the crime charged applied by the trial court at a bench trial); Gill v. State, 265 Md. 350, 289 A.2d 575 (1972) (there are times when remand is not to be used, and it is not to be used to determine the issue of voluntariness of a confession which is ultimately a decision for the jury).
Both the purpose and application of Rule 8-604(d) support a limited remand in situations such as those discussed supra, but that line of case law is unlike the case sub judice, where the State failed to meet its burden of proof on a motion to suppress. This is not a case where the State introduced sufficient evidence to meet its burden that the initial stop was constitutional, but the trial court failed to rule on the issue. In its present posture, this is a case where the State failed to meet its burden, yet the trial court did not grant the motion. Rule 8-604 does not afford parties who fail to meet their burdens on issues raised in a completed suppression hearing an opportunity to reopen the suppression proceeding for the taking of additional evidence after the appellate court has held the party has failed to meet its evidentiary burden.
The Court of Special Appeals recognized that it was the State's responsibility to introduce evidence regarding the constitutionality of the stop, not the responsibility of petitioner.
"Defense counsel's statement that she sought to 'suppress the stop' should have put up a red flag for the State, and should have alerted the State that it was necessary to provide evidence concerning the initial stop. Appellant is not required to present evidence concerning the propriety of the initial stop. Once a defendant properly challenges the propriety of the stop, the burden is on the State to present evidence justifying its actions. See, e.g., DiPasquale v. State, 43 Md.App. 574, 578, 406 A.2d 665 (1979) ('Warrant-less Fourth Amendment intrusions are presumptively unreasonable .' and the burden is allocated to the State of showing adequate justification for the exceptional departure from the Fourth Amendment norm'). We hold that appellant did not waive his Fourth Amendment challenge by failing to present evidence concerning the initial stop."
Southern, 140 Md.App. at 506-07, 780 A.2d at 1235.
The Court of Special Appeals held that the trial court had failed to rule on the constitutionality of the initial stop, and granted a remand permitting the State to, in essence, reopen the suppression proceeding in order to introduce new evidence regarding the initial stop. The purpose of the remand was not to correct a procedural error, but to afford the State an additional opportunity to do that which it previously failed to do — present evidence on the initial stop. This is not a case-where the motions hearing judge simply did not rule, it is a case where the State, which had the burden of proof on the constitutionality of the initial detention at the suppression hearing, admits that it did not present sufficient evidence to support the constitutionality of the stop. Without taking additional evidence at a renewed hearing, the State obviously cannot meet its burden. Accordingly, unless we were to permit the introduction of additional evidence, a remand to the trial court would be merely pro forma for the trial court to sign an order finding the initial detention unconstitutional and suppressing the evidence emanating therefrom, because the Court of Special Appeals correctly determined that the State failed to present such evidence at the original hearing. If we were to affirm the mandate of the Court of Special Appeals, the State would have an opportunity to reopen the evidentiary stage of the suppression proceeding and bolster its case by presenting evidence that the State was required to present in the first instance.
c. Remand with the Introduction of New Evidence
In the case at bar, the Court of Special Appeals improperly held that the State can present new evidence on remand. Rule 8-604(d) does not permit such a remand for the purpose of introducing new evidence in cases where a party, like the State here, failed to sustain its burden of proof on an issue both raised in a motion to suppress and argued at the hearing on that motion. Because the State did not sustain this burden, allowing the State to introduce new evidence on remand, i. e. taking a second bite at the apple, is an improper application of Rule 8-604(d) and undermines the State's burden during the suppression proceedings in this case.
There is a line of cases permitting the introduction of new evidence on remand, but the cases permitting new evidence on remand usually do so to correct some action taken by the trial court in a proceeding collateral to the trial itself which results in unfairness to a party. See, e.g., Patrick v. State, 329 Md. 24, 617 A.2d 215 (1992) (holding that reports of State experts who have conducted polygraph tests were discoverable and on remand allocated the burden to the State to show that the defendant was not prejudiced by prior non-disclosure); Warrick v. State, 326 Md. 696, 607 A.2d 24 (1992) (approving for the first time the use of an in camera hearing to determine whether the defendant had been prejudiced by non-disclosure of the confidential informant and remanded so the trial court could conduct such a hearing); Stanley v. State, 313 Md. 50, 542 A.2d 1267(1988) (remanding because the trial court erroneously failed to find a prima facie case of discrimination in the State's exercise of its peremptory challenges and had deprived the State of an opportunity to explain the reasons for its challenges); Reid v. State, 305 Md. 9, 501 A.2d 436 (1985) (ordering a limited remand for an evidentiary hearing because two favorable letters to the defendant had been improperly excluded from the sentencing hearing and new evidence related to those letters' authenticity was allowed); Bailey v. State, 303 Md. 650, 496 A.2d 665 (1985) (remand allowing the State to provide the defense with discovery materials which it had improperly withheld and the defense could decide whether a motion to suppress should be filed on the basis of those statements); Davis v. State, 100 Md.App. 369, 641 A.2d 941 (1994) (remanding for an initial suppression hearing after the appellate court concluded that the trial court's failure to review the defendant's right to court appointed counsel was good cause to waive the thirty-day time limit for filing a motion to suppress). We have not found a case that has permitted the reopening of a suppression proceeding, after an appellate holding that the State has failed to meet its burden on a constitutional challenge, for the presentation of additional evidence where, on the facts and law, the motion to suppress should have been granted.
The facts and the procedural situation were different in Tu v. State, 336 Md. 406, 648 A.2d 993 (1994), relied upon by the Court of Special Appeals. Tu did not involve a remand for the reopening of a suppression proceeding for the presentation of additional evidence where the suppression proceeding had been completed, but involved a reversal based upon an improper denial of a motion to suppress, and a subsequent completely new trial. In respect to the items at issue, we noted:
"We have shown that Tu I held that the State had failed to prove at the first suppression hearing that the plain view doctrine applied to items, beyond the scope of the warrant, that the court understood were seized at the hotel.... Thus, the circuit court, at the second suppression hearing, did not directly violate the precise holding of Tu I, at least as it applies to the custodial items.
"At the second suppression hearing the court accepted the State's testimony that the custodial items were not seized at the hotel. Tu does not contend that the custodial items are subject to suppression if they may be considered to have been acquired from the Nevada authorities as described in the testimony at the second suppression hearing."
Id. at 417, 648 A.2d at 998.
Tu had originally moved to suppress the evidence on the mistaken belief that it had been improperly seized during the execution of a search warrant for a hotel room. The State originally defended on its also mistaken belief that the items were properly seized in the hotel room, not under the warrant, but that the items were seized because they were in "plain view" in the hotel room during the execution of the warrant. The Court of Special Appeals reversed on the failure by the State to present "plain view" facts at the first suppression hearing, and remanded the case for a new trial. In Tu I, there was no remand to the trial court for it to reopen the initial suppression proceeding, requiring it to address an issue it had not previously recognized, and further requiring the trial court to allow the State to present new evidence at a reopened suppression proceeding. Tu I was completely reversed and remanded for a new trial, not for a reopened suppression proceeding. At the new trial, Tu II, Tu again moved to suppress the evidence on the basis that the Court of Special Appeals had held that there was insufficient evidence that the items had been in plain view during the search of the hotel room, and, thus, the issue was controlled by the "law of the case."
During the suppression proceeding in the new trial, it was developed that the items had not been seized during a search of the hotel room in the first instance, but had been otherwise obtained. We held that the "law of the case" did not control because the actual "place" of the search, and the actual manner of the obtaining of the evidence were different than the manner of search and the place searched pursuant to the warrant at issue in the suppression hearing at the original trial. Under those circumstances, we held that the State was not foreclosed from establishing the admissibility of the evidence at the subsequent trial. The Tu: cases did not involve an appellate court's direction to a trial court to, in essence, reopen a suppression proceeding in the same case to permit the State another opportunity to prevail on a suppression motion that should have been granted to a defendant.
The intermediate appellate court in the case at bar noted the following language from Tu:
"[R]eversal for the erroneous denial of a motion to suppress does not, in and of itself, preclude any trial court reconsideration of the admissibility of the State's evidence that was the subject of the suppression motion, at least if the reconsideration presents a legal theory that was not ruled upon on the prior appeal. Further, facts that are relevant to applying that previously unadjudicated legal theory and that were not previously presented may be considered by the trial court, even if those facts were known to the State at the time of the original trial court ruling."
Southern, 140 Md.App. at 512-13, 780 A.2d at 1238 (quoting Tu, 336 Md. at 420, 648 A.2d at 999-1000).
The Court of Special Appeals went astray when it attempted to afford the State the opportunity to relitigate, in the same case, an issue it had failed to litigate and prove. Tu stands for the proposition that in a new trial after reversal, certain issues may be litigated, unless prohibited by appropriate "law of the case" restrictions.
At a new trial, a defendant may always file a new-motion to suppress, and if the State opposes it, a defendant, in appropriate circumstances may avail himself of "law of the case" principles. Otherwise, it is a new motion, new hearing, new trial, and new decision.
The State, under the given facts of the present case, is attempting to get another chance, a "second bite at the apple," to present the evidence it should have presented at the initial suppression proceeding. If petitioner in this case,' at the Motion to Suppress hearing, had failed to present any evidence in response to some position the State had adequately established, we normally would not allow petitioner a limited remand for the introduction of new evidence to try and bolster his case. What is required of the defendant in such circumstances is no less required of the State.
Furthermore, the Court of Special Appeals, by permitting the introduction of evidence on remand, departed from the practice of appellate courts to reverse the judgment in a case where the State has failed to sustain its burden of proof in a motion to suppress. See Stokes v. State, 362 Md. 407, 765 A.2d 612 (2001); Cartnail v. State, 359 Md. 272, 753 A.2d 519 (2000); Ferris v. State, 355 Md. 356, 735 A.2d 491 (1999); Turner v. State, 133 Md.App. 192, 754 A.2d 1074 (2000); Charity v. State, 132 Md.App. 598, 753 A.2d 556 (2000).
This notion of not allowing the presentation of new evidence on limited remand is supported in Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment vol. 5, § 11.2(e), 82, fn. 238 (3d ed., West 1996), which states:
"Such [a limited] remand is appropriate when the appellate court would otherwise be unable to decide the case because of an absence of findings of fact or conclusions of law. State v. Wilson, 218 Mont. 359, 708 P.2d 270 (1985). Upon remand, the responsibility of the lower court is to review the evidence and make necessary findings and conclusions, rather than to receive more evidence. Ex parte Hergott, 588 So.2d 911 (Ala.1991) (on remand because of uncertainty as to what record indicated about whether barn was within curtilage, it was error for trial court to receive new evidence by going to view the premises; court holds 'that Double Jeopardy Clause prevents the Court of Criminal Appeals from sending the issue back to the trial court for a second chance to supply on the record evidence sufficient to prove that the warrantless search fell within the "open-field" exception')."
Cf. Hopkins v. State, 661 So.2d 774 (Ala.Crim.App.1994) (holding that although the record before it left unanswered many questions, that court was not authorized to resolve those questions by remanding for another hearing because the State when presented with an opportunity to establish its case, failed to do so, and under the Double Jeopardy Clause it does not get a second chance).
III. Conclusion
The Court of Special Appeals sought to invoke Rule 8-604(d)(1) as authority to remand petitioner's case for the reopening of a suppression proceeding in order for new evidence to be introduced by the State and then for a new ruling in that suppression proceeding; however, the intent of this rule and Maryland case law reviewing this rule do not provide a party with the opportunity to get a "second bite at the apple" in the same case, but instead, the rule attempts to permit a court to cure some judicial error that resulted in unfairness to a party. While remand is a right given to appellate courts under certain circumstances, it is not an applicable remedy in this case. During the suppression proceeding, petitioner adequately challenged the "stop and anything that flowed from it," putting the State on notice of its challenge. Nevertheless, the State proceeded to proffer no evidence as to the constitutionality of the initial detention. Petitioner's challenge to his initial warrantless detention placed the burden of proof on the State to establish the constitutionality of the detention. The State failed to meet its burden. The appropriate appellate response is a reversal with a new trial, not a remand for the taking of additional evidence in a reopened suppression proceeding in the same case.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS REVERSED; CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO REVERSE THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY AND TO REMAND THE CASE TO THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR A NEW TRIAL CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION; COSTS IN THIS COURT AND THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS TO BE PAID BY PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY.
. The conviction for second-degree assault merged into petitioner's conviction on the first robbery count.
. "Omnibus motion" is the term given to a motion that encompasses the mandatory motions that must be filed in the circuit court pursuant to Maryland Rule 4-252(a). They must be filed within a certain period of time and if not filed within that time period the right to file the motions may be considered waived.
. Hereafter, references to Rule 8-604 are to Maryland Rule 8-604.
. The question necessarily arises, "What if the State fails to perceive and meet its burden at the reopened suppression proceeding?" Does it get another chance, and another chance?