Opinion ID: 2304074
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Law at the Time of Trial

Text: Adams contends, and the post-conviction court and the intermediate appellate court agreed, that state law barred a contemporaneous challenge to the jury instructions based on their being advisory. The use of the word bar is inappropriate in these circumstances. [28] A more accurate perception of Adams's argument is that the settled law at the time of the trial sanctioned advisory jury instructions at Adams's trial. Therefore, Adams argues, his failure to object, i.e., waiver, should be excused. Adams points to the Supreme Court's holding in Reed v. Ross, 468 U.S. 1, 16, 104 S.Ct. 2901, 2910, 82 L.Ed.2d 1 (1984), that where a constitutional claim is so novel that its legal basis is not reasonably available to counsel, a defendant has cause for his failure to raise the claim in accordance with applicable state procedures. [29] Adams's argument fails because the objection that he could have presented at trial was not novel, under either Maryland or federal law. [T]he question is not whether subsequent legal developments have made counsel's task easier, but whether at the time of the default the claim was `available' at all. Smith v. Murray, 477 U.S. 527, 537, 106 S.Ct. 2661, 2667, 91 L.Ed.2d 434 (1986). The precise contours of the novelty exception to the procedural bar doctrine are not as clear as one might hope. Poyner v. Murray, 964 F.2d 1404, 1424 (4th Cir.1992). A constitutional theory of objection is not novel when the debate has been percolating demonstrably for years. Pruett v. Thompson, 771 F.Supp. 1428, 1438 (E.D.Va.1991), aff'd, 996 F.2d 1560 (4th Cir.1993) (citing 17A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward. H. Cooper, FEDERAL PRACTICE & PROCEDURE § 4266.1 at p. 460 n. 48 (1988)). As noted above, Adams's contention most worthy of consideration is that the advisory nature of the instructions improperly relieved the State of its burden to prove that Adams was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See Montgomery, 292 Md. at 91, 437 A.2d at 658 (listing the burden of proof as the first bedrock characteristic indispensable to the integrity of every criminal trial). Adam's argument fails, however, because an anticipatorily reasonable basis for an objection was available to Adams at trial. As discussed above, Stevenson merely articulated what had been implied for decades in the holdings of the Court of Appeals and other courts. The constitutional requirement that the State prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt was well established before Adams's trial in 1979. In In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 361, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1071, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970), the Supreme Court held that the requirement that guilt of a criminal charge be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt dates at least from our early years as a Nation. By all accounts, Winship was a landmark case and has been held to put defendants on notice of their right to require the State to carry the beyond a reasonable doubt burden. Compare Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982) (holding that a reasonable basis was available to counsel after Winship to challenge jury instruction on proper burdens, and thus waiver was unexcused) with Reed v. Ross, 468 U.S. 1, 19, 104 S.Ct. 2901, 2912, 82 L.Ed.2d 1 (1984) (holding that reasonable basis was not available to trial counsel to challenge jury instruction on proper burdens prior to Winship, thus waiver was excused by cause). That the jury must be instructed that the Government is required to prove the defendant's guilt `beyond a reasonable doubt' was not an open question after Winship.  Jenkins v. Hutchinson, 221 F.3d 679, 684 (4th Cir. 2000); see also Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (After Winship the critical inquiry on review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction must be not simply to determine whether the jury was properly instructed but [also] to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.). The requirement that the jury be instructed properly regarding the proper burdens was well established at the time of Adams's trial. In Cool v. U.S., 409 U.S. 100, 100, 93 S.Ct. 354, 355, 34 L.Ed.2d 335 (1972), the Supreme Court stated, In this case, the court below held in effect that in a criminal trial, the jury may be instructed to ignore defense testimony unless it believes beyond a reasonable doubt that the testimony is true. That holding is fundamentally inconsistent with our prior decisions... and must therefore be reversed. The Court in Cool also noted that any instruction that allow[ed] the jury to convict despite its failure to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt must be reversed. Cool, 409 U.S. at 103-04, 93 S.Ct. 354, 34 L.Ed.2d 335. [30] Maryland law was in accord with these federal precepts prior to Adams's trial in 1979. In State v. Grady, 276 Md. 178, 182, 345 A.2d 436, 438 (1975), we held that under the Federal Constitution, as well as the law of Maryland, the burden is on the State to prove all elements of the alleged crime and to do so beyond a reasonable doubt. In 1971, in describing the jury as the judges of the law in the Maryland Constitution, the Court of Special Appeals noted, that [i]t does not confer upon them, however, untrammeled discretion to enact new law or to repeal or ignore clearly existing law as whim, fancy, compassion or malevolence should dictate, even within the limited confines of a single criminal case. Hamilton v. State, 12 Md.App. 91, 98, 277 A.2d 460, 464 (1971), aff'd 265 Md. 256, 288 A.2d 885 (1972). That language was repeated in Dillon, 277 Md. 571, 581-82, 357 A.2d 360 (1976). We expressly approved these principles in our affirmance of Hamilton.  Blackwell v. State, 278 Md. 466, 479, 365 A.2d 545, 553 (1976). Questions of law of a constitutional nature were always off limits to the jury. Giles v. State, 229 Md. 370, 183 A.2d 359 (1962); Franklin v. State, 12 Md. 236 (1858); Hitchcock v. State, 213 Md. 273, 131 A.2d 714 (1957). Commentators discussing Hamilton noted that [c]learly, the court's pronouncement means that the jury's role as judge of the law does not include judging the validity or merits of the law; nor does it diminish the judge's authority to rule on the law applicable to the trial process itself. Gary J. Jacobsohn, The Right to Disagree: Judges, Juries, and the Administration of Criminal Justice in Maryland, 1976 WASH. U.L.Q. 571, 578 (1976). In July 1979, months before Adams's trial, the Court of Special Appeals noted that the curious provision of the Maryland Constitution with respect to the jury's being judges of the law has only meant that where there are conflicting interpretations of law, the jury may have both interpretations argued to it and the jury may choose between, and further that the jury shall decide whether the law should be applied in dubious factual situations. Ehrlich v. State, 42 Md.App. 730, 737, 403 A.2d 371, 376 (1979) (emphasis added). The Court of Special Appeals continued, In deciding which of two conflicting interpretations of law is correct and in deciding whether the law should apply in a dubious factual situation, the jury is still carrying out its sole mission of determining guilt or innocence. Overriding limitations still abide as to what a jury shall not hear (by way of evidence or argument) and what a jury shall not do.  Ehrlich, 42 Md.App. at 737-38, 403 A.2d at 376 (emphasis added). The duty of a juror had been delineated clearly in caselaw prior to Stevenson. See Hopkins v. State, 19 Md.App. 414, 420-21, 311 A.2d 483, 487 (1973) ([W]hen one sits on a jury, he is required to accept and apply the law as the judge gives it to him, whether or not he agrees with it and no matter what his personal feelings are toward the parties in question. (quoting United States v. Guzman, 337 F.Supp. 140 (S.D.N.Y.1972), aff'd, 468 F.2d 1245 (2d Cir.1972))); Neal v. State, 45 Md.App. 549, 556, 413 A.2d 1386, 1390 (1980) (A jury in a criminal case has no greater prerogative as judge of the law than would the court have had sitting without a jury....) As discussed above, after Winship was decided in 1970, it was clearly established that the prosecution must prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Prior to his trial, Adams, based upon Hamilton, Dillon, Ehrlich, and Hopkins reasonably could have been expected to be aware that any instruction that he perceived as permitting the jury to disregard such clearly established constitutional law was improper. It was not novel in 1979 for defense counsel to argue that the State was required to prove all elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. It was similarly not novel for defense counsel to argue that the jury must be instructed that the State is required to prove all elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Prior to Adams's trial, this issue had been preserved at trial on several recent occasions for review in reported appellate cases. In Jones v. State, 29 Md.App. 182, 202, 348 A.2d 55, 67, (1975), reversed on other grounds, 279 Md. 1, 367 A.2d 1, (1976), attorney F. Lee Bailey requested that the trial court instruct the jury that the instructions of the Court are the sole and exclusive source of the law and the jury may find the law from no other source than the instructions of the Court and that they are absolutely obligated to follow those instructions, particularly those of constitutional dimension; the most important of which [based on some unusual circumstances in the Jones case] in all the circumstances of this trial is the impermissible nature of drawing an inference from the silence of the Defendant. Jones v. State, 29 Md.App. 182, 202, 348 A.2d 55, 67 (1975), reversed on other grounds, 279 Md. 1, 367 A.2d 1 (1976). In his brief to the Court of Special Appeals, Bailey argued that to allow juries to generally determine the law is to permit possible violations of criminal defendants' rights which are guaranteed by the federal constitution and binding on the states through the fourteenth amendment. In Davis v. State, 48 Md.App. 474, 427 A.2d 1085 (1981), the defendants objected to an advisory jury instruction on reasonable doubt, an instruction similar to the one at issue in the present case. The trial court overruled the objection, and the defendants appealed. While the appeal was pending, the Court decided Stevenson. The Court of Special Appeals, in light of Stevenson, reversed the convictions in Davis. Davis is especially noteworthy here because defense counsel in Davis objected to an advisory instruction before Stevenson was decided. In Robertson v. State, 295 Md. 688, 689, 457 A.2d 826, 826 (1983), we held that the defendant's counsel made clear to the trial judge that even though the jury was the judge of the law under Article 23 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, he was entitled to an instruction that the court's comments on the burden of proof were not merely advisory but were binding upon the jury. Failure to give the requested instruction constituted reversible error. The trial in Robertson occurred on 24 November 1980, before Stevenson was decided. In addition, the defendants in both Stevenson and Montgomery had the foresight to object to the advisory nature of instructions prior to this Court's decision in Stevenson. Although the correct objection reasonably was available here to trial counsel based on recent Maryland caselaw alone, trial counsel also could have looked to the annals of great American jurisprudence for inspiration. Justice Story noted in U.S. v. Battiste, 24 F. Cas. 1042 (C.C.Mass.1835) [31] ... I hold it the most sacred constitutional right of every party accused of a crime, that the jury should respond as to the facts, and the court as to the law. It is the duty of the court to instruct the jury as to the law; and it is the duty of the jury to follow the law, as it is laid down by the court. This is the right of every citizen; and it is his only protection. If the jury were at liberty to settle the law for themselves, the effect would be, not only that the law itself would be most uncertain, from the different views, which different juries might take of it; but in case of error, there would be no remedy or redress by the injured party; for the court would not have any right to review the law as it had been settled by the jury. Indeed, it would be almost impracticable to ascertain, what the law, as settled by the jury, actually was. On the contrary, if the court should err, in laying down the law to the jury, there is an adequate remedy for the injured party, by a motion for a new trial, or a writ of error, as the nature of the jurisdiction of the particular court may require. Every person accused as a criminal has a right to be tried according to the law of the land, the fixed law of the land; and not by the law as a jury may understand it, or choose, from wantonness, or ignorance, or accidental mistake, to interpret it. The advisory instruction was also the subject of vigorous debates among notable members of the Maryland Bench and Bar for several decades prior to Adams's trial. See Stewart v. LaGrand, 526 U.S. 115, 119, 119 S.Ct. 1018, 1021, 143 L.Ed.2d 196 (1999) (holding that a constitutional claim is not novel where there is an ongoing debate about the issue); Cole v. Stevenson, 620 F.2d 1055, 1062 (4th Cir.1980) (holding that a change in law did not excuse waiver). At the time of his published opposition to the practice of advisory instructions, Judge Samuel K. Dennis was, among other things, [32] Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore. Samuel K. Dennis, Maryland's Antique Constitutional Thorn, 92 U. PA. L.REV. 34, 34 (1943). Chief Judge Prescott of the Court of Appeals, in an address to the Maryland State Bar Association, described his objection to advisory jury instruction: I am opposed to it because it violates the fundamental concepts of trial by jury; it has been discarded and repudiated in nearly every jurisdiction where tried; it has retarded the growth of our substantive criminal law; it is contrary to the ancient maxims of the common law; such outstanding leaders of our profession as Justice Story, Lord Mansfield, Charles Evans Hughes, Judges Chesnut, Markell, and Dennis, Charles McHenry Howard and scores of others have spoken or written against it; juries are not trained by experience nor training to interpret the law; of manifold other reasons why such an anomalous situation should not be permitted to remain as a blight upon the administration of justice in Maryland, In my humble judgment it is archaic, outmoded, and atrocious. Judge Stedman Prescott, Juries as Judges of the Law: Should the Practice Be Continued?, 60 MD. ST. BAR. ASSC. REP. 246, 257 (1955) (citations omitted). Chief Judge Henderson and Chief Judge Markell of the Court also publicized their objections to the practice of treating juries as the judges of law. Hon. William L. Henderson, The Jury as Judges of Law and Fact in Maryland, 52 MD. ST. BAR. ASSC. REP. 184 (1947); Charles Markell, Trial by Jury: A Two-Horse Team or One-Horse Team, 42 MD. ST. BAR. ASSC. REP. 72 (1937); see also Judge W. Calvin Chesnut, Courts and Juries, 46 MD. ST. BAR. ASSC. REP. 159 (1941). In sum, as Stevenson was merely an acknowledgment and application of existing law, there existed a reasonable basis for Adams to object at trial to the facially advisory nature of the instruction. Furthermore, Adams could have formulated an objection to the advisory instructions based on similar objections made in other criminal trials, earlier and contemporaneously published state court opinions, landmark opinions by United States Supreme Court Justices, and publicized comments by distinguished members of the Maryland Bench and Bar. B.