Jacqueline Wagner v. State of Maryland
Court of Appeals, Watts, Filed Dec. 17, 2015,
Theft – Access to money held in a joint bank account does not automatically confer ownership such that the party cannot be guilty of theft

(Dissent- Battaglia, Barbera and Adkins join – While all parties to a joint account are living, each has an ownership interest in all of the funds in the account)

Fiduciary – Permitting party to access funds in joint Account at direction and on behalf of owner created fiduciary relationship.

Statutory Interpretation – Ambiguity- “there is an ambiguity within a statute when there exist two or more reasonable alternative interpretations of the statute.” (citing Stoddard)

Financial Instruments – FI § 1-204(f) simply grants a party or a convenience person to a joint or multiple-party account the authority to access the account and withdraw funds, absent language in the account agreement expressly providing otherwise

Financial Instruments- FI § 1-204(f) does not confer ownership of the funds in the account to the party or the convenience person.

Appellate Review – A conviction may be reviewed even where the sentence merged

Fiduciary – A formal, professional relationship is not required to create a fiduciary relationship