Opinion ID: 1939082
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lewis Wilcom

Text: Like Daley, Wilcom was charged with a violation of § 21-902 of the Transportation Article. Wilcom's trial was also to be held in the District Court in Frederick County. The trial date was 23 December 1986. On 9 December 1986 Wilcom and his mother met with Ficker and retained the lawyer to appear on Wilcom's behalf for a fee of $599. This time Ficker entered the trial date on the desk calendar. But he again violated Rule 4-214(a) by failing to enter his appearance. On 23 December both Wilcom and Ficker were in Frederick. The former was in the courtroom and was unaware that the latter was nearby. Ficker was in the hallway searching for the arresting officer. When Wilcom's case was called, it was continued, at the State's request, because the arresting officer was not on hand. The new trial date was 3 March 1987. Ficker and Wilcom never made contact on 23 December. But Ficker testified that on that date, he did enter his appearance on behalf of Wilcom. Judge Messitte found that the docket entries in Wilcom's case did not show the entry of Ficker's appearance on 23 December or at any other time. On 3 March 1987 Wilcom appeared in court, but Ficker did not. Because the court records did not show his appearance, he had not been notified of the 3 March trial date. Wilcom explained that Ficker was representing him, and the court granted a continuance to 24 June 1987. Ficker had actual notice of the 24 June date; Wilcom's mother told him about it. But despite that, Ficker undertook to appear for another client in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on the same date. In an attempt to resolve the conflict, he sought yet another continuance of Wilcom's case. [4] The comedy of errors proceeded. Because Ficker put the wrong zip code on the envelope containing the motion for continuance that he tried to send to the District Court in Frederick, it never arrived there. Ficker, however, assumed both that the motion had arrived and that it would be granted. Without checking further, he advised Mrs. Wilcom that the case would be continued and that her son need not appear for trial on 24 June. Despite that advice, Wilcom did appear in court on 24 June. Ficker, relying on the nonexistent continuance, did not. The prosecutor had received a copy of Ficker's motion and showed it to the trial judge, who offered Wilcom yet another postponement. Wilcom elected to proceed pro se. He pled guilty to driving under the influence and received probation and a fine. When Ficker learned of this, he represented Wilcom without charge at a de novo appeal. Wilcom was convicted of driving under the influence. The court imposed probation and a fine almost double that imposed in the District Court.