Court Opinion

ID: 9696934
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:01:54.068705+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:27.859109
License: Public Domain

WILNER, Judge,
dissenting.
With respect, I dissent from the judgment directing that the charges against petitioners be dismissed. I do not agree that there has been any violation of either Maryland Rule 4-271 or Article 27, § 591. The order that caused trial to be postponed beyond 180 days was, in fact, entered by a designee of the administrative judge for good cause. Rule 4-271 and Article 27, § 591 have been fully complied with; nothing in either provision precludes an administrative judge from designating another judge to handle postponement requests, including requests that might cause trial to commence beyond the 180 days allowed.
We decided, purely as an administrative matter, to preclude circuit court administrative judges from designating more than one other judge at a time to handle the postponement of criminal cases, except those cases reaching the circuit court from the district court, either by appeal or demand for jury trial, and we expressed that policy in Rule 16-101.d.3(ii). That rule is an administrative rule, in Title 16, dealing with courts, judges, and attorneys. It is not a rule in Title 4, dealing with practice and procedure in criminal cases, and the remedy for its violation should not be dismissal of criminal charges. The purely administrative nature of the rule, even apart from its placement in the Maryland Rules, is shown quite clearly by the fact that more than one designee at a time is allowed with respect to cases coming from the district court. Had this been a theft case, either on appeal or for which a demand for jury trial had been made, the order entered by *507Judge Henderson would have been perfectly all right. What harm or prejudice has occurred to anyone—to petitioners, to the State, to the court, or to society at large—sufficient to justify a sanction of dismissing charges? This is a serious case. Lyles was charged, among other things, with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in drug trafficking, and conspiracy. It could, of course, have been worse. Had petitioners been charged with murder or rape, the charges, under this ruling, also would have to be dismissed.
Given the fact that the offending administrative order has been abrogated, and the problem thus cured, I do not see the need for any remedy at all in this case, but, at most, a frank discussion between the Chief Judge of this Court and the administrative judge of the Circuit Court for Charles County concerning the need to be aware of and follow the rules in Title 16 of the Maryland Rules would suffice. It serves no useful purpose whatever to dismiss criminal charges because of this kind of violation.
Judges Rodowsky and Harrell have authorized me to state that they join in this dissenting opinion.