Fuller v. State, 62 September Term, 2006.

Citation918 A.2d 453,397 Md. 372
Decision Date13 March 2007
Docket NumberNo. 62 September Term, 2006.,62 September Term, 2006.
PartiesGerald D. FULLER v. STATE of Maryland.
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland

Brian M. Saccenti, Asst. Public Defender (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, MD, for Petitioner.

Mary Ann Ince, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Md., on brief), Baltimore, MD, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER,* CATHELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE and THEODORE G. BLOOM (retired, specially assigned), JJ.

BATTAGLIA, Judge.

The case sub judice presents this Court with the task of determining whether an order denying an inmate commitment to a drug treatment program pursuant to Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article1 is appealable. Because we hold that it is not, we shall affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

I. Introduction

In 1978 and 1979, the Petitioner, Gerald Davis Fuller, was indicted for first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and robbery with a deadly weapon charges. On July 12, 1979, a jury found Fuller guilty of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to imprisonment for the balance of his natural life, with credit for time served. Later that year, Fuller pled guilty to first-degree rape and robbery with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to imprisonment for the balance of his natural life, concurrent with the sentence he was then serving. Fuller remains incarcerated.

Two years ago, Fuller, acting pro se, pursuant to Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article, filed a Petition for Commitment to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration with the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, in which he alleged that he had an untreated 38-year history of alcohol and drug abuse, and that he was both an alcoholic and a heroin user "in a system which is infested with alcohol and drugs." Fuller contended that throughout his 27-year incarceration, he had demonstrated a need for, and requested but received, only limited and inadequate care, supervision, and treatment for his substance abuse addictions and that this failure had impeded his complete rehabilitation.

On March 15, 2005, Judge Clifton J. Gordy of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City denied the petition.2 Fuller noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, presenting three questions for review.3 Fuller contended, in addition to arguing that the judge abused his discretion by denying Fuller's petition and erred by not articulating his reasoning, that the Court of Special Appeals had jurisdiction to entertain the appeal under either the final judgment rule or the collateral order doctrine. In a reported opinion, Chief Judge Joseph F. Murphy, writing for the court, held that the denial of Fuller's petition was not appealable and dismissed his appeal. Fuller v. State, 169 Md.App. 303, 900 A.2d 311 (2006). In reaching its conclusion, the court determined that nothing in Section 8-507, or its legislative history, reflected that a direct appeal would lie from the denial of a petition for commitment under Section 8-507. Id. at 308-09, 900 A.2d at 314. Further, the court remarked that the denial of Section 8-507 petitions are similar to the denial of Rule 4-3454 motions for modification of a sentence, and cited Costello v. State, 237 Md. 464, 206 A.2d 812 (1965), for the proposition that no direct appeal lies from the denial of a motion for modification of a sentence. The court also explicitly addressed the collateral order doctrine, deeming it "inapplicable to the case at bar because this Court no longer has jurisdiction to review the final judgments of conviction to which the order at issue is allegedly `collateral'." Fuller, 169 Md.App. at 310-11, 900 A.2d at 315-16.

We granted Fuller's petition for writ of certiorari, which presented the following question for our review:

Is a denial of a petition for commitment for substance abuse treatment pursuant to Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article an appealable order?

Fuller v. State, 394 Md. 478, 906 A.2d 942 (2006). We shall hold that the denial of a petition for commitment for substance abuse treatment pursuant to Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article is not an appealable order.

II. Discussion

Fuller contends that the Circuit Court's Order denying his petition for commitment under Section 8-507 is appealable as a final judgment under Section 12-301 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article5 because the denial resolved the issue contained in the petition and left no further action for the circuit court to take. Alternatively, Fuller argues that the order was appealable under the collateral order doctrine because it conclusively determined an important issue, otherwise unreviewable, which is completely separate from the merits of the underlying action. Fuller also analogizes the denial of his petition to the denial of a motion for modification of a sentence under Rule 4-345(e),6 contending that our decisions in State v. Kanaras, 357 Md. 170, 742 A.2d 508 (1999), and Herrera v. State, 357 Md. 186, 742 A.2d 517 (1999), lead to the conclusion that an appeal of the denial of a motion to modify a sentence is appealable. Further, Fuller suggests that the rationale for refusing to allow appellate review of the denial of a motion for modification — because the decision is discretionary — was obviated by this Court in Merritt v. State, 367 Md. 17, 785 A.2d 756 (2001). He also contends that the appeal of the denial of his petition is not barred by the Post Conviction Procedure Act.7

The State, conversely, argues that the Circuit Court's Order denying Fuller's petition for commitment under Section 8-507 is not appealable. The State contends that the denial of Fuller's petition did not constitute a final judgment because it did not determine and conclude Fuller's rights or deny him the means of further prosecuting or defending his rights. The State also argues that the collateral order doctrine is inapplicable because the denial of Fuller's petition did not resolve an important issue and that the issue was not completely separate from the merits of the underlying action. Additionally, the State maintains that the denial of Fuller's Section 8-507 petition is akin to the denial of a motion for modification, but that our decisions in Kanaras and Herrera did not alter the general rule that a sentence not alleged to be illegal is generally not appealable, citing Costello v. State, 237 Md. at 464, 206 A.2d at 812, and Wilson v. State, 227 Md. 99, 175 A.2d 775 (1961), as viable. The State also argues that the Post Conviction Procedure Act precludes Fuller's appeal of the denial of his petition.

In Maryland, the right to seek appellate review is statutory; the Legislature can provide for, or preclude, the right of appeal. See Maryland Code (1974, 2002 Repl. Vol.), Section 12-301 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article ("The right of appeal exists from a final judgment entered by a court. . . unless. . . the right of appeal is expressly denied by law."); State v. Manck, 385 Md. 581, 596, 870 A.2d 196, 205 (2005), quoting State v. Green, 367 Md. 61, 77, 785 A.2d 1275, 1284 (2001) ("[Q]uestions of appealability have today become entirely governed by statutes."); State v. Bailey, 289 Md. 143, 147, 422 A.2d 1021, 1024 (1980) ("We begin our consideration by recognizing that any right of appeal, in either a civil or criminal case, must find its source in an act of the legislature."). The statutory provision at issue, Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article, does not include any provision regarding appealability.

An appeal, ordinarily, must await the entry of a final judgment. See Maryland Code (1974, 2002 Repl. Vol), Section 12-302 of the Court and Judicial Proceedings Article. To be a final judgment, the decision "must be so final as to determine and conclude rights involved, or deny the appellant means of further prosecuting or defending his rights and interests in the subject matter of the proceeding." Sigma Reproductive Health Center v. State, 297 Md. 660, 665, 467 A.2d 483, 485 (1983); Gittings v. State, 33 Md. 458 (1871). One exception to the final judgment rule is the collateral order doctrine, that "applies to a `narrow class of orders, referred to as collateral orders, which are offshoots of the principal litigation in which they are issued and which are immediately appealable as "final judgments" without regard to the posture of the case'." Jackson v. State, 358 Md. 259, 266-67, 747 A.2d 1199, 1203 (2000) (citations omitted).

The case sub judice raises the issue of whether the denial of a petition under Section 8-507 of the Health-General Article is appealable. Fuller and the State both assert that the denial of his Section 8-507 petition for commitment to a drug treatment program is analogous to the denial of a motion for modification under Rule 4-345(e). While Fuller contends that the denial of a motion for modification is appealable, the State argues that the denial of a motion to modify is not directly appealable when the motion does not challenge the legality of the sentence. Both Fuller and the State cite to our opinions in State v. Kanaras, 357 Md. at 170, 742 A.2d at 508, and Herrera v. State, 357 Md. at 186, 742 A.2d at 517.

In Kanaras, we had the occasion to explore the interaction between the Post Conviction Procedure Act and the appealability of the denial of a motion to correct an allegedly illegal sentence under Rule 4-345(a). Judge John C. Eldridge, writing for this Court, elucidated that the appeal from a trial court's denial of a motion to correct an illegal sentence was not precluded by the Post Conviction Procedure Act, explicitly overruling Wilson, 227 Md. at 99, 175 A.2d at 776, which had held that a motion to correct an illegal sentence under former Maryland Rule 744(a),8 the precursor to Rule 4-345(a), is a statutory remedy within the meaning of the Act, and thus the denial of such motion is not appealable,9 and reconciling Costello, 237 Md. at...

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