Opinion ID: 2056977
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Effect of the Reversal for Inconsistency

Text: The first error in the Court of Special Appeals' remand concerns its reliance on a conviction that it reversed for inconsistency. The intermediate appellate court reversed Smith's conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon because it was inconsistent with his acquittal for first-degree assault. That reversed conviction, however, provided the only basis for directing the trial court to enter a judgment of guilty against Smith for misdemeanor theft. We hold that an appellate court may not rely on a conviction that has been reversed for inconsistency as the basis for directing a trial court to enter a judgment of guilty for a lesser included offense. This Court has addressed inconsistent verdicts several times in recent years. Until 2008, we joined most jurisdictions in following the normal rule that inconsistent verdicts were generally acceptable. Price v. State, 405 Md. 10, 19, 949 A.2d 619, 624 (2008). By 2008, however, we had also identified a wide variety of exceptions to that rule. For example, seemingly inconsistent verdicts by a trial judge in a non-jury trial were, and still are, only acceptable if the trial judge explains the apparent inconsistency on the record. Williams, 397 Md. at 189-90, 916 A.2d at 305; Johnson v. State, 238 Md. 528, 544-45, 209 A.2d 765, 772 (1965). Inconsistent verdicts were unacceptable in criminal trials when the judge rendered guilty verdicts that were inconsistent with non-guilty verdicts rendered by the jury. Galloway v. State, 371 Md. 379, 401, 809 A.2d 653, 667 (2002). Inconsistent jury verdicts of guilty were also invalid. Shell v. State, 307 Md. 46, 55, 512 A.2d 358, 362 (1986). In 2003, we held that inconsistent jury verdicts were unacceptable in all civil cases. Southern Management v. Taha, 378 Md. 461, 487-88, 836 A.2d 627, 630 (2003). We also recognized that inconsistent verdicts were contrary to law and gave trial courts the discretion to reject them. Price, 405 Md. at 21, 24, 949 A.2d at 626, 627. In Price, we reevaluated our approach to inconsistent verdicts and, because of these many exceptions, rejected the common law normal rule. Instead, we held that no inconsistent jury verdicts would be tolerated. [8] Price, 405 Md. at 29, 949 A.2d at 630. In reaching this conclusion, we noted that the traditional justifications for tolerating inconsistent jury verdicts would be as applicable to civil cases as criminal cases, but that we had chosen to reject inconsistent verdicts in civil jury trials but not in criminal jury trials. Price, 405 Md. at 23-24, 949 A.2d at 627. Similarly, we noted that because criminal defendants receive greater procedural protections, there was little sense in rejecting inconsistent civil jury verdicts, but not inconsistent criminal jury verdicts. Price, 405 Md. at 27, 949 A.2d at 629. Accordingly, we joined a minority of states in rejecting all inconsistent verdicts. Price, 405 Md. at 29, 949 A.2d at 630. This case concerns the relationship between a reversed conviction predicated on an inconsistent verdict and a conviction for an uncharged lesser included offense based on that reversed conviction. Our decisions make clear that a conviction for a greater offense constitutes a finding of guilt for all lesser included offenses. Brooks, 314 Md. at 601, 552 A.2d at 880; see also Grimes v. State, 44 Md.App. 580, 583, 409 A.2d 767, 769 (1980), rev'd on other grounds, 290 Md. 236, 429 A.2d 228 (1981) (Wilner, J.) ([A] conviction of the greater presupposes a finding of guilt on the lesser included offense as well.). For example, in the present case, a conviction for the greater offense of robbery with a dangerous weapon constituted a finding of guilt for misdemeanor theft because misdemeanor theft is a lesser included offense of robbery with a dangerous weapon. [9] See Thomas v. State, 277 Md. 257, 264-67, 353 A.2d 240, 245-47 (1976) (articulating the test for identifying lesser included offenses) (citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309 (1932)). If a conviction for a greater offense is reversed, a defendant may sometimes be convicted of a lesser included offense without a new trial. See Brooks, 314 Md. at 601, 552 A.2d at 880 (remanding the case to the trial court, following a reversal, with instructions for the trial court to convict the defendant of a lesser included offense without a new trial). We have never held, however, that a defendant may be convicted of a lesser included offense based on a conviction that has been reversed due to inconsistency. Brooks presents a set of circumstances where an appellate court may properly reverse a conviction and remand the case to the trial court with instructions to enter a judgment of guilty for a lesser included offense. 314 Md. at 601, 552 A.2d at 880. In Brooks, like this case, the greater offense was robbery with a dangerous weapon. 314 Md. at 586-87, 552 A.2d at 873. We reversed the conviction for that offense because the trial court had misinterpreted a particular element of robbery with a dangerous weapon  whether a toy gun could constitute a dangerous weapon. Brooks, 314 Md. at 600-01, 552 A.2d at 880. We concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt robbery with a dangerous weapon. Brooks, 314 Md. at 600-01, 552 A.2d at 880. In so concluding, this Court did not disturb the trial court's findings regarding the assault and theft elements of robbery with a dangerous weapon. We could therefore be confident that the trial court had found sufficient evidence to satisfy these remaining elements. Those elements  assault and theft  constituted simple robbery, so we instructed the trial court to enter a judgment of guilty against the defendant for that offense. Brooks, 314 Md. at 601, 552 A.2d at 880. The reversal in this case, however, was different. The Court of Special Appeals reversed the conviction for the greater offense because it was inconsistent with an acquittal for a lesser included offense. The question here is whether the intermediate appellate court could use that reversed conviction as the basis for directing the trial court to enter a judgment of guilty for another lesser included offense. We conclude that it could not. In a case such as this, where the conviction for the greater offense was reversed due to inconsistency, an appellate court may not remand the case to the trial court with directions to enter a judgment of conviction against the defendant for a lesser included offense. We reach this conclusion for three reasons. First, and most importantly, a conviction that has been reversed for inconsistency is not sufficiently reliable to be the basis for a conviction of a lesser included offense. A conviction is reversed for inconsistency because we can have no confidence in a judgment convicting [the defendant] of one crime when the judge, by his acquittal of another, appears to have rejected the only evidence that would support the conviction here. Johnson, 238 Md. at 543, 209 A.2d at 772 (quoting United States v. Maybury, 274 F.2d 899, 905 (2nd Cir.1960)). When a conviction is reversed for inconsistency, there can be no confidence about the judge's rationale for reaching the inconsistent verdict, nor can there be confidence about which aspects of his conviction have been left undisturbed. Unlike the reversal in Brooks, which affected only one aspect of the reversed conviction that did not affect the lesser included offense, the reversal in this case makes the entire conviction unreliable. Second, our conclusion in this case is supported by our decision in Price and the other cases through which we have entirely rejected inconsistent verdicts. In Price, we declared that inconsistent verdicts shall no longer be allowed. 405 Md. at 29, 949 A.2d at 630. As explained above, we had already rejected inconsistent verdicts in a wide variety of other situations, and we had long held them contrary to law. Price, 405 Md. at 19-29, 949 A.2d at 624-30. If we allowed an appellate court to rely on an inconsistent judgment as the basis for directing a trial court to convict a defendant, we would be retreating from this long line of cases. Instead, we reaffirm our disapproval of inconsistent verdicts by refusing to allow an appellate court to use one of them as the basis for a subsequent conviction. Finally, our decision is consistent with the criminal justice system's presumption in favor of the defendant. A defendant is `presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that presumption attends him throughout the trial until overcome by proof establishing his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.' State v. Adams, 406 Md. 240, 320, 958 A.2d 295, 344 (2008) (quoting Bruce v. State, 218 Md. 87, 98, 145 A.2d 428, 434 (1958)). A conviction that has been overturned due to inconsistency is too unreliable to serve as proof beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual is guilty of a different crime, even a lesser included offense. The Court of Special Appeals in this case reversed the conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon because it was inconsistent, but subsequently relied on that conviction when it directed the trial court to convict the defendant of a lesser included offense. This was in err. Once a conviction for a greater offense has been reversed due to inconsistency, it cannot provide the basis for a conviction for a lesser included offense. [10]