Court Opinion

ID: 9763112
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:36:47.052774+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:39.485774
License: Public Domain

*549ROBERT M. BELL, Judge,
dissenting.
Hard cases make bad law. This tragic case involves the murder and robbery of a young man named James Rowan Griffin (Jamie), which occurred in 1982. His killer was prosecuted in 1984, but only for the robbery and related offenses, not for Jamie’s murder. After an agonizing, but undaunted, eight-year search by Jamie’s parents, as well as by state and local authorities, Jamie’s body was found. Out of its understandable sympathy for the parents of the victim and to correct what, in hindsight, was a gross miscalculation by the prosecution, the majority does what unfortunately is done too often in heart rending cases, it bends the rules and makes bad law. What is at stake in this case is a fundamental principle of law of constitutional proportions, whose venerable heritage spans the common law. Consequently, although I too feel sympathy for the parents of the victim, I must respectfully dissent.
I.
A.
The majority has meticulously, and exhaustibly, set forth both the background of the two prosecutions and the facts as they were developed at the robbery trial. From that recital, the following are clear. Whittlesey was not charged with simple theft in 1982;1 rather, evidencing the prosecution’s belief that it had sufficient evidence without Jamie’s body, he was charged with, tried for, and convicted of robbery and assault with intent to rob, crimes which required the prosecution to prove that Jamie’s property was taken by the use of violence or threat of violence.2 Al*550though most of the prosecution’s evidence in the robbery trial was circumstantial, not all of it was; there was evidence that Whittlesey’s friend, David Strathy, had taped conversations in which Whittlesey admitted that Jamie was dead and commented on the manner of his death.3 The evidence the prosecution used to prove robbery and assault with intent to rob tended also to prove Jamie’s death and that it was directly related to the robbery — that it occurred, either accidentally or intentionally, during the course of the robbery. In addition to the fact that the victim’s property was found in Whittlesey’s possession, that evidence included testimony concerning Jamie’s habits and character, the *551efforts the police made to locate Jamie and the previously mentioned taped conversations between Strathy and Whittlesey. Whittlesey gave several different versions of how Jamie died — accidentally, intentionally, and at the hands of a third party — thus undermining the inherent credibility of any one version. Significantly, however, the one thing about which there was virtually no equivocation was that Jamie was dead. Evidence having been adduced tending to prove Jamie’s death, the prosecutor argued to the jury that he was, in fact, dead, killed during the robbery. At sentencing, the trial judge stated his belief that Jamie was dead and, apparently based on that, sentenced Whittlesey, a first offender, to a total of 25 years imprisonment: 10 years, the maximum, for robbery, and 15 years, again, the maximum, for theft over $300.00.
B.
When there has been a prior prosecution for robbery, application of “the Blockburger test” 4 bars a subsequent prosecution for a murder committed during that robbery, i.e. for felony murder. Robbery is a lesser included offense of such murder, Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682, 97 S.Ct. 2912, 2913, 53 L.Ed.2d 1054, 1056 (1977); see State v. Frye, 283 Md. 709, 715, 393 A.2d 1372, 1375 (1978); Newton v. State, 280 Md. 260, 268, 373 A.2d 262, 266 (1977); see also Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 169, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 2227, 53 L.Ed.2d 187, 196 (1977), and, hence, for double jeopardy purposes, is deemed the same offense.5 Brown, 432 U.S. at 168, 97 S.Ct. at 2227, 53 L.Ed.2d at 196; Frye, 283 Md. at *552715, 393 A.2d at 1375; Newton, 280 Md. at 268, 262 A.2d at 266.
In Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 516 n. 7,110 S.Ct. 2084, 2090 n. 7, 109 L.Ed.2d 548, 561 n. 7 (1990), however, the Supreme Court recognized that:
[W]hen application of our traditional double jeopardy analysis would bar a subsequent prosecution, “[a]n exception may exist where the State is unable to proceed on the more serious charge at the outset because the additional facts necessary to sustain that charge have not occurred or have not been discovered despite the exercise of due diligence.”
(quoting Brown, 432 U.S. at 169 n. 7, 97 S.Ct. at 2227 n. 7, 53 L.Ed.2d at 196 n. 7). In support of that proposition, the Court cited Diaz v. United States, 223 U.S. 442, 32 S.Ct. 250, 56 L.Ed. 500 (1912) and Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). In the former, the defendant was tried for, and convicted of, assault and battery. When the victim subsequently died of his injuries, the defendant was charged with, and despite objections raising the bar of double jeopardy, tried for, and convicted of, the victim’s murder. Rejecting the double jeopardy argument, the Supreme Court stated:
The death of the injured person was the principal element of the homicide, but was no part of the assault and battery. At the time of the trial for the latter the death had not ensued, and not until it did ensue was the homicide committed. Then, and not before, was it possible to put the accused in jeopardy for that offense.
223 U.S. at 449, 32 S.Ct. at 251, 56 L.Ed. at 503.
In a concurring opinion in Swenson, Mr. Justice Brennan urged the joinder in one trial of “all the charges against a defendant that grew out of a single criminal act, occurrence, episode, or transaction,” 397 U.S. at 453-54, 90 S.Ct. at 1199, 25 L.Ed.2d at 481, except in limited circumstances *553such as “where a crime is not completed or not discovered, despite diligence on the part of the police, until after the commencement of a prosecution for other crimes arising from the same transaction____” 397 U.S. at 453 n. 7, 90 S.Ct. at 1199 n. 7, 25 L.Ed.2d at 481 n. 7. That exception to the traditional double jeopardy analysis was first recognized in Brown and reiterated in Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 420 n. 8, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 2267 n. 8, 65 L.Ed.2d 228, 238 n. 8 (1980). Aside from Diaz itself, the Court has, to date, applied the Diaz exception only once,6 see Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 791-95, 105 S.Ct. 2407, 2417-19, 85 L.Ed.2d 764, 779-81 (1985), and then only after expressing “serious doubts as to whether the offense to which Garrett pleaded guilty in Washington was a ‘lesser included offense’ within the [Continuing Criminal Enterprise] charge so that the prosecution of the former would bar a prosecution of the latter.” 471 U.S. at 790, 105 S.Ct. at 2417, 85 L.Ed.2d at 779.
*554Without direct guidance from the Supreme Court7 or this Court,8 the majority, without citation of authority, under*555takes to formulate a test to determine when the Diaz exception is applicable. Under its test,
a subsequent indictment on a second offense, otherwise barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, is not barred if, at the time of prosecution for the earlier offense a reasonable prosecutor, having full knowledge of the facts which were known and in the exercise of due diligence should have been known to the police and prosecutor at that time, would not be satisfied that he or she would be able to establish the suspect’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
(326 Md. at 525, 606 A.2d at 236). Armed with this test, and noting preliminarily that the fact of the victim’s death, the manner in which it occurred, and Whittlesey’s criminal agency were not litigated at the robbery trial, the majority posits the question: “Whether the sum of the available evidence when Whittlesey was put in jeopardy for robbery constitutionally compelled the prosecutor, at that time, to seek an indictment against him for murder.” (326 Md. at 527, 606 A.2d at 237). As we shall see, the majority has asked the wrong question.
I agree with the majority up to the point where it recognizes that there may be an exception which permits a prosecution otherwise barred by the double jeopardy prohibition. I do not agree with the majority’s interpretation of the exception and certainly not with its conclusion that, under the facts sub judice, the exception even permits a prosecution for felony murder.9 Furthermore, I believe the *556test the majority has formulated is ill-suited to determining whether the Diaz exception applies. Finally, I do not agree with the majority that United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977)10 allows a prosecutor, so long as he or she acts reasonably, to initiate some, but not all, charges arising out of a single set of facts, as to which probable cause and sufficient circumstantial evidence to establish a prima facie case exist. Whether the prosecutor also believes that convictions could not be obtained as to the charges the prosecutor chooses to forego is simply irrelevant. This authorization to split charges and bring multiple serial prosecutions violates fundamental due process as well as double jeopardy principles.
II.
A.
For the Diaz exception to apply to the case sub judice, when it prosecuted Whittlesey for robbery, the State must have lacked sufficient facts to make out a prima facie case that the victim had also been murdered. Viewing, in an objective fashion, the evidence as known or, with due diligence, discoverable, by the prosecutor when the robbery was tried, the critical time, we seek to determine if there was sufficient evidence to make out a prima facie case of murder. The test is not unlike that which we apply when reviewing a ruling on denial of a defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal made pursuant to Rule 4-324, see Brooks v. State, 299 Md. 146,150-51 n. 3, 472 A.2d 981, 984 n. 3 (1984) (function of reviewing court is to determine *557whether “ ‘there is any relevant evidence, properly before the jury, legally sufficient to sustain a conviction.’ ” Court quoting State v. Devers, 260 Md. 360, 371, 272 A.2d 794, 800, cert, denied, Devers v. Maryland, 404 U.S. 824, 92 S.Ct. 50, 30 L.Ed.2d 52 (1971)), or the sufficiency of the evidence. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1973) (reviewing court must ask itself, upon review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, whether “any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt”) (emphasis in original); Wiggins v. State, 324 Md. 551, 556-67, 597 A.2d 1359, 1366-67 (1991). Therefore, we do not weigh the evidence, State v. Devers, 260 Md. at 371, 272 A.2d at 800, nor do we, using hindsight, determine whether, had the case gone to trial, a rational trier of fact probably would have convicted the defendant. The relevant inquiry is whether there was any evidence from which the trier of facts could have done so.
B.
When it initiated the robbery prosecution, and certainly when the case was tried, the State had a tremendous amount of evidence tending to prove that Jamie was dead. Jamie had been missing since April 3, 1982, approximately three months by the time Whittlesey was charged with robbery and, by the time of trial, almost two years. Whittlesey had been seen with Jamie on the day before he disappeared. It was contrary to Jamie’s habits and character to fail to keep in touch with his parents; when he was away from home and would not return when expected, it was Jamie’s habit to call them.
Whittlesey’s first account of his last involvement with Jamie differed significantly from his later accounts, particularly those he related to Strathy. As noted, during those conversations, Whittlesey said Jamie was dead, although he also gave differing accounts as to how he died. Jamie’s property was found in Whittlesey’s possession, but here again, Whittlesey’s account of how that came to be differed *558from the State’s theory: he told a friend that he won it shooting pool. Furthermore, Strathy reported that he had been asked by Whittlesey to help bury a body in Gunpowder State Park, where he observed under a little mound covered with pine needles, a red shirt and a jacket like those worn by Jamie when last seen alive, and a tennis shoe. Using a shovel, Strathy poked in the area of the shirt and jacket and found it to be “like hard.” The police conducted an intensive search for the victim’s body, including the area of Gunpowder State Park where Strathy said he had seen what could have been a body. When they accompanied Strathy to the area, however, there was no longer a mound of pine needles. At no time between Jamie’s disappearance and the robbery trial had Jamie’s parents or relatives been contacted, something that was, again, contrary to Jamie’s habits and character.
The State also had evidence as to the manner of Jamie’s death. Whittlesey said that Jamie bled to death from a head injury suffered when he ran into a tree. Later, Whittlesey acknowledged that he “might’ve pushed him.” He also said that he had been told that Jamie had a lot of money and he thought he could punch him in the face and grab the money and that after Jamie lay bleeding on the ground and he knew he was dead, he reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and after finding the keys to the car, he took it and left the scene. In still another conversation, Whittlesey told Strathy that, after he had taken Strathy to the area where the body was, he went back and buried the body. He described in detail how he did it, including the facts that he buried the body very deep and disposed of the excess dirt by putting it in a stream. This may explain why there was no mound when Strathy took the police to where he had seen what may have been a body. When asked about the shovel he used, Whittlesey said that he put it in a dumpster, bent out of shape. When asked why he pushed Jamie into the tree when Jamie had no money, Whittlesey told Strathy that he found out Jamie had a $750.00 money *559order. Finally, Whittlesey told Strathy that he “really didn’t like the kid, anyhow.”
During closing argument at the robbery trial, the prosecutor argued:
Ladies and gentlemen, there are so many circumstances here indicating that what Michael Whittlesey told you, and he did tell you through David Strathy through those tapes, he told you what he did that night and why he did it. He pushed the kid, reached in his back pocket and took his wallet and car keys and watched him die, watched him die, bleed to death____ There is one person who didn’t testify. We know why he didn’t testify because he’s not here. He’s buried six feet in the ground. It would be ludicrous to believe that because Jamie Griffin didn’t testify that this defendant can’t be found guilty. It would be ludicrous to believe that there are not sufficient circumstances here to corroborate everything that the defendant said on those tapes.
I think it significant that the prosecutor’s argument was premised on the corroboration of Whittlesey’s admission that he pushed Jamie into a tree and then watched him bleed to death. Clearly, his theory was felony murder. Clearly, he, a reasonable prosecutor, had no doubts concerning either Jamie’s death or its cause.
Having weighed the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of robbery and of theft over $300.00. The Court of Special Appeals rejected a challenge to the sufficiency of that evidence and affirmed.
The evidence adduced at the robbery trial was likewise sufficient to sustain a conviction for felony murder. Proof of felony murder does not require that the killing in the course of the felony be intentional. See Campbell v. State, 293 Md. 438, 442, 444 A.2d 1034,1037 (1982); Frye, 283 Md. at 713, 393 A.2d at 1374; Newton, 280 Md. at 278, 373 A.2d at 267-68; Warren v. State, 29 Md.App. 560, 566, 350 A.2d 173, 178 (1976); Evans v. State, 28 Md.App. 640, 686, 349 A.2d 300, 329-30 (1975), affd, 278 Md. 197, 362 A.2d 629 *560(1976). Consequently, the discovery of Jamie’s body added nothing to what was already known except the precise manner of death. That the cause of death was homicide being already inferable, the medical examiner’s determination is no more than confirmatory. Accordingly, postponing charging and trying Whittlesey for felony murder until after the body was discovered had the effect only of strengthening the State’s case, not providing it with evidence to prove it.
III.
A.
While acknowledging that murder may be proven by circumstantial evidence even when the victim’s body is not recovered,11 the majority bemoans the difficulty of doing so:
*562“absent a body and lacking, therefore, an expert opinion as to the manner and cause of death, it would be difficult to establish, by way of circumstantial evidence, the elements called for under the murder indictment, namely, that Jamie was dead, that the manner of his death was felonious homicide, and that Whittlesey had killed him.”
(326 Md. at 528, 606 A.2d at 238). That difficulty is exacerbated in this case, we are told, because Whittlesey gave various versions of the victim’s disappearance, which “clouded whatever may have been the true facts____” (326 Md. at 528, 606 A.2d at 238). From this premise, the majority concludes that a reasonable prosecutor would not have been satisfied that he or she would have been able to establish Whittlesey’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That reasoning is irrelevant to the charge of felony murder and it is wrong.12
The test is not whether the prosecution reasonably believed it could secure a conviction for felony murder when the robbery prosecution was brought. It is, rather, whether the State was able to proceed on the felony murder charge at that time.
*563There was ample evidence which the State concedes constituted at least probable cause to believe Jamie was dead and that he died during the course of the robbery. That evidence was sufficient to convict Whittlesey of robbery and theft and it made out a prima facie case for felony murder as well. The State clearly could have proceeded on the felony murder charge and should now be barred from maintaining a successive prosecution.
United States v. Ragins, 840 F.2d 1184 (4th Cir.1988) graphically demonstrates this point. There, the defendant was charged with conspiracy and possession of an identification document with intent to defraud the United States government. Prior to trial on those charges, a co-conspirator, having pled guilty, informed the government that the defendant was involved in other conspiracies. Despite this knowledge, the government proceeded to trial and the defendant was acquitted. The government subsequently obtained a second indictment charging the defendant with a continuing conspiracy, setting out overt acts which were previously alleged in the prior indictment. Reversing the denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds, the Fourth Circuit rejected the government’s “undiscovered crime [the Diaz ] exception” to the Double Jeopardy Clause:
There is no merit to this argument. The government undoubtedly knew of the crime itself — -the conspiracy to defraud the INS — at the time it began the first prosecution. It also knew that Ragins had been involved to some degree in that crime. The only fact that was arguably “undiscovered” at the time of the first prosecution was the extent of Ragins’ involvement. This is a far cry from the typical undiscovered crime case — e.g., the assault becomes homicide when the victim dies. See Diaz v. United States, 223 U.S. 442, 448-449, 32 S.Ct. 250, 251, 56 L.Ed. 500, [501] (1912). The undiscovered crime exception was not intended to permit the government to reprosecute a defendant simply because it has discovered more evidence strengthening its case; indeed, if the exception *564were so construed, it would swallow the successive prosecution rule itself.”
This is precisely the situation sub judice. Like the government in Ragins, the State in 1982 knew that the crime of murder had been committed and knew who committed it. From all the evidence, albeit circumstantial, the inference was inescapable that Jamie was dead and that Whittlesey had killed him. The only facts that were not known, or discoverable, in 1982 and 1984, were the whereabouts of the body and the exact manner of his death. But neither was necessary in order for the State to bring felony murder charges. Furthermore, the State’s reluctance to proceed without additional evidence, the body and its revelations, is not grounds for allowing successive prosecutions. The State’s recourse was not to proceed with the robbery prosecution, while refraining from proceeding with the murder prosecution, but either to proceed with all prosecutions arising out of Jamie’s disappearance or to refrain from proceeding with any of them.
The Diaz exception is applicable only in a very narrow set of circumstances: those in which the discovered facts are necessary to the State’s establishment of a prima facie case that the defendant has committed a crime, which, when the defendant was prosecuted for the lesser included, or greater, offense had not been completed or could not have been discovered despite the exercise of due diligence. Where, as here, there existed ample circumstantial evidence of the defendant’s commission of the crime, which was known when the prior prosecution proceeded, the discovery of the victim’s body and the manner of his death do not fall within this narrow set of circumstances. The subsequent prosecution sought to be pursued in this case is, therefore, barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause.
B.
Adoption of the reasonable prosecutor test has two critical results. First, despite its acknowledgment that a prose*565cution for homicide may be successfully maintained even without the victim’s body, the reasonable prosecutor test effectively vitiates the vitality of that rule. In addition, another effect of adopting the majority’s test is completely to destroy the double jeopardy bar against successive prosecutions. Where a defendant has previously been prosecuted for a lesser, or greater, offense, applying a reasonable prosecutor standard to the determination of whether a successive prosecution should be allowed lacks foundation in case law and logic. Certainly the majority has cited not one case which supports its position and I have found none. Engrafting onto the Diaz exception the further requirement that a prosecutor reasonably believe that he or she could obtain a conviction before he or she must initiate a prosecution for murder simply reads the Diaz exception too broadly. Under such a reading, no successive prosecution will ever be barred because a reasonable prosecutor will always opt for a perfect case before proceeding. Thus, successive prosecutions will become the rule rather than the exception.
The test has ramifications well beyond this case. It may be used to justify splitting virtually any cause of action. Just two examples of the mischief that could occur suffice to make the point. When a defendant is found with a moderate amount of drugs and an issue is the accused’s intent to distribute, a “reasonable prosecutor” may be expected to forego prosecuting the defendant for possession with intent to distribute and proceed only on simple possession, opting to wait, and hope, for additional evidence of intent to distribute. Similarly, where the defendant commits an armed robbery with a gun that is not recovered and the description of the weapon is arguably ambiguous, a “reasonable prosecutor” could be expected to forego prosecuting a charge of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, in favor of proceeding only on armed robbery, in hopes that further investigation, or even evidence adduced at the armed robbery trial, will bolster the belief that the weapon used was actually a handgun.
*566The majority relies on United States v. Lovasco, supra, to support the proposition that prosecutors need not bring an action simply because they have probable cause, or even sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction. Thus, notwithstanding that the State conceded that it had probable cause to arrest Whittlesey for murder when it indicted him for robbery, the majority maintains that it was under no obligation to proceed with the murder charge at that time.
This is not an initiation of prosecution case; it is a successive prosecution case. At issue is the viability of a successive prosecution in light of a prior prosecution, and conviction, for a lesser included offense. Thus, it is appropriate that we focus not on the initiation of the felony murder prosecution, but on the initiation of the robbery prosecution. Whether the felony murder prosecution is viable depends entirely upon what was known, or knowable, by the State when Whittlesey was convicted of robbery. If that prosecution were properly brought, and there is no issue as to that here, and the conviction unassailable, then the question that must be asked is whether it was known, or discoverable, at that time, that a murder arising out of the robbery had been perpetrated. Stated differently, the State was under no obligation to try Whittlesey for robbery when it chose to do so — it could have brought the prosecution or delayed bringing it, in its discretion, based solely on its assessment of the evidence. Once, however, it chose to prosecute the robbery charge, the State could not close its eyes to the effect of that prosecution on a subsequent prosecution for felony murder, when conviction of that charge required proof of the same elements. Whether, for purposes of the Diaz exception, the felony murder prosecution should have been brought at the same time as the robbery prosecution depends upon the crime being either known or discoverable at that time.
Reliance on Lovasco, therefore, is unavailing; that case is inapposite. In Lovasco, the Court was not concerned with successive prosecutions; it was concerned simply with the *567timing of an initial prosecution. Here, there has been no delay, in the usual sense, of a prosecution. There is, rather, an attempt to maintain a successive prosecution: a lesser included offense of the greater charge has already been tried and the greater charge, not having been brought at the same time, is sought to be tried now. The issue, therefore, is whether the Double Jeopardy Clause bars this subsequent prosecution. Lovasco certainly applies when we are concerned with an initial prosecution. As indicated, we are not. To read Lovasco as the majority does is to eliminate entirely the Double Jeopardy Clause’s bar against successive prosecutions.
CHASANOW, J., joins in this opinion.

. Theft may be committed in several ways, none of which requires the use of force, or threat of force such as an assault. See Maryland Code (1957, 1992 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, § 342.

. ‘“Robbery may be defined as the felonious taking and carrying away of the [tangible] personal property of another, from his person, or in his presence, by violence or by putting him in fear, [with the intent] to deprive the owner permanently of his property or the *550property of another lawfully in his possession.' ” State v. Gover, 267 Md. 602, 606, 298 A.2d 378, 380-81 (1973), quoting Hadder v. State, 238 Md. 341, 354, 209 A.2d 70, 77 (1965). See also Hook v. State, 315 Md. 25, 30-31, 553 A.2d 233, 236 (1989); West v. State, 312 Md. 197, 202, 539 A.2d 231, 232 (1988).
An assault with the intent to rob consists of "(1) an assault on the victim; (2) made by the accused; (3) with the intent to rob.” Bryant v. State, 4 Md.App. 572, 578, 244 A.2d 446, 450 (1968). Art. 27, § 12.

. Although Strathy testified that he accompanied Whittlesey to Gunpowder State Park and that Whittlesey told him that they were going to bury a body, he maintained that he never actually saw a body. What he saw, he said, was a red shirt, a jacket, and a tennis shoe underneath a mound covered with pine needles. After poking in the area of the shirt and jacket and finding it ‘like hard," he left; he never saw a head or any uncovered part of the body. Consequently, although coming close to doing so, Strathy’s observations did not provide direct evidence of the corpus delicti. His testimony that Whittlesey told him that there was a body buried underneath the pine needles and that it was that of the victim, coupled with assertions made at other times concerning how the victim died, was evidence of the corpus delicti, needing only corroboration, i.e., proof of the corpus delicti independent of the admission, Bagley v. State, 232 Md. 86, 96, 192 A.2d 53, 59 (1963); Lemons v. State, 49 Md.App. 467, 473, 433 A.2d 1179, 1183, cert, denied, 292 Md. 13 (1981), which need not be by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Bagley, 232 Md. at 96, 192 A.2d at 59; Pierce v. State, 227 Md. 221, 226, 175 A.2d 743, 745 (1961). See Foster v. State, 230 Md. 256, 258, 186 A.2d 619, 620 (1962). Such proof is " ‘sufficient if, when considered in connection with the confession, it satisfies the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense was committed and that the defendant committed it.’ ” Bagley, 232 Md. at 96, 192 A.2d at 59, quoting Jones v. State, 188 Md. 263, 271-72, 52 A.2d 484, 488 (1946) (emphasis added).

. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932).

. This result flows from application of the "required evidence test,” which is the federal test, see Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 510, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 2087, 109 L.Ed.2d 548, 557 (1990); Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309 (1932), as well as the Maryland common-law rule. See Williams v. State, 323 Md. 312, 316, 593 A.2d 671, 673 (1990) and cases there cited.

. In Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977), the defendant was convicted of stealing an automobile, having previously been prosecuted and punished for the lesser included offense of operating that automobile without the owner’s consent. The facts of Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 65 L.Ed.2d 228 (1980) were similar. There, the defendant was involved in an automobile accident in which two children were killed. He was convicted of failing to reduce speed to avoid the accident. Later, based on the same accident, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. As in Brown, the prosecution was aware when it prosecuted the lesser offense, that the greater offense had also been committed, in that case, that the accident had resulted in two deaths. 447 U.S. at 420 n. 8, 100 S.Ct. at 2267 n. 8, 65 L.Ed.2d at 238 n. 8. Grady, supra involved an automobile accident in which one person died. The defendant was given two tickets, one charging driving while intoxicated and the other failing to keep to the right of the median, requiring appearance in court on a date certain. When the defendant appeared, he pled guilty to both charges. Notwithstanding that no member of the district attorney’s office was present and the presiding judge was unaware that the tickets charged conduct resulting in a fatal accident, given the prosecution’s knowledge that a death occurred in the accident, the Diaz exception was held not to apply, when the State attempted to prosecute Corbin for, among other things, reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and third-degree reckless assault.

. The Ninth Circuit has applied the Diaz exception. In United States v. Steams, 707 F.2d 391 (9th Cir.1983), the defendants, found in possession of a boat belonging to a couple who disappeared two months earlier, were charged with theft and convicted. Id. at 392. When, some years later, one victim’s skull and bones were discovered, revealing evidence that the couple had been murdered, the defendants were indicted for felony murder. Id. Critical to the rejection of the defendants’ double jeopardy challenge was the fact that the government had no evidence of foul play prior to commencement of the earlier theft prosecution. After pointing out that the government had acted with "due diligence,” the court said:
Although the government suspected foul play when it discovered the [victims’ boat] in appellants’ possession, the search produced no evidence of it. The [victims’] campsite was found undisturbed, and neither Palmyra nor the water around it yielded any evidence of the [victims’] fate. The district court’s conclusion that the government did not have the facts necessary to sustain the murder charge at the outset was not clearly erroneous.
707 F.2d at 394.

. This Court has not applied the Diaz exception to permit a prosecution that was otherwise double jeopardy barred. In Gianiny v. State, 320 Md. 337, 577 A.2d 795 (1990), however, we noted that the State was barred under both the Double Jeopardy Clause and Maryland’s common-law double jeopardy principles from prosecuting Gianiny for vehicular manslaughter after he had been convicted of, and punished for, negligent driving, a lesser included offense of vehicular manslaughter. In our discussion, we referred to the Diaz exception. It was inapplicable, we said, because the police officer who issued the traffic citations was aware that the accident had resulted in the death of the other driver. 320 Md. at 341 n. 3, 577 A.2d at 796-97 n. 3. The Court of Special Appeals applied the Diaz exception in Thomas v. State, 32 Md.App. 465, 361 A.2d 138 (1976), a case similar to Diaz v. United States, 223 U.S. 442, 32 S.Ct. 250, 56 L.Ed. 500 (1912). So, too, has the intermediate appellate court of Washington. State v. Escobar, 30 Wash.App. 131, 633 P.2d 100 (1981) involved an initial prosecution for driving while intoxicated and a subsequent one for negligent homicide. The charges arose out of a three car accident in which the driver of one of the cars was killed. The facts known to the prosecution when the defendant was charged with driving while intoxicated were that the defendant was in his proper lane on a two lane road when there was a head-on collision in the other lane, which resulted in one of the cars involved in the collision striking the defendant’s car. Although intoxicated driving was an element of the state’s negligent homicide statute, the prosecutor had no "substantial” evidence with which to charge the defendant with negligent homicide until it had obtained an expert to reconstruct the accident, and that reconstruc*555tion tended to prove the defendant’s complicity in the accident. 633 P.2d at 103.

. The majority has "assumed for purposes of decision in this case” that the test announced in Grady, 495 U.S. at 510, 110 S.Ct. at 2087, 109 L.Ed.2d at 557, namely:
“the Double Jeopardy Clause bars a subsequent prosecution if, to establish an essential element of an offense charged in that prosecution, the government will prove conduct that constitutes an offense for which the defendant has already been prosecuted,” (footnote omitted)
*556bars any murder prosecution. I make no such assumption. My analysis is limited to determining the applicability of such exception to felony murder.

. This case stands for the proposition that, even when a prosecutor has probable cause to bring a criminal charge and sufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecutor is not constitutionally required to do so; i.e., there is no violation of due process when the prosecutor delays initiating the prosecution.

. The rationale behind allowing a prosecution for murder to go forward even though the victim’s body has not been recovered is that a murderer should not be rewarded for successfully concealing the victim’s body. Government of Virgin Islands v. Harris, 938 F.2d 401, 415 (3rd Cir.1991); Hurley v. State, 60 Md.App. 539, 550-51, 483 A.2d 1298, 1304 (1984), both citing People v. Manson, 71 Cal.App.3rd 1, 42, 139 Cal.Rptr. 275, 298 (2d Dis.1977), cert, denied, 435 U.S. 953, 98 S.Ct. 1582, 55 L.Ed.2d 803 (1978) and State v. Zarinsky, 143 N.J.Super. 35, 362 A.2d 611, 621 (1976), aff'd, 75 N.J. 101, 380 A.2d 685 (1977).
In cases where the body is not recovered, "the proof of the corpus delicti is sufficient if it establishes the fact that the person for whose death the prosecution was instituted is dead, and that the death occurred under circumstances which would indicate that it was caused criminally by someone.” Jones v. State, 188 Md. at 272, 52 A.2d at 488. See Hurley, 60 Md.App. at 549, 483 A.2d at 1303 and Lemons v. State, supra, both homicide prosecutions, in which the victim’s body was not recovered. When direct evidence is not available, the corpus delicti may be proven by circumstantial evidence and this is true even when the circumstantial evidence applies to the fact of death. Hurley, 60 Md.App. at 550, 483 A.2d at 1304. It is not necessary to show by direct evidence how the victim was killed; circumstantial evidence may be used also to establish the manner of the victim’s death. In the absence of direct evidence such as an extrajudicial confession, circumstantial proof of the corpus delicti and, in particular, of the defendant’s criminal agency, however, must be such as to convince any rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt. Hurley, 60 Md.App. at 553, 483 A.2d at 1305, citing Jackson v. *561Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979).
It is not necessary to show by direct evidence that violence was used to kill the victim; as with other facts, circumstantial evidence may be used to establish that fact. See People v. Bolinski, 260 Cal.App.2d 705, 67 Cal.Rptr. 347, 354 (1968). Indeed,
[wjorldwide communication and travel today are so facile that a jury may properly take into account the unlikelihood that an absent person in view of his health, habits, disposition and personal relationships would voluntarily flee, "go underground,” and remain out of touch with family and friends. The unlikelihood of such a voluntary disappearance is circumstantial evidence entitled to weight equal to that of bloodstains and concealment of evidence.
Epperly v. Commonwealth, 224 Va. 214, 294 S.E.2d 882, 890 (1982). Hurley is an example of a case in which circumstantial evidence was found sufficient to sustain a defendant’s guilt, hence, to establish a prima jade case. There the court found the following evidence to be sufficient:
(1) the last time the victim was seen alive by her daughter, the latter heard a scream and saw her mother on the floor of appellant’s office;
(2) the appellant’s own inconsistent statements concerning his wife’s disappearance, i.e., his inability to account for his activities for several hours the night she disappeared; his persistent denial of washing his truck despite the testimony of two eyewitnesses to the contrary; his involvement in repossessing her car; and his comments to a secretary that certain rugs were seized as a result of the investigation when none were, in fact, taken by police;
(3) Catherine Hurley’s relationship with appellant;
(4) her character and patterns of behavior; and
(5) the lack of activity on Catherine’s bank accounts and credit cards and lack of contact with family members, friends and governmental agencies.
60 Md.App. at 553, 483 A.2d at 1305-06. See abo Bolinski, 67 Cal. Rptr. at 353. But see Commonwealth v. Kysor, 334 Pa.Super. 89, 482 A.2d 1095 (1984).
It is rather interesting to note that, in Hurley, one of the circumstances the court found significant in its sufficiency of the evidence analysis was Hurley’s “own inconsistent statements concerning his wife’s disappearance.” That factor has been considered by courts to be a basis for prosecution, rather than an impediment to prosecution, as the majority intimates. E.g. Commonwealth v. Lettrich, 346 Pa. 497, 31 A.2d 155, 158 (1943) ("The fabrication of false and contradictory accounts by an accused criminal, for the sake of diverting inquiry or casting off suspicion, is a circumstance always indicatory of guilt. If the jury believed that the statements made by the prisoner of the occurrence were false, his falsehood was therefore at least a circumstance affording some presumption against his innocence.” Quoting Cathcart v. Commonwealth, 37 Pa. 108, 113 (1861)). See abo State v. Pyle, 216 Kan. 423, 532 P.2d 1309, 1317 (1975); Warmke v. Commonwealth, 297 Ky. 649, 180 S.W.2d 872, 873 (1944). In fact, using that factor, courts have found less, or at least no more, evidence *562than in this case to be sufficient to prove the corpus delicti. See Lettrich, supra; Warmke, supra; Deering v. State, 273 Ark. 347, 619 S.W.2d 644 (1981).

. It is rather curious that the majority is content in this context to defer to Whittlesey’s equivocation as to the fact, or the manner, of the victim’s death. That he gave differing accounts and never unequivocally “confessed" is cause for the majority to sanction piecemeal prosecutions and to buttress its conclusion that guilt could not have been proven. As we have seen, see n. 11, supra, contrary to the majority’s position, inconsistent statements by a suspect may be used, and often have been used, see e.g. Hurley, 60 Md.App. at 553, 483 A.2d at 1305-06, for the opposite purpose. Furthermore, Whittlesey made admissions during the taped conversations with Strathy: he admitted the victim was dead, he admitted that he was involved in that death, and he admitted burying the body. These admissions were enough to make out a prima facie case. As the prosecutor argued with respect to the robbery and related charges, they were sufficient, with corroboration, see Lemons v. State, 49 Md.App. at 472, 433 A.2d at 1182, to permit a rational trier of fact to find the elements of the crime of felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Corroboration may be supplied by the victim’s habits, Whittlesey’s inconsistent statements, etc.