Breeden v. State

WEANT, Judge, Specially Assigned. Larry Allen Breeden, the appellant, was convicted on a guilty plea in the Circuit Court for Washington County (Wright, J.) of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty-five years incarceration. The case then proceeded to trial on the issue of appellant’s criminal responsibility. The court found that, although the appellant did suffer from a mental disorder, the mental disorder did not so impair the appellant that he lacked the ability to know that what he did was wrong.

The court found that he was criminally responsible for second-degree murder. ⁵¹⁰ The only issue that the appellant presents on appeal is whether the trial court erred in failing to advise him of his right to a jury determination of criminal responsibility. His entire argument in support thereof is dependent on Maryland Rule 4-314. The facts in the case are relatively simple. The appellant admitted that he strangled to death his friend, Shirley Baker.

At trial, prior to accepting the appellant’s guilty plea, the court advised the appellant of his right to a jury trial and other rights he was giving up by pleading guilty. The court said in that regard: THE COURT: Now you understand that by a plea of guilty you are waiving certain rights and I will outline those rights to you. You are first waiving your right to trial on the issue of guilt or innocence. Whether that trial was before a court or a jury.

A jury is made up of twelve persons and to be convicted by a jury all twelve jurors must be convinced of your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. If any one juror was not so convinced of guilty then that panel of twelve could not return a verdict of guilty. By pleading guilty you are therefore waiving your right to trial by twelve persons and your right to a unanimous agreement by all twelve jurors. (Emphasis added).

Later, the court went on to say: There will be of course a hearing after the conclusion of these questions which will determine the issue of responsibility. But as far as an appeal from a judgment entered on a guilty plea as to the merits of the charge and the facts of the elements of the offense there is no right to a appeal from a judgment entered on a guilty plea. It is clear from this that the explanation given to appellant with respect to his right to a jury trial focused only on the guilt/innocence stage of the trial. He was never told that he had a right to have a jury determine whether he was criminally responsible for his admitted conduct. ⁵¹¹ Maryland Rule 4-314, adopted in the wake of Treece v. State, 313 Md. 665 , 547 A.2d 1054 (1988),