JUSTIN T. ANDERSON v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Special Appeals, Kenney, Filed March 30, 2016,
Impeachment – A conviction for carrying a concealed weapon is not an impeachable offense
According to the Court, Impeachment requires a 3-part test:
Note- View this with the standard skepticism with regard to broad-stroke overviews of a system of law
1: Is the crime within the “eligible universe” of crimes?
Infamous crimes include treason, common law felonies, and other crimes classified as “crimen falsi.”
Crimen falsi offenses ‘include crimes in the nature of perjury, false statements, criminal fraud, embezzlement, false pretense, or any other offense involving some element of deceitfulness, untruthfulness, or falsification bearing on the witness’s propensity to testify truthfully’
or “other crimes relevant to the witness’s credibility”
The crime itself, by its elements, must clearly identify the prior conduct of the witness that tends to show that he is unworthy of belief. Moreover, a crime tends to show that the offender is unworthy of belief, if the perpetrator “lives a life of secrecy” and engages in “dissembling in the course of [the crime], being prepared to say whatever is required by the demands of the moment, whether the truth or a lie.”
2: Did the proponent establish that the conviction was “not more than 15 years old, that it was not reversed on appeal, and that it was not the subject of a pardon or a pending appeal”?
3: Does the “probative value of the prior conviction outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice to the witness or objecting party”?
In other holdings:
Violation of Sequestration – In deciding whether and what sanction is appropriate, the Court should consider “the degree of schooling in the details of the evidence obtained by the potential witness as a result of the sequestration order violation.”
Violation of Sequestration – “the complete exclusion of the testimony of witnesses for a violation of the sequestration rule is not lightly to be imposed as a penalty upon even an offending party”
First Degree Murder – Intent – Shooting a victim sitting in a car a few feet away is sufficient for a jury to find a specific purpose and intent to kill
First Degree Murder – Premeditation – The firing of two or more shots separated by an interval of time may be viewed as evidence of premeditation