Richards v. State

499 A.2d 965, 65 Md. App. 141, 1985 Md. App. LEXIS 531
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedNovember 8, 1985
DocketNo. 161
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 499 A.2d 965 (Richards v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richards v. State, 499 A.2d 965, 65 Md. App. 141, 1985 Md. App. LEXIS 531 (Md. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

BISHOP, Judge.

In the Circuit Court for Caroline County, appellant Sylvester Terry Richards was tried before a jury and convicted of assault with intent to murder and assault and battery. Appellant was sentenced to a twenty-five year prison term with five years suspended. He was directed to make restitution, within three years of his release from confinement, of the medical and hospital costs incurred by the victim.

Appellant raises three issues:

[143]*143I. Did the trial court err in excluding the character testimony of a defense witness which would have corroborated the victim’s propensity for violence?

II. Did the trial court commit plain error in its instruction limiting the manner and purposes for which the jury could consider evidence of the victim’s propensity for violence?

III. Was the restitution portion of appellant’s sentence illegal?

FACTS

According to the evidence, the victim, Harry Wise, interrupted an argument between appellant and Tammy Wilson, appellant’s girlfriend. This resulted in appellant’s stabbing Wise which caused injury to a lung and internal bleeding. Additional facts will be supplied in the analyses of the issues.

I.

Exclusion of Testimony

The record does not support appellant’s contention that the trial court excluded the testimony of witness Jerry Griffin. At trial, defense counsel proffered that Jerry Griffin would testify to the victim’s well-known propensity for violence and appellant’s knowledge of that propensity. The State objected and, at a bench conference, the court suggested that the better procedure for eliciting such testimony would be to lay a foundation for it through the testimony of the appellant.1 Defense counsel acquiesced and Griffin was then excused but was kept available for recall at a later time. Appellant then took the stand and [144]*144testified, inter alia, that Wise had a propensity for violence, that appellant knew of that fact, and that appellant had acted in self-defense, in fear of Wise. At the close of appellant’s testimony the court asked defense counsel if he still wished to call Griffin as a witness. Counsel responded affirmatively and a brief recess ensued during which Griffin was to be returned to the courtroom. After the recess, defense counsel did not recall Mr. Griffin to the stand; rather he stated: “Your Honor, I have decided I guess at this point that we should discuss jury instructions.”

It is clear that the court did not refuse to permit Griffin’s testimony, defense counsel simply failed to recall him. The issue is not before us. Rule 1085.

II.

Jury Instructions

Appellant argues that “immediately after refusing to permit” Griffin to testify, the court sua sponte instructed the jury:

... to make sure that everybody and particularly the jury is on the same wave-length and I will tell you again later on. Under our system we don’t try people for being good or bad people. We try them for what they did. So whether or not a person on prior occasions has been good or bad or violent or whatever is not evidence of what they did or did not do in this particular case. The most that ... any evidence concerning a person’s prior disposition for violence can justify anyone in thinking or concluding is that if a person knows that another person is quick with his fists, let’s say, that person might be a little ... more expected to anticipate getting hit by that person than one who has a reputation for keeping his hands in his pockets. So I don’t want these questions and everything to mislead you from what your function is and what the evidence is. We are not trying anybody here for how good or bad they have been in the past. We are only concerned with one crime and whether or not the person [145]*145committed that crime. Now with that explanation you can proceed, Mr. Wright.

We have already held that the court did not refuse to permit Griffin to testify.

In order for this Court to review this issue we must, in the exercise of our discretion, find plain error material to appellant’s rights. Rule 4-325(e).

We agree with appellant that when the issue of self-defense has been raised, character evidence of the victim is admissible both to prove the defendant’s reasonable belief that he was in danger and to corroborate evidence that the victim was the initial aggressor. Thomas v. State, 301 Md. at 306-07, 483 A.2d at 12-13. In its final instructions, the court told the jury that “whereas there is evidence that prior acts of violence by the victim were known to the defendant you are instructed to consider such evidence in determining whether the defendant was reasonably apprehensive of danger and in determining who was the aggressor.” Because instructions to the jury are not to be judged in isolation but must be viewed within the context of the overall charge. Id. at 315, 483 A.2d at 17 and because the overall charge in the case sub judice correctly stated the law, there is no error, plain or otherwise.

III.

Restitution

Appellant claims that the court’s order requiring him to make restitution for the medical and hospital costs incurred by the victim is illegal for three reasons: first, that the court failed in its obligation to make a reasoned inquiry into his ability to make restitution; second, that the court failed to specify the amount of restitution to be paid and thereby denied appellant the opportunity to challenge the reasonableness of the amount; and third, that the court illegally [146]*146delegated a judicial function in directing that the Division of Parole and Probation set the amount of restitution.

At the sentencing hearing the court stated:

A condition of the suspended sentence will be that you make restitution to the victim, or to whoever (sic) is entitled for the medical and hospital costs that were incurred by the victim ... as a result of your actions, and that restitution or repayment, which I would estimate since the person was in the hospital for ten (10) days or so, will be several thousand dollars, and that will have to be paid ... within the first three years of your release from confinement. The amount will be determined by Parole and Probation, but they will not collect it. You are not going to be on probation.2 You might be on parole.

Since appellant made no objection to the sentence, under Rule 1085, we would not, heretofore have reviewed this issue; however, the Court of Appeals has directed otherwise. In Walczak v. State, 302 Md. 422, 427, 488 A.2d 949 (1985) the Court of Appeals held that “when the trial court has allegedly imposed a sentence not permitted by law, the issue should ordinarily be reviewed on direct appeal even if no objection was made in the trial court.”

The court is authorized to order restitution by Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 640(b) (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol., 1985 Cum.Supp.) which, in relevant part, provides:

(b) Restitution upon conviction of crime; priority of payment.

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Related

Russell v. State
109 A.3d 1249 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2015)
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501 A.2d 1338 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
499 A.2d 965, 65 Md. App. 141, 1985 Md. App. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richards-v-state-mdctspecapp-1985.