Opinion ID: 2076252
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: parole statistics

Text: Hunt next contends that the trial judge erred in refusing to admit into evidence a report of the number of inmates serving life sentences in Maryland who were released from the penitentiary in certain specific years. Hunt wanted to have an official from the Division of Correction's statistical section testify to the number of lifers released each year from 1984 to 1988, although he was prepared to agree to limit the testimony to 1986 to 1988, the years Hunt had spent in prison. At one time, this Court did not allow the introduction during a death penalty proceeding of any evidence regarding the possibility of parole. Harris V, 312 Md. at 250-51, 539 A.2d at 649. We modified that position in Doering, 313 Md. at 411-12, 545 A.2d at 1295. In Doering we held that a defendant in a capital sentencing proceeding ... [may] place before the jury relevant and competent information concerning his eligibility for parole in the event a life sentence is imposed.... Id. (Emphasis added). The underlying rationale in Doering was that the availability of an acceptable alternative sentence to death could be a mitigating factor in the jury's deliberations, and the defendant should have the benefit of having the jury consider the alternative sentence with a better understanding of the legal and practical effects of a life sentence. [7] Cf. California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 1001, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 3453, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171, 1180-81 (1983) (quoting Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 2964, 57 L.Ed.2d 973, 990 (1978) (plurality opinion)). At the same time, we made clear in Doering that not all information regarding parole is admissible. We noted that predictions of a specific parole computation date would not be admissible because such predictions would require too much speculation, and that the threshold requirements of relevance and competency apply to evidence regarding the possibility of parole as they do to all evidence. Doering, 313 Md. at 412, 545 A.2d at 1295. [T]o be admissible the proffered evidence must meet a threshold test of relevancy. Johnson II, 303 Md. at 527, 495 A.2d at 21. We do not find that the trial judge committed error in excluding the proffered evidence. The evidence referred to all inmates serving life sentences in the Maryland corrections system for the years in question. It did not distinguish among the various crimes for which those inmates were convicted, let alone the circumstances of each case. It did not distinguish among the background of the inmates involved. The bald numbers gave no clue about the prison behavior records of the inmates released and those denied release. The written report, to which the Department of Corrections official was prepared to testify, noted that the average term of imprisonment for those released was about 20 years, but also noted that many prisoners serving life sentences were never released. In summary, the proffered evidence probably would not have helped the jury understand the legal and practical effects of a life sentence. We note that Hunt had admitted into evidence other relevant and competent information about the legal and practical effects of parole. The jury learned that Hunt would have to serve a minimum of 25 years, less good conduct time, for the murder should the jury sentence him to life in prison. This information, while universally applicable to those serving life sentences, was also particular to Hunt. But when any particular inmate will be paroled is an individualized determination. A simple listing of how many inmates have been paroled annually, standing alone, adds nothing to the jury's understanding of when any particular defendant will be paroled. The trial judge did not err in excluding this evidence.