Smith v. State, 82
Decision Date | 01 September 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 82,82 |
Citation | 486 A.2d 196,302 Md. 175 |
Parties | Rodney Lorenzo SMITH v. STATE of Maryland. , |
Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Julia A. Doyle, Asst. Public Defender, Baltimore (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender, Baltimore, on brief), for appellant.
Richard B. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore (Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen., Baltimore, on brief), for appellee.
Argued before MURPHY, C.J., ELDRIDGE, COLE, DAVIDSON, * RODOWSKY and COUCH, JJ., and
CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals (retired) specially assigned.
The issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in denying the petitioner's request to have the jury instructed on alibi after the petitioner testified at trial that he "was in Texas at the time the crimes were committed" in Maryland. We hold that the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on alibi constituted error, and we therefore reverse.
The petitioner, Rodney Lorenzo Smith, was charged in an eight count indictment with armed robbery and related offenses arising out of the August 30, 1981, robbery of a desk clerk at a Holiday Inn. On May 15, 1982, Smith was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. At the trial, the desk clerk positively identified Smith as one of the robbers. On the other hand, Smith specifically testified that he was not at the Holiday Inn on August 30, 1981, that he was not "even in the State at that time," and that he was in Texas when the robbery occurred. Smith's aunt, Agnes Pearman, testified that Smith had been in Texas for over six months in 1981, and that she had seen him in Maryland after his return on September 4, 1981. She was not, however, able to testify as to Smith's whereabouts on August 30, 1981. Smith's attorney submitted to the court, in writing, a proposed jury instruction on alibi. The requested instruction stated, in part, as follows:
The trial judge refused to give any jury instruction on alibi, stating that
The defendant Smith filed a petition for a writ of certiorari presenting two questions, the first relating to the alibi issue and the second challenging the order for restitution. In light of the Court of Special Appeals' holding that a defendant's alibi testimony must be corroborated for him to be entitled to an alibi instruction, we granted the petition limited to the first question, which was set forth in our certiorari order as follows:
"Did the Court of Special Appeals err in holding that the Petitioner's testimony that he was in another state when the armed robbery was committed was not sufficient to generate the alibi issue in the absence of full corroboration by other evidence and that the trial court was not required to give the requested instruction on the alibi issue?"
The State, in its brief and oral argument before this Court, disagreed with the reasoning of the Court of Special Appeals and took the position that a defendant's alibi testimony need not be corroborated in order for a defendant to be entitled to an alibi instruction. Nevertheless, the State argued that an accused, to be entitled to an alibi instruction, must present evidence clearly generating the issue. In the present case, according to the State, Smith's testimony as a whole was so inconsistent that it was "totally without value." Consequently, according to the State, the defendant was not entitled to an alibi instruction in this case.
We shall first deal with the corroboration issue, and then we shall address the State's argument.
(1)
We note at the outset that "it is incumbent upon the court, ... when requested in a criminal case, to give an ... instruction on every essential question or point of law supported by evidence." Bruce v. State, 218 Md. 87, 97, 145 A.2d 428, 433 (1958). See, e.g., Blackwell v. State, 278 Md. 466, 477, 365 A.2d 545, cert. denied, 431 U.S. 918, 97 S.Ct. 2183, 53 L.Ed.2d 229 (1976); Dillon v. State, 277 Md. 571, 584-585, 357 A.2d 360 (1976); England & Edwards v. State, 274 Md. 264, 275-276, 334 A.2d 98 (1975); Hardison v. State, 226 Md. 53, 60-61, 172 A.2d 407 (1961). This principle was embodied in former Maryland Rule 757(b) which stated that "[t]he court may, and at the request of any party shall, give those ... instructions to the jury as correctly state the applicable law." 1 This Court has held that the word "shall," as employed in Rule 757(b), renders the rule mandatory. See, e.g., Lansdowne v. State, 287 Md. 232, 238-239, 412 A.2d 88 (1980), and cases there cited.
The Court of Special Appeals, as well as a majority of cases throughout the country, have held that when the evidence in a criminal case generates the issue of alibi, and when the defendant requests an instruction specifically addressed to the matter of alibi, the defendant is entitled to a specific alibi instruction, and that the trial court's general instructions concerning the prosecution's burden of proof, etc., are not deemed to "fairly cover" the matter of alibi. Pulley v. State, 38 Md.App. 682, 688-691, 382 A.2d 621 (1978), and cases there cited. Cf. State v. Grady, 276 Md. 178, 345 A.2d 436 (1975) ( ). We agree with the holding of the Court of Special Appeals in the Pulley case.
Of the cases which ordinarily require the trial court to instruct the jury concerning alibi when the alibi issue is presented by the evidence and the instruction is requested by the defendant, the overwhelming majority hold that the defendant's uncorroborated testimony, that he was at some other place at the time of the crime, is sufficient to generate the issue. See, e.g., Hudson v. State, 381 So.2d 344 (Fla.App.1980); Pippins v. State, 224 Ga. 462, 162 S.E.2d 338, 340 (1968); People v. Jones, 47 Ill.2d 135, 265 N.E.2d 125 (1970); People v. McGinnis, 402 Mich. 343, 262 N.W.2d 669 (1977); State v. Slay, 406 S.W.2d 575, 579 (Mo.1966); Commonwealth v. Pounds, 490 Pa. 621, 417 A.2d 597 (1980); State v. Robbins, 275 S.C. 373, 271 S.E.2d 319 (1980). 2 In Hudson, supra, 381 So.2d at 346, in holding that an accused's uncorroborated testimony, standing by itself, is sufficient to require an alibi instruction, the court stated:
In People v. McGinnis, supra, the Supreme Court of Michigan held that a defendant's uncorroborated testimony placing him "elsewhere than at the scene of the crime" is sufficient to require a defendant-requested jury instruction on alibi, stating that a defendant's alibi testimony "is alibi testimony the same as if another witness had given the testimony." 262 N.W.2d at 671. The Michigan court noted that
We can discern no principled reason for treating the alibi issue differently than all other issues in criminal cases by requiring corroboration of an accused's alibi testimony in order that the jury be instructed on alibi. 3
(2)
As previously discussed, the State conceded in this Court that corroboration of an accused's testimony should not be a prerequisite for an alibi instruction. The State argued, however, that the trial judge's failure to instruct the jury on alibi...
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