Stoddard v. State

• Decision Date: 05 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 24, Sept. Term, 2006.,24, Sept. Term, 2006.
• Citation: 911 A.2d 1245,395 Md. 653
• Parties: Kevin Tremaine STODDARD v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 1245

911 A.2d 1245

395 Md. 653

Kevin Tremaine STODDARD v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 24, Sept. Term, 2006.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

December 5, 2006.

Michael E. Henderson (Willis & Henderson, P.A., Ellicott City, on brief), for appellant.

Sara Page Pritzlaff, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

GREENE, J.

In this case, we must construe Md.Code (2001), § 10-107 of the Criminal Procedure Article, to determine whether a multiple count indictment, charging various counts of burglary and related offenses, which were allegedly committed at different times, in several locations, and against different people, constitutes a single unit within the meaning of the expungement statute. See Md.Code (2001), § 10-101 et seq. Specifically, we must decide whether a defendant's guilty plea to burglary (count 13) of the multiple count indictment precludes expungement of the remaining charges, which were nol prossed by the State as part of a plea agreement. We hold that, consistent with the plain language of § 10-107, burglary and theft charges that stem from separate and distinct events, although the charges are contained within the same charging document, do not comprise a single unit for purposes of expungement. Charges arising, however, from the same incident, transaction, or set of facts as the count to which a criminal defendant pleads guilty comprise a single unit, and therefore may not be expunged. Thus, a guilty plea to one count of first degree burglary, contained within a multiple count charging document, does not preclude expungement of the other burglary and theft counts which were nol prossed, unless the other charges arise from the same incident, transaction, or set of facts to which the defendant pled guilty.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On November 12, 2005, at 2:15 a.m., a police officer working as security for the University Village Apartment Complex in Towson, Maryland, observed a man, later identified as Kevin Tremaine Stoddard ("Petitioner"), walking around inside apartment 2101, and then leaving the apartment by removing a window screen. The officer detained Petitioner, a Towson University student, and arrested him after learning that he did not have permission to be inside that apartment. After receiving Miranda warnings, Petitioner admitted to entering apartment 2101 and confessed to a series of other burglaries as well.

Petitioner was charged with seven counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of fourth-degree burglary, seven counts of theft under $500, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The State chose to consolidate all charges in a single, multiple-count indictment. All charges stemmed from Petitioner's involvement in a series of burglaries and related criminal offenses involving several individual apartments, located within the University Village Apartment Complex. The crimes occurred over a period of more than two months. A summary of the counts are as follows:

Counts 1 and 2: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2104 on October 9, 2004

Counts 3 and 4: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2310 on October 18 and 22, 2004

Counts 5 and 6: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2106 on October 18 and 22, 2004

Counts 7 and 8: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 412 Campus View Dr., Apartment 6102 on October 25, 2004

Counts 9 and 10: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2211 on October 25, 2004

Counts 11 and 12: First degree burglary and theft under $500 involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 3308 on October 25, 2004

Counts 13-15:First degree burglary, theft under $500, and possession of paraphernalia involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2101 on November 12, 2004 Count 16: Fourth degree burglary involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2204 on November 4, 2004

Count 17: Fourth degree burglary involving 402 Campus View Dr., Apartment 2204 on September 4, 2004

On April 4, 2005, pursuant to a plea agreement, Petitioner pled guilty to count 13, charging first-degree burglary, in exchange for the State entering a nolle prosequi as to the remaining 16 counts. Counts 13-15 arose from the same incident, transaction, and set of facts. Those crimes allegedly occurred on November 12, 2004, and involved the burglary and theft of personal property from apartment 2101. The theft of personal property gave rise to the charge of possession of paraphernalia. The burglaries listed in the remaining counts, which were nol prossed, all took place on different days and in different apartment units than did the burglary in count 13.

On June 8, 2005, Petitioner was sentenced to four-years imprisonment with all but 90 days suspended and the last 30 days to be served on home detention. He also was placed on two-years probation, effective upon release, and was ordered to pay restitution to each of the burglary victims. In addition, Petitioner was ordered to abstain from alcohol, illegal drugs and abuse of prescription drugs, submit to random urinalysis, and to seek alcohol and drug treatment. The court also ordered that Petitioner have no contact with the victims, their property, or the University Village Apartments.

On September 1, 2005, Petitioner filed a Motion for Modification of Sentence, in which he requested that the trial court strike its judgment of guilty and enter probation before judgment. Subsequently, on October 24, 2005, Petitioner filed a Petition for Expungement, requesting that the court expunge counts 1-12 and 14-17. In his Petition for Expungement, Petitioner certified that he had not been convicted of any crime, other than a minor traffic violation, since the State nol prossed counts 1-12 and 14-17. On October 25, 2005, the State filed an Answer to the Motion for Modification of Sentence, requesting that Petitioner's motion be denied.¹ On November 9, 2005, the State filed an Answer to the Petition for Expungement.

The Circuit Court held a hearing on January 19, 2006. At that hearing, Petitioner conceded that counts 13-15 all arose from the same incident and that, because he pled guilty to count 13, counts 14 and 15 could not be expunged. The State argued that because all 17 of the counts constituted a single unit, Petitioner's guilty plea to count 13 prevented all of the counts from being expunged. The Circuit Court denied the Petition for Expungement. Petitioner filed a timely notice of appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.² On June 7, 2006, while the case was pending in the intermediate appellate court, this Court issued a writ of certiorari on its own motion. Stoddard v. State, 393 Md. 242, 900 A.2d 749 (2006).

DISCUSSION

The parties dispute whether, under § 10-107 of the Criminal Procedure Article, all of Petitioner's charges, when consolidated within a single charging document, constitute a unit, such that Petitioner's guilty plea to count 13 precludes the expungement of any of the remaining counts. Notably, because Petitioner pled guilty to count 13, that count cannot be expunged, and that issue is therefore not before this Court. See § 10-105(a) (limiting expungement for charges that resulted in a finding of guilt to a person who has been granted a full and unconditional pardon by the Governor and who was convicted of only one criminal act that was not a crime of violence). The expungement of counts 14 and 15 is also not at issue in this case because Petitioner conceded that because those counts arise out of the same incident as count 13 they all constitute a unit, preventing their expungement. Aside from this concession, Petitioner contends that the remaining counts do not constitute a single unit because the other burglaries are separate and distinct units. The State contends, however, that because all of the burglaries occurred in a limited time frame, in only two apartment buildings, all for the purpose of supporting Petitioner's drug habit, they constitute a unit within the meaning of § 10-107. This issue is therefore a matter of statutory interpretation.

A. Statutory Interpretation

We recently summarized the rules of statutory interpretation in Walzer v. Osborne, 395 Md. 563 at 571-573, 911 A.2d 427 at 431-433 (filed November 17, 2006):

"The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the Legislature." Mayor and Town Council of Oakland v. Mayor and Town Council of Mountain Lake Park, 392 Md. 301, 316, 896 A.2d 1036, 1045 (2006); Chow v. State, 393 Md. 431, 443, 903 A.2d 388, 395 (2006) (citations omitted); see also Johnson v. Mayor of Balt. City, 387 Md. 1, 11, 874 A.2d 439, 445 (2005); Moore v. State, 388 Md. 446, 452, 879 A.2d 1111, 1114 (2005); O'Connor v. Balt. County, 382 Md. 102, 113, 854 A.2d 1191, 1198 (2004); Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Chase, 360 Md. 121, 128, 756 A.2d 987, 991 (2000).

As this Court has explained, "[t]o determine that purpose or policy, we look first to the language of the statute, giving it its natural and ordinary meaning." State Dept. of Assessments and Taxation v. Maryland-Nat'l Capital Park & Planning Comm'n, 348 Md. 2, 13, 702 A.2d 690, 696 (1997); Montgomery County v. Buckman, 333 Md. 516, 523, 636 A.2d 448, 452 (1994); see also Chow, 393 Md. at 443, 903 A.2d at 395 (stating that "[s]tatutory construction begins with the plain language of the statute, and ordinary, popular understanding of the English language dictates interpretation of its terminology") (citations omitted). We do so "on the tacit theory that the Legislature is presumed to have meant what it said and said what it meant." Witte v. Azarian, 369 Md. 518, 525, 801 A.2d 160, 165 (2002). "When the statutory language is clear, we need not look beyond the statutory language to...