Rainey v. State

Panel: Woodward, C.J., Beachley, Fader, JJ. Fader, J. ³⁷⁰ In 1987, a jury convicted the appellant, J. Reuben Rainey, of murdering two women. Now, based on a mistaken docket entry that has since been corrected, he claims that the sentences for his first-degree murder convictions are illegal. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City denied his motion to correct an illegal sentence.

We affirm for two independent reasons: (1) the basis of the illegality claimed by Mr. Rainey is not cognizable under Rule 4-345(a), the rule under which Mr. Rainey is proceeding; and (2) we perceive no error in the ¹⁸⁶ circuit court's factual finding that the original docket entry was erroneous. ³⁷¹ BACKGROUND Mr. Rainey's claim centers on a docket entry created during the first of his three 1987 jury trials in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The charges then pending against Mr. Rainey included two counts of first-degree murder; two counts of second-degree murder; two counts of manslaughter; two counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence; and two counts of wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun. The docket entry at issue, dated April 20, 1987, states in full: 4/20/87-Motion for judgement of acquittal heard as to both charges and denied as to both charges. Davis J. Motion for judgement of acquittal granted as to 2nd degree and manslaughter as to both charges.

Davis J. Mr. Rainey's trial proceeded on the first-degree murder and handgun offenses, but ultimately ended in a mistrial two days later, as the jurors were unable to come to a unanimous verdict. A second trial on the remaining charges also ended in a mistrial. In his third trial, a jury convicted Mr. Rainey of both counts of first-degree murder and both sets of handgun offenses. The court sentenced Mr. Rainey to life imprisonment for each murder count, 20 years' imprisonment for each use of a handgun count, and three years' imprisonment for the unlawful wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun counts, all consecutive. 1 In 2011, Mr. Rainey filed a pro se motion to correct an illegal sentence in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. 2 On the strength of the April 20, 1987 docket entry, Mr. Rainey claimed that he was acquitted of the lesser-included offenses ³⁷² of second-degree murder and manslaughter, thus rendering his subsequent trials and convictions for first-degree murder a violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The circuit court denied Mr. Rainey's motion, and Mr. Rainey timely appealed. After Mr. Rainey, still proceeding pro se, filed his opening brief, the State moved to remand, without affirmance or reversal, to allow the circuit court to conduct fact-finding regarding the docket entry at issue. We granted that motion. Due to the absence of a transcript, we instructed the circuit court, on remand, to hold a hearing, receive evidence, and make factual findings concerning whether the circuit court had in fact granted Mr. Rainey's motion for judgment of acquittal on the charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

We stayed the present case until the completion of that fact-finding. On remand, the circuit court, Judge Yvette M. Bryant, held an evidentiary hearing at which both of the original prosecutors and Mr. Rainey all testified. 3 The lead prosecutor, Sam Brave, testified regarding ¹⁸⁷ the events that surrounded Mr. Rainey's motion for acquittal during the first trial. Mr. Brave testified that he recalled that Mr. Rainey's counsel moved for acquittal on all charges and that the trial court, Judge Arrie Davis, denied that motion as to all charges. Following that denial, Mr. Brave testified, he informed Judge Davis that the State wanted to submit only the first-degree murder charges to the jury, not the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

He did so to avoid providing the jury with the option of reaching a compromise verdict. Mr. Rainey testified that he recalled being told by his defense counsel during the first trial that he had been acquitted. ³⁷³ In the course of explaining his recollection, however, Mr. Rainey also testified, inaccurately, that the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges were included on the verdict sheet and submitted to the jury, and that he recalled being told of his alleged acquittal only after that occurred. After the hearing, Judge Bryant made a finding of fact that Mr. Rainey "was not acquitted of second degree murder and manslaughter and that the clerk's entry of April 20, 1987 regarding the judgments of acquittal [was] erroneous." That finding was based both on the testimony of the witnesses and on the behavior of all parties and the court throughout the remainder of the first trial, the two subsequent trials, and the direct appeal. As Judge Bryant pointed out, it would have been highly unlikely that an experienced trial judge, experienced defense counsel, two experienced prosecutors, and appellate counsel on both sides would all have failed to recognize the significance of a judgment of acquittal on lesser-included offenses through three trials and an appeal.

On April 28, 2017, the circuit court's docket was corrected with an entry reflecting the court's finding that Mr. "RAINEY WAS NOT ACQUITTED OF SECOND DEGREE MURDER AND MANSLAUGHTER ON 4/20/1987." This Court then lifted its stay and directed the circuit court to transmit updated docket entries. In its response brief, filed after this Court lifted its stay, the State relies on the circuit court's finding that the motion for acquittal was not granted as dispositive. In reply, Mr. Rainey, now represented by counsel, argues that the circuit court lacked a sufficient factual basis for its finding on remand. DISCUSSION Mr. Rainey moved to correct an illegal sentence under Rule 4-345(a), which permits a court to "correct an illegal sentence at any time." 4 As an initial matter, we must determine whether ³⁷⁴ Mr. Rainey's claim that his sentence is illegal is even cognizable under Rule 4-345(a).

We conclude that it is not, and that even if it were, Mr. Rainey's claim is without merit in light of the circuit court's findings on remand. This Court reviews denials of motions to correct an illegal sentence de novo. Blickenstaff v. State , 393 Md. 680 , 683, 904 A.2d 443 (2006). In doing so, we "defer to the trial court's findings of fact, and will not disturb those findings unless they are clearly erroneous." Kunda v. Morse , 229 Md. App. 295 , 303, 145 A.3d 51 (2016) ; see Rule 8-131(c) ("When an action has been tried without a jury, the appellate court will review the case on both the law and the evidence.

It will not set aside the judgment of the trial court on the evidence unless clearly erroneous, and will give due ¹⁸⁸ regard to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses."). I. MR. RAINEY'S CLAIM IS NOT COGNIZABLE UNDER RULE 4-345(A). Rule 4-345(a) provides that "[t]he court may correct an illegal sentence at any time." This rule "creates a limited exception to the general rule of finality, and sanctions a method of opening a judgment otherwise final and beyond the reach of the court." State v. Griffiths , 338 Md. 485 , 496, 659 A.2d 876 (1995).

To avoid allowing this exception to swallow "the general rule of finality," thus making possible endless and belated attacks on convictions, the scope of Rule 4-345(a) " 'is narrow.' " Colvin v. State , 450 Md. 718 , 725, 150 A.3d 850 (2016) (quoting Chaney v. State , 397 Md. 460 , 466, 918 A.2d 506 (2007) ). An illegal sentence for purposes of the rule is one "in which the illegality inheres in the sentence itself." Chaney , 397 Md. at 466 , 918 A.2d 506 . The Court of Appeals has frequently defined the category of illegal sentence covered by Rule 4-345(a) as limited to where "there either has been no conviction warranting any sentence for the particular offense or the sentence is not a permitted one for the conviction upon which it was imposed and, for either reason, is intrinsically and substantively unlawful." Id. The Court has accordingly ³⁷⁵ stressed that " '[a] motion to correct an illegal sentence is not an alternative method of obtaining belated appellate review of the proceedings that led to the imposition of judgment and sentence in a criminal case.' " Colvin , 450 Md. at 725 , 150 A.3d 850 (quoting State v. Wilkins , 393 Md. 269 , 273, 900 A.2d 765 (2006) ).

Determining whether an illegality "inheres in the sentence itself" is not always straightforward. We previously addressed whether a challenge premised on the alleged illegality of an underlying conviction could fall within the scope of Rule 4-345(a) in Ingram v. State , 179 Md. App. 485 , 947 A.2d 74 (2008). Mr. Ingram was convicted and sentenced for distribution of cocaine after having previously been convicted of simple possession of cocaine arising from the same incident. Id. at 489 , 947 A.2d 74 .

In a motion brought under Rule 4-345(a), he argued that his sentence for distribution was illegal because constitutional protections against double jeopardy rendered illegal his prosecution and conviction. Mr. Ingram's argument that his sentence was illegal, like Mr. Rainey's contention here, was thus focused not on any aspect of the sentence itself, but on the legality of his underlying conviction. Id. Although we recognized the "facial appeal" of the argument that a sentence based on an illegal conviction must itself be illegal, we rejected reading Rule 4-345(a) broadly enough to cover such an alleged illegality.

Id. at 505 , 947 A.2d 74 . Otherwise, we concluded, that rule "would permit any defendant who felt unjustly convicted to attack his conviction repeatedly by filing motions alleging that his sentence is necessarily 'illegal' because there was a defect in the proceedings that led to the underlying conviction." Id. 5 "Such an ¹⁸⁹ expansive ³⁷⁶ application of" Rule 4-345(a), even if limited to alleged constitutional defects in proceedings that led to the conviction, "would be inconsistent with the position the Court of Appeals has taken with respect to preservation of constitutional claims generally." Id. It would also, we reasoned, be inconsistent with statements by the Court of Appeals that generally seemed to limit the scope of illegal sentences for purposes of Rule 4-345(a) to situations in which: (1) there is no conviction to support any sentence; or (2) the sentence at issue is not permitted by the conviction for which it was imposed. Id. at 510 , 947 A.2d 74 (citing Chaney , 397 Md. at 466 , 918 A.2d 506 ).

As a result, we held that "an argument that challenges the merits of a conviction is not properly raised" under Rule 4-345(a). Id. at 488 , 947 A.2d 74 ; see also Britton v. State , 201 Md. App. 589 , 598, 30 A.3d 236 (2011) ("[ Ingram ] did not allege an error that inhered in the sentence itself ..., the error in Ingram occurred prior to sentencing, not at it. Thus, the error, in Ingram , 'relate[d] only indirectly to the sentence.' ") (quoting Ingram , 179 Md. App. at 509 , 947 A.2d 74 ) (internal citations omitted). Here, Mr. Rainey's challenge, like the challenge in Ingram , is to his conviction.

Under Mr. Rainey's theory, his acquittal of the lesser-included offenses should have precluded him from even being tried for first-degree murder, much less convicted of it. His challenge to his sentence is thus derivative of his complaint about his conviction. In this respect, our holding in Ingram is directly on point and, if it remains valid, controlling. At oral argument, however, counsel for Mr. Rainey argued that Ingram is inconsistent with three decisions of the Court of Appeals: Ridgeway v. State , 369 Md. 165 , 797 A.2d 1287 (2002), Moosavi v. State , 355 Md. 651 , 662, 736 A.2d 285 (1999), and Johnson v. State , 427 Md. 356 , 360, 47 A.3d 1002 (2012).

We address each in turn. ³⁷⁷ In Ridgeway , the defendant had been convicted of two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of reckless endangerment. 369 Md. at 168 , 797 A.2d 1287 . The trial court, however, mistakenly sentenced Mr. Ridgeway on five counts of first-degree assault and did not impose any sentence for the three counts of reckless endangerment. Id. at 168-69 , 797 A.2d 1287 . Realizing its mistake within a matter of hours, the court called the parties back, vacated the sentences on the three first-degree assault counts for which Mr. Ridgeway was not actually convicted, and imposed sentences of five years on each of the three counts of reckless endangerment.

Id. at 169 , 797 A.2d 1287 . The Court of Appeals rejected Mr. Ridgeway's argument that sentences were illegally imposed twice on the reckless endangerment counts (zero years the first time and five years the second time). On the contrary, the Court held, the trial court's five-year sentences were the first sentences imposed on the reckless endangerment counts. Id. at 173-74 , 797 A.2d 1287 .

Mr. Ridgeway's argument was not premised on an alleged illegality in the underlying conviction, and so provides no support for Mr. Rainey. In Moosavi , the defendant was convicted of violating a statute that "punishe[d] the transmittal of false statements or rumors about the location or detonation of a bomb or explosive." 355 Md. at 653 , 736 A.2d 285 . On direct appeal, this Court concluded that Mr. Moosavi had been charged and convicted under the wrong statute, but we nonetheless affirmed his conviction because the issue had not been raised in Mr. Moosavi's brief. ¹⁹⁰ Id. at 657-59 , 736 A.2d 285 . The Court of Appeals reversed.

Although the Court agreed that the issue had not been preserved, it held that because we had exercised our discretion to address and consider the unpreserved issue, we should not have refused to give Mr. Moosavi the benefit of our ruling. Id. at 661 , 736 A.2d 285 . In dicta, the Court offered two "additional reasons" why it would consider the merits of Mr. Moosavi's argument: (1) it could still be raised in a postconviction proceeding based on counsel's failure to have preserved the dispositive issue; and, as relevant here, (2) the Court previously had reviewed an unpreserved claim that a ³⁷⁸ defendant had "been charged and convicted under an entirely inapplicable statute ... on the theory that the resulting sentence under the inapplicable statute is an illegal sentence which may be challenged at any time." 355 Md. at 661 -62 , 736 A.2d 285 (citing Campbell v. State , 325 Md. 488 , 508-09, 601 A.2d 667 (1992) ). Although addressed only in dicta, Moosavi thus characterized a sentence as illegal for purposes of Rule 4-345(a) even though the illegality was grounded exclusively in the underlying conviction. 6 In Johnson , the Court of Appeals held squarely that, at least in the circumstances of