State v. Adams-Bey

BARBERA, C.J. The Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act (“UPPA”) gives the circuit court the discretion to reopen a postconviction proceeding if doing so is “in the interests of justice.” Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 7-104 (2001, 2008 Repl. Vol.). 1 We granted the State’s petition for a writ of certiorari in this case to decide whether that same provision likewise grants the Court of Special Appeals the authority to afford the same relief. 2 We conclude easily that it does not. The answer to that particular question, however, does not resolve the matter at hand.

Rather, we must look to another aspect of the UPPA and, further, review once again advisory only instructions given at the time that they were mandated by Article 23 of the ⁶⁹⁴ Maryland Declaration of Rights. Today, we put to an end finally any question surrounding such instructions and the effect that they have upon an individual’s criminal trial. We reaffirm our holding in State v. Waine, 444 Md. 692 , 122 A.3d 294 (2015), that structural error results from the giving of advisory only instructions that include expressly or by implication the presumption of innocence and the standard of proof. Such error, upon a proper petition for postconviction relief or motion to reopen a postconviction proceeding, entitles an individual to a new trial.

We further hold that the Court of Special Appeals is statutorily authorized to review for an abuse of discretion a circuit court’s denial of a motion to reopen and may remand the matter to the circuit court with instruction to award appropriate relief if the circuit court abused that discretion. I. Advisory only instructions have a tortured history in this State. They are derived from Article 28, which reads: “In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction.” Based upon that constitutional mandate, we required judges under then-Maryland Rule 756b “[i]n every case in which instructions are given to the jury [to] instruct the jury that they are the judges of the law and that the court’s instructions are advisory only.” In 1980, in Stevenson v. State, 289 Md. 167 , 423 A.2d 558 (1980), we were asked to decide whether Article 23 violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that Article 23 was constitutional on its face, reasoning that Article 23 limited the jurors’ role as judges of the law only with respect to “disputes as to the substantive ‘law of the crime.’ ” Id. at 180 , 423 A.2d 558 .

Although the court’s instructions on the law of the crime were advisory, the Court determined that all other instructions on the law were always binding upon the jury. Id. The following year, the Court in Montgomery v. State, 292 Md. 84, 90 , 437 A.2d 654 (1981), subscribed to that standard by concluding that the trial ⁶⁹⁵ court erred in advising the jury that all of the court’s instructions were advisory. The Montgomery Court reasoned that, because “certain bedrock characteristics” of a criminal trial, such as the presumption of innocence and the standard of proof, “are not ‘the law of the crime’ ” they are likewise “not advisory.” Id. at 91 , 437 A.2d 654 .

We were confronted again with a postconviction case concerning advisory only instructions in State v. Adams, 406 Md. 240 , 958 A.2d 295 (2008). We reaffirmed the constitutional standard articulated in Stevenson and Montgomery , determined that the standard was not “new law,” and, consequently, concluded that a criminal defendant who had failed to object to the advisory only instruction at trial waived the right to assert it as a ground for postconviction relief. Id. at 256-61, 958 A.2d 295 . In 2012, we decided Unger v. State, 427 Md. 383 , 48 A.3d 242 (2012).

We held that our precedent was clearly wrong in concluding that the Stevenson interpretation of Article 23 was not a new constitutional standard. Id. at 417, 48 A.3d 242 . As a result, we held that a defendant could challenge his pre- Stevenson conviction through a postconviction proceeding notwithstanding that the defendant did not object to advisory only jury instructions at trial. Id. at 391, 48 A.3d 242 .

Just a few years later, we were asked in Waine to overrule Unger as a wrongful departure from principles of stare deci-sis, and to resurrect what was once the law under Stevenson, Montgomery, and Adams. 444 Md. at 699 , 122 A.3d 294 . We held that Unger was rightly decided and that stare decisis in fact required us to adhere to it. Id. at 700-02, 122 A.3d 294 . Recognizing that the constitutional standard set forth in Stevenson — that the jury is the judge of the law of the crime and the judge’s remaining instructions on the law are binding— was a change in the law that must be applied retroactively; we further held, pertinent to the case now before us, that a motion to reopen based on Unger satisfied the “interests of justice” standard under the UPPA.

Id. at 702-03, 122 A.3d 294 ; see Gray v. State, 388 Md. 366 , 382-83 n.7, 879 A.2d 1064 ⁶⁹⁶ (2005) (concluding that, “[w]hile it is within the trial court’s discretion to decide when ‘the interests of justice’ require reopening,” a “change made in the law that should be applied retroactively” satisfies this standard). We held finally, informed by Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 281-82 , 113 S.Ct. 2078 , 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993), that an instruction that does not satisfy the new constitutional standard announced by Stevenson and Montgomery constitutes “structural error not susceptible to harmless error analysis.” Waine, 444 Md. at 705 , 122 A.3d 294 . From this, we can discern that a petitioner whose conviction resulted from a trial in which the jury was given advisory only instructions is entitled to have his postconviction proceedings reopened because such clearly erroneous instructions implicate the petitioner’s federal constitutional right to due process. To deny reopening a postconviction proceeding to a petitioner whose conviction rests upon an error of constitutional dimension not subject to a harmless error analysis would necessarily be an abuse of discretion as “well removed from any center mark imagined by the reviewing court and beyond the fringe of what the court deems minimally acceptable.” Gray, 388 Md. at 383 , 879 A.2d 1064 (internal quotation marks omitted).

II

In 1978, Respondent, James Leslie Adams-Bey, Jr., was convicted by a jury of first degree rape and related offenses in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, and for those crimes he was sentenced to life plus ten years of incarceration. His convictions were affirmed by the Court of Special Appeals and this Court. Adams v. State, 43 Md.App. 528 , 406 A.2d 637 (1979), aff'd, 289 Md. 221 , 424 A.2d 344 (1981). Respondent petitioned unsuccessfully for postconviction relief in 2010.

On August 14, 2012, shortly after we had decided Unger , Respondent moved pro se to reopen his postconviction proceeding on the ground that the jurors at his criminal trial were given advisory only instructions in violation of his constitutional right to due process of law. Respondent argued that ⁶⁹⁷ those instructions were unconstitutional because the jury was not instructed to follow the court’s explanation of the law and the court did not inform the jury of the binding nature of its instructions on the State’s burden of proof or the presumption of innocence. The trial court instructed the jury, in relevant part, as follows: Madam Foreman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, at this point in the proceedings I am required to advise you concerning the law in this case. I purposely use the term “advise” since in a criminal case, under Maryland law, you are the judges of both the law and the facts.

However, I wish foremost to impress upon you that you should not reach any conclusion from anything that I have said or may say from my tone of voice or manner in saying it, that I have an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. This decision is yours to make, solely, based upon the facts derived from the competent testimony which has been presented for your consideration as applied to the law as you find it to be. In this regard, should court and counsel appear to differ as to [the] lain which is applicable, you should apply the law as you find it to be, not as you think it should be. And during this process you are not privileged to make new law.

In arriving at your verdict, you’re advised that in this State an accused is entitled throughout the entire proceedings to the presumption of innocence. The burden constantly rests upon the State to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty of every fact material to the guilt of the accused, including every circumstance that enters into [the] grade or the degree of the crime charged. You’re further advised that the burden is on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt not only that the offense was committed but also it was the defendant who is the person who committed these offenses. ⁶⁹⁸ .... And you must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the accuracy of the identification of the defendant before you may convict him.

To warrant a conviction in a criminal case, the charge must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If you, the jury, consider all the evidence and entertain a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s participation in the crime, you should acquit him. Thus, a defendant is entitled to an acquittal if the alibi evidence taken into consideration with all of the other evidence in the case, raises a reasonable doubt of guilt. Gentlemen, that concludes the advisory instructions.

(Emphasis added). The State argued in response that the court’s instructions were not advisory because they did not permit the jury to disregard the law. The State asserted that the instructions given at Respondent’s trial “materially differed from the Unger Court’s instructions” because the court did not “instruct the jury that the instructions were not binding upon them.” The circuit court denied Respondent’s motion without a hearing. In the court’s written order, the court stated that, “[o]n November 5, 2012, D. Scott Whitney, Chief Attorney for the Office of the Public Defender delivered a copy of the transcript from the September 14 and 15, 1978 Jury Trial before Judge Childs.” The circuit court then denied the motion, “having read and considered Defendant’s Motion, Amendments to Motion to Reopen Post Conviction Proceedings, Response and transcript” (Emphasis added).

Respondent, now represented by the Office of the Public Defender, filed an application for leave to appeal. He argued that the circuit court abused its discretion by denying his motion to reopen because, similar to Unger , the “clear message conveyed to the jury was that it was the ultimate arbiter of the law, despite what the judge said.” The State reasserted that, unlike the instructions in Unger , “the court’s instructions to Adams-Bey’s jury presented it with a clear role,” and ⁶⁹⁹ therefore the instructions did not implicate Respondent’s due process rights or warrant reopening his postconviction proceeding. In an unreported two-page opinion, the Court of Special Appeals granted Respondent’s application for leave to appeal and addressed the merits of his appeal. The Court, citing the pertinent portion of the trial court’s instructions, recognized that the jurors in Respondent’s trial received an advisory only instruction similar to that given in Unger .

Noting Respondent’s argument that the “circuit court had abused its discretion in denying his motion,” and that Waine had clarified that an advisory only instruction was structural error that “mandated that the convictions be vacated,” the Court “reverse[d] the circuit court’s order denying Adams-Bey’s motion to reopen his post-conviction proceeding” and remanded “to reopen Adams-Bey’s post-conviction proceeding to consider his Unger claim and, thereafter, to vacate Adams-Bey’s convictions and award him a new trial.” As noted at the outset of this opinion, we granted certiorari in this case to review the provisions of the UPPA that grant the circuit court and the Court of Special Appeals their respective authority to decide a motion to reopen in the first instance and to review that decision on appeal. Because the propriety of the circuit court’s and the Court of Special Appeals’s decisions depends upon an analysis of the instructions given at Respondent’s trial, we must also clarify the state of the law on advisory only instructions and reaffirm the consequence of a structural error.

III

The UPPA allows convicted persons to file a petition for post-conviction relief claiming that “the sentence or judgment was imposed in violation of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution or laws of the State[.]” §7-102(a)(1). The UPPA limits a petitioner to file only one petition. § 7-103. If a petitioner is denied postconviction relief, a petitioner may seek to reopen that postconviction proceeding ⁷⁰⁰ by filing a motion with the court. See Gray, 388 Md. at 379-80 , 879 A.2d 1064 ; see also § 7-108 (distinguishing between a petition and a motion; a petitioner is entitled to counsel and a hearing when filing a petition but not when seeking to reopen).

Pursuant to § 7-104, “[t]he court may reopen a postconviction proceeding that was previously concluded if the court determines that the action is in the interests of justice.” We have interpreted § 7-104 to leave “within the court’s discretion to decide, in the interests of justice, if a postconviction proceeding should be reopened.” Gray, 388 Md. at 382 , 879 A.2d 1064 . The State has asked us to decide whether § 7-104 authorizes the Court of Special Appeals to order that a postconviction proceeding be reopened. The State argues that the “court” referenced in § 7-104 refers only to the circuit court and, consequently, the circuit court alone must decide whether granting a motion to reopen is in the interests of justice. According to the State, the Court of Special Appeals violated the dictates of § 7-104 by reviewing the circuit court’s order de novo, deciding for itself that granting Respondent a new trial is in the interests of justice, and ordering the circuit court to afford Respondent postconviction relief.

We conclude that the plain language of § 7-104, read in the context of the UPPA in its entirety, makes clear that the General Assembly was referring to the circuit court. See Haile v. State, 431 Md. 448, 470 , 66 A.3d 600 (2013) (explaining the canon of statutory interpretation that requires courts to look at the statutory scheme and the context in which the statute belongs). Section 7-102 sets forth the rights of convicted persons under UPPA to bring a petition “under this title in the circuit court for the county in which the conviction took place.” Section 7-103 limits a petitioner to file one petition within ten years. Although § 7-104 only uses the word “court” rather than “circuit court” in establishing the court’s authority to reopen a postconviction proceeding, the statute logically refers and applies only to the circuit court.

We have given § 7-104 that interpretation uniformly. See Alston v. State, 425 Md. 326, 333-38 , 40 A.3d 1028 (2012) (reviewing the circuit ⁷⁰¹ court’s power to reopen under § 7-104 upon the State’s motion for reconsideration); Evans v. State, 396 Md. 256, 277-78 , 914 A.2d 25 (2006) (explaining that this Court reviews the circuit court’s denial of a petitioner’s motion to reopen a postconviction proceeding under § 7-104 for abuse of discretion); Gray, 388 Md. at 384 , 879 A.2d 1064 (concluding that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion to deny reopening under § 7-104). Section 7-104 is further unambiguous in the context of the statutory scheme as a whole because the UPPA specifically refers to the intermediate appellate court as the “Court of Special Appeals” in other sections. See §§ 7-107 to 7-109.

It follows necessarily that the Court of Special Appeals derives no authority from § 7-104 to determine that granting a motion to reopen is in the interests of justice and to order the circuit court to grant that relief. That only the circuit court has the discretion to decide initially whether to grant or deny a motion to reopen does not resolve, however, the scope of the Court of Special Appeals’s authority to review that decision on appeal. Rather, we must look to § 7-109, which delineates the scope of the Court of Special Appeals’s jurisdiction once an application for leave to appeal is granted. Section 7-109(a) provides that, “after the court passes an order in accordance with this subtitle,” the party aggrieved, either the petitioner or the State, “may apply to the Court of Special Appeals for leave to appeal the order.” Section 7-109(b)(3) provides: (3) If the application for leave to appeal is granted: (i) the procedure for the appeal shall meet the requirements of the Maryland Rules; and (ii) the Court of Special Appeals may: 1. affirm, reverse, or modify the order appealed from; or 2. remand the case for further proceedings.

Notable for our purposes, the General Assembly in § 7-109 did not distinguish between the Court of Special Appeals’s authority to review a petition for postconviction relief and a motion to reopen a postconviction proceeding. ⁷⁰² When the General Assembly draws no such distinction, neither should we. See Bost v. State, 406 Md. 341, 350 , 958 A.2d 356 (2008) (“We neither add nor delete words to a clear and unambiguous statute to give it a meaning not reflected by the words the Legislature used or engage in forced or subtle interpretation in an attempt to extend or limit the statute’s meaning.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The plain language of § 7-109 permits the intermediate appellate court in either case to affirm, reverse, or modify the judgment of the circuit court or remand to that court for further proceedings. The Court of Special Appeals, as does this Court, reviews a circuit court’s order in this regard for an abuse of discretion.

Gray, 388 Md. at 383 , 879 A.2d 1064 . The State’s argument that the Court of Special Appeals erred in reversing the circuit court’s order, and requiring the court to grant Respondent relief, rises and falls with its determination that the Court of Special Appeals reviewed de novo the circuit court’s denial of Respondent’s motion to reopen. The State’s contention finds no support in the Court of Special Appeals’s opinion and ignores the strong presumption that judges know the law and apply it correctly. See Abdul-Maleek v. State, 426 Md. 59, 74 , 43 A.3d 383 (2012).

The Court of Special Appeals’s opinion did not state expressly that it was reviewing the circuit court’s decision either de novo or for an abuse of discretion. It does not follow necessarily, however, that the Court of Special Appeals ignored the standard of review to which it was bound and instead made its own interests of justice determination. Our reading of the Court of Special Appeals’s opinion leads to a different conclusion. The Court of Special Appeals recognized that appellate review of a motion to reopen is limited to an abuse of discretion because it framed Respondent’s argument around that standard.

Not once did the Court of Special Appeals use the phrase “de novo,” nor did that court even opine that granting Respondent’s motion was in the interests of justice. Rather, the Court of Special Appeals recited succinctly the law of advisory instructions, reviewed the instruc ⁷⁰³ tions given at Respondent’s trial, recognized that a structural error occurred, and determined consequently that the circuit court had abused its discretion in denying Respondent’s motion to reopen. See Kusi v. State, 438 Md. 362, 385 , 91 A.3d 1192 (2014) (“When the trial court exhibits a clear failure to consider the proper legal standard in reaching a decision, such an action constitutes an abuse of discretion.” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Jenkins v. State, 375 Md. 284, 296 , 825 A.2d 1008 (2003) (explaining that “the breadth of a trial judge’s discretion to grant or deny a new trial is not fixed or immutable; rather it will expand or contract depending upon the nature of the factors being considered” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The Court of Special Appeals’s conclusion that the circuit court had abused its discretion, and its reversal of the judgment of that court on that basis, is consistent with the scope of its authority under § 7-109.

Section 7-109 grants the Court of Special Appeals the authority to reverse or remand a circuit court’s decision to deny a motion to reopen. That section therefore provides the Court of Special Appeals the authority to determine that the circuit court had abused its discretion and to afford the appropriate relief. If our intermediate appellate court was powerless to grant relief when a circuit court abused its discretion, then, as Respondent argues, the “ ‘interests of justice standard’ and the right to appellate review are meaningless.” Section 7-109 permits such meaningful review, and we hold that the Court of Special Appeals acted within its statutory authority under § 7-109 in reviewing the circuit court’s decision for an abuse of discretion.

IV

We also hold that the Court of Special Appeals concluded correctly