Jackson v. State, 148 A.3d 95

On Sept. 1, 2014, after a family birthday party at the Evans/Wilson home, an altercation occurred between Larry Jackson (appellant) and his girlfriend Shakeara Wilson, who was pregnant with his child; Jackson admitted striking her.
Family members confronted Jackson; one punched him and a gunshot was fired into the basement ceiling; shell casing recovered was fired from a 9mm not matching the recovered Taurus found in the house.
Police recovered a gun (with Evans’s DNA), a shell casing, and other items; firearms examiner concluded the recovered gun did not fire the casing.
Jackson was convicted by a jury of one count of second-degree assault and acquitted of more serious charges; he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.
On appeal Jackson raised three principal claims: (1) erroneous admission of other-crimes evidence under Md. Rule 5-404(b); (2) trial court abused discretion in denying his mistrial motion after a detective referenced a homicide investigation; and (3) sentencing court improperly considered a murder charge for which he had been acquitted.

Issue	Jackson's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Admission of prior domestic-abuse testimony under Rule 5-404(b)	Testimony that Jackson had a violent history with Shakeara was impermissible other-crimes evidence and unduly prejudicial	Prior abuse evidence was admissible to show motive (continuing hostility); any error harmless because Jackson admitted striking Shakeara and photos and conviction limited to 2nd-degree assault	Evidence properly admitted as motive; trial court did not abuse discretion; any error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt
Detective's testimony implying homicide investigation; waiver and scope	Reference to homicide investigation and homicide-unit assignment unfairly prejudiced jury and was beyond scope of cross	Detective’s homicide-unit status and other investigations were elicited earlier without objection; any single reference was struck and sustained so no prejudice	Objections largely waived by prior unobjected testimony; single stricken reference did not warrant mistrial; no reversible prejudice
Sentencing consideration of acquitted murder charge	Trial court impermissibly considered Jackson’s acquittal for murder when imposing sentence	Court may consider reliable evidence about uncharged/acquitted conduct (Henry); prosecutor chose not to proffer such evidence and court relied on convictions and record	No indication sentencing court relied on the acquittal; sentence affirmed as within discretion

Snyder v. State, 361 Md. 580 (2000) (sets three-part test and discusses admissibility of other-crimes evidence and motive exception)
Ross v. State, 276 Md. 664 (1976) (framework for other-crimes evidence exceptions)
Faulkner v. State, 314 Md. 630 (1989) (discusses Ross framework and admissibility standards)
Henry v. State, 273 Md. 131 (1974) (sentencing judge may consider evidence related to crimes for which defendant was acquitted)