Posted on July 14, 2023 in Violent Crimes

In a decision that could have wide-reaching impact on the gun laws of many states, a federal judge declared Maryland’s law governing handgun permits unconstitutional. Officials in Maryland are planning on appealing the decision, but some state lawmakers are already trying to amend the law to eliminate the portion that the court found unconstitutional. The ruling illustrates some of the complex legal issues that arise in the interaction between state and federal laws.

Judicial Review

The law came under scrutiny when a Maryland resident sued the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board after they denied his application for a renewal for his permit to carry a handgun in 2009. The man had initially received his permit in 2002 and renewed it in 2006. When he applied for renewal in 2009, the Board stated that the man had "not demonstrated a good and substantial reason to wear, carry or transport a handgun as a reasonable precaution against apprehended danger in the state of Maryland," as the law requires.

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 Posted on May 20, 2023 in Drug Crimes

A 34 year old man from Baltimore, Maryland, was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal drug conspiracy charges. According to a news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the man was charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officers tracked the man’s vehicle as he allegedly crossed state lines to obtain narcotics, and he was stopped by Maryland State Police upon re-entering the state. After a drug-sniffing police dog alerted to the presence of drugs in the vehicle, the officers conducted a vehicle search and discovered almost 113 grams of methamphetamine inside. The man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years of supervised release as part of a plea agreement.

This case provides an illustration of a number of important legal issues, including conspiracy, vehicle searches and federal drug crimes.

Conspiracy

Conspiracy occurs when two or more people agree to commit a crime and take steps toward completing that crime. A person can be convicted of conspiracy even if the crime itself is never actually completed. Furthermore, for many offenses including federal drug trafficking, a person convicted of conspiracy can face the same penalties as though he or she were convicted of the underlying offense.

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 Posted on April 08, 2023 in DUI

Maryland Judges Trim 12 Years From Sentence in Fatal DWI Crash

A panel of judges in Montgomery County, Maryland, recently cut 12 years off the prison sentence of a 21-year-old man who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter charges stemming from a drunk driving crash in which three passengers were killed. The three-judge panel reduced the man’s sentence from 20 years to eight years, finding that he had been improperly held responsible for a much broader culture of reckless conduct and underage drinking, the Washington Post reported.

The charges arose from a crash that occurred in the early morning hours of May 15, 2011 as the man drove four friends home from a night of drinking. After crashing the car into a tree, the driver left the scene of the accident and was later apprehended by police, according to the Washington Post.

According to news reports, all three of the passengers who died were also intoxicated at the time of the crash - a factor that may have played a part in the sentencing. The driver was charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of a potentially fatal crash. According the Washington Post, the driver’s lawyer told the review panel that a surviving passenger had heard the driver yell "Everybody run!" after the crash, suggesting that he did not understand the gravity of what had occurred.

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