Court Opinion

ID: 9706301
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:39:13.203383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:27:24.963142
License: Public Domain

Dissenting opinion by
BATTAGLIA, Judge,
Joined by CATHELL, Judge.
I respectfully dissent.
In determining the existence of reversible error, this Court conducts two inquiries: (1) whether an error occurred in the trial court and, if so, (2) whether that error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Under the first inquiry, as the majority correctly states, “a trial court’s actions and decisions are generally presumed to be correct.” Majority slip op. at 10 (citing Mora v. State, 355 Md. 639, 650, 735 A.2d 1122, 1128 (1999)). To overcome the presumption of correctness, the *664appellant has the burden of producing a “sufficient factual record for the appellate court to determine whether error was committed.” Mora, 355 Md. at 650, 735 A.2d at 1128; see State v. Chaney, 375 Md. 168, 184, 825 A.2d 452, 461 (2003); Bradley v. Hazard Technology Co., 340 Md. 202, 206, 665 A.2d 1050, 1052 (1995). If the appellant establishes that error occurred, the burden falls on the State to demonstrate that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Dorsey v. State, 276 Md. 638, 658, 350 A.2d 665, 677 (1976).
My disagreement with the majority involves its evaluation of the first inquiry. The majority states: “It is clear that a communication from the jury was received, for it appears in the record and is labeled as a court exhibit. It is also clear that neither petitioner nor his attorney were informed about the communication. That alone constitutes error.” Majority op. at 658. If the record were as clear as the majority describes it, I might agree that some error occurred. The record, however, is far from clear. In fact, of the entire record, only a single, unexplained jury note forms the basis for the majority’s conclusion that the jury communicated with the judge without the petitioner’s or his attorney’s knowledge. That note, although signed and marked as a court exhibit, is not referenced in the transcript and bears no time stamp to indicate whether and when. the court, in fact, received it. Further, the record contains no information that, if the trial judge knew of the note at all, he had time to respond to the jury’s request. Without more, the petitioner failed to meet his burden of establishing trial court error.
The majority accuses the Court of Special Appeals of “speculating” that the jury returned a verdict before the jury note could have been answered. Because of its utter silence on the matter, however, the record only permits speculation, which is exactly how the majority reaches its own conclusion that the judge received the note and never discussed its existence with the petitioner or his lawyer before the jury returned its verdict. The majority offers no factual support, and none exists in the record, for the assertion that petitioner and his counsel first learned of the note after the jury verdict and *665sentence. Instead, the majority apparently relies completely on the allegation made by petitioner’s appellate counsel, who did not participate at trial and therefore also can only speculate as to what actually happened. Neither petitioner’s appellate counsel, the State, nor this Court has the slightest idea how or when the jury note entered the record or, for that matter, whether error occurred.1 As the record is insufficient to support a claim of trial court error, I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
That outcome would not preclude the petitioner from seeking a remedy under the Maryland Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act, codified as Maryland Code, Section 7-101 et seq. of the Criminal Procedure Article (2001). Litigation under those provisions would take place in a forum where petitioner could develop a factual record of how the jury note entered the record, what the judge did with the note, if anything, and whether petitioner’s trial counsel knew of the note before the jury verdict.
This Court recently had occasion to discuss the utility of post-conviction proceedings in developing a sufficient factual record for appellate review. In Mosley v. State, 378 Md. 548, 567, 836 A.2d 678, 689 (2003), the Court declined to address the merits of a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal because the factual record on that issue had not been adequately developed. The Court explained that, in cases involving “alleged constitutional, jurisdictional, or other fundamental violations that occurred at trial,” the Maryland Post Conviction Act allows the defendant to attack the validity of a conviction collaterally “in a separate evidentiary proceeding.” Id. at 559, 836 A.2d at 684. To that end, the Act “provides the defendant with the possibility of an evidentiary hearing, reflecting a recognition that ‘adequate procedures exist at the trial level, as distinguished from the appellate *666level, for taking testimony, receiving evidence, and making factual findings thereon concerning the allegations of error.’ ” Id. at 560, 836 A.2d at 685 (quoting Wilson v. State, 284 Md. 664, 675, 399 A.2d 256, 262 (1979)). Like in Mosley, the record in this case does not provide the necessary information to determine whether some fundamental error occurred at trial. Rather than relying on conjecture to reach its result, the majority should have required the petitioner to develop an adequate record for review in a proceeding best suited for that purpose.
Judge CATHELL authorizes me to state that he joins in this dissent.

. Only one's imagination limits the number of conceivable possibilities. It may be that the jury decided not to deliver the note to the judge and ask its question but, instead, left the note in the jury room after concluding deliberations. From there, it could have been picked up after the trial and erroneously placed in the record.