Opinion ID: 2298009
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Question Six: Jury Instruction

Text: Grandison alleges that the instructions given to the jury at his 1984 trial were faulty. Although Grandison included this line of argument in various motions, the Circuit Court analyzed it under Grandison's motion for resentencing. The Circuit Court's full analysis follows: Grandison further claims the trial court's reasonable doubt instruction given in [the] 1984 trial erroneously equated [the] reasonable doubt standard with [the] preponderance of the evidence standard. Unfortunately for Grandison, this claim meets a fate similar to his claim regarding admissibility of Exhibit 21. Importantly, this is the first time in 25 years Grandison has noted this objection. No objection was preserved regarding this issue at trial or on appeal. As the Basoff court noted, When a party has the option either to object or not to object, his failure to exercise the option while it is still within the power of the trial court to correct the error is regarded as a waiver of it estopping him from obtaining a review of the point or question on appeal. Under that clear instruction, this Court finds Grandison waived his right to appeal the reading of the reasonable doubt instruction at the 1984 trial when he failed to object at said trial and on appeal. (Quoting Basoff v. State, 208 Md. 643, 650, 119 A.2d 917, 922 (1956)). The Maryland Rules and case law support the Circuit Court's ruling that Grandison waived appellate review of the jury instructions in this case. First, Rule 4-325(e) provides: No party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless the party objects on the record promptly after the court instructs the jury, stating distinctly the matter to which the party objects and the grounds of the objection. Upon request of any party, the court shall receive objections out of the hearing of the jury. An appellate court, on its own initiative or on the suggestion of a party, may however take cognizance of any plain error in the instructions, material to the rights of the defendant, despite a failure to object. We have interpreted this rule to mean that the failure to object to a jury instruction at trial results in a waiver of any defects in the instruction, and normally precludes further review of any claim of error relating to the instruction. State v. Rose, 345 Md. 238, 245, 691 A.2d 1314, 1317 (1997); see also State v. Hutchinson, 287 Md. 198, 202, 411 A.2d 1035, 1037 (1980) ([A]ppellate review of jury instructions [will not] ordinarily be permitted under our rules unless the complaining party has objected seasonably so as to allow the trial judge an opportunity to correct the deficiency before the jury retires to deliberate.). Preservation of the issues for appeal is an important cog in our overall evidence scheme, even in capital cases, as we have previously stated: The rules for preservation of issues have a salutary purpose of preventing unfairness and requiring that all issues be raised in and decided by the trial court, and these rules must be followed in all cases including capital cases. The few cases where we have exercised our discretion to review unpreserved issues are cases where prejudicial error was found and the failure to preserve the issue was not a matter of trial tactics.    Counsel should not rely on this Court, or any reviewing court, to do their thinking for them after the fact. Furthermore, we have stated that even in a death penalty case, with the potential finality of its outcome, litigation cannot continue ad infinitum through counsel withholding issues or framing the questions differently each time. Abeokuto v. State, 391 Md. 289, 327, 893 A.2d 1018, 1040 (2006) (quoting Conyers v. State, 354 Md. 132, 150-51, 729 A.2d 910, 919-20 (1999)). Furthermore, this Court has recently explained that [e]ven errors of a Constitutional dimension may be waived for failure to interpose a timely objection at trial. Robinson v. State, 410 Md. 91, 106, 976 A.2d 1072, 1081 (2009) (citations omitted). The State argues that Grandison has declined to raise the jury instruction claim at numerous stages of his lengthy proceedings, waiting until 2007 to do so: Grandison acknowledges that he did not object or note an exception to the reasonable doubt jury instruction when it was given in 1984.... Grandison never raised this claim in any of the five previous appeals to this Court beginning in 1984 (Grandison I, 301 Md. at 45 [481 A.2d 1135], Grandison II, 305 Md. at 685 [506 A.2d 580], Grandison III, 341 Md. at 175 [670 A.2d 398], Grandison IV, 351 Md. at 732 [720 A.2d 322], and Grandison V, 390 Md. at 412 [889 A.2d 366]), nor in federal habeas corpus proceedings ( Grandison, 78 F.Supp.2d at 499). Rather, Grandison raised this claim for the first time in a pleading [titled] Motion for New Trial and Motion to Reopen Original Post Conviction Proceeding filed in the [Circuit Court] on August 6, 2007. In his briefs before this Court, Grandison makes arguments from the Constitution and from case law, but at no point does he address the waiver of this claim the very reason for the Circuit Court's denial of his motion. Grandison's failure to raise his objection to the jury instruction in timely fashion, combined with his failure to even address the waiver argument before this Court, persuades us to affirm the dismissal of his motion on this question.