Lewis v. StateLewis v. State
The Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings authorizes a Maryland trial court to certify that a person outside Maryland is a material witness in a pending criminal case in Maryland, and directs that such a certification be presented to a judge in another State. See
Exemption of person coming into State to attend and testify.—If a person comes into this State in obedience to a summons directing him [or her] to attend and testify in this State he [or she] shall not while in this State pursuant to such summons be subject to arrest or the service of process, civil or criminal, in connection with matters which arose before his [or her] entrance into this State under the summons.
This case requires us to determine whether an out-of-State witness who enters Maryland pursuant to a summons, and is then charged with crimes, waives the issue of a violation of
Here, Grant Agbara Lewis (“Lewis”), Petitioner, a Colorado resident, entered Maryland pursuant to a summons to testify
At no point did Lewis assert the issue of a violation of
BACKGROUND
State v. Bennett and Filings in the Colorado Court
The facts and circumstances giving rise to this unusual case are summarized below. In the circuit court, the State charged Bennett with first-degree murder of Bernadzikowski and other crimes. In State v. Bennett, the State filed an “Application to Secure Attendancе of a Person Outside the State as a Witness in a Criminal Action in the State” under
The Colorado court issued an “Order for Hearing and Appearance of Witness, and for Contingent Summons for Witness to Testify in Another State[.]” In the order, the Colorado court scheduled a hearing, at which Lewis would be required to show cause why he should not be compelled to testify at Bennett’s trial; and ordered that the show cause hearing would be vacated if the District Attorney filed an Acceptance of Service and Waiver of Hearing signed by Lewis. The Colorado court found that Lewis was a material and necessary witness in State v. Bennett, and that compelling Lewis to testify at Bennett’s trial would not cause undue hardship. The Colorado court ordered Lewis to testify at Bennett’s trial and stated:
[T]he laws of the [S]tate in which the prosecution is pending, and of any other [S]tate through which [Lewis] may be required to pass by ordinary course of travel, will give to [Lewis] protection from arrest and service of civil and criminal process in connection with matters which arose before entering into that [S]tate under this summons[.]
In the Colorado court, the District Attorney Investigator filed a “Certificate of Service,” averring that he had served on Lewis, among other documents, the Motion for Hearing and Appearance of Witness for Witness To Testify in Another
In the Colorado court, Lewis filed an “Acceptance of Service and Waiver of Hearing,” in which he acknowledged service of the above-listed documents, waived his right to a show cause hearing, and agreed to testify at Bennett’s trial. On March 18, 2014, the day on which Bennett’s trial was scheduled to begin, Bennett pled guilty in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment with all but thirty years suspended. On the same day, Bennett agreed to testify about his involvement in the murder and made a proffer in which he implicated Lewis as an accomplice to Bernadzikowski’s murder. On March 19, 2014, after an investigation, Lewis, who had been in Maryland to testify against Bennett, was arrested. At the time of his arrest, Lewis did not assert the exemption from arrest under
Circuit Court Proceedings in Lewis v. State
In the circuit court, the State charged Lewis with first-degree murder of Bernadzikowski and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Bernadzikowski. The evidence adduced at trial showed that Bennett and Lewis had been childhood friends in Colorado and attended the Denver School of Performing Arts together. In 2000, the two devised a plan to make money that involved placing online advertisements for “cleaning services,” a cover term for contract killings. According to Lewis, the pair planned to defraud potential customers by taking money and not actually performing any murders. By contrast, аccording to Bennett, there was no intent to deceive; he and Lewis intended to commit murder in exchange for payment.
Specifically, at trial, as a witness for the State, Bennett testified that Lewis was responsible for designing and placing the online advertisement. In or before Spring 2000, as a result
Bennett stayed in Dundalk for weeks, stealing food and sleeping at a bus stop, in a van, оr wherever else he could find a place to sleep. Two or three times a day, Bennett called Lewis via pay phones, asking whether Cooke had e-mailed Lewis, or whether Lewis had any information to share. One day, Cooke e-mailed Lewis to arrange a meeting with Bennett. At the meeting, Cooke told Bennett that, at some point, he would leave a key outside the house so that Bennett could enter the house and kill Bernadzikowski. On another day, Cooke and Bennett met again; Bennett asked for an up-front payment; and Cooke said that he would not have any money until he collected the proceeds from the insurance policy on Bernadzikowski’s life.
To make it seem as though a burglary had occurred, Bennett went upstairs and ransacked the bedroom. To confuse law enforcement officers, Bennett used Bernadzikowski’s lipstick to write “Number 1” on the wall. Bennett waited approximately thirty to thirty-five minutes, left the house, and threw the key and knife into a dumpster. Bennett telephoned Lewis and informed him that he had killed Bernadzikowski. Lewis told Bennett that he was using a satellite to ensure that no law enforcement officers were in the area. After returning to Colorado, Bennett told Lewis about the killing in more detail. According to Bennett, Cooke never paid him, and Bennett and Lewis had never discussed simply stealing money from Cooke without killing Bernadzikowski.
As a witness for the State, Sergeant Alan Meyer (“Sergeant Meyer”) of the Baltimore County Police Department testified that, on April 20, 2000, Sergeant Meyer responded to 2008 Codd Avenue in Dundalk to investigate Bernadzikowski’s death. An investigation revealed that Bernadzikowski’s boyfriend, Cooke, had taken out a $700,000 insurance policy on Bernadzikowski’s life, and that she was preparing to end their relationship. At the time of the initial investigation, DNA tests conducted on Bernadzikowski’s fingernail cliрpings revealed DNA belonging to Bernadzikowski and an unknown individual.
As a witness for the State, Ott, Bennett’s high school classmate, testified that Bennett and Lewis were best friends. In Spring 2000, Ott drove Bennett and Lewis to Denver International Airport. On the way, Bennett said that he and Lewis were two of the biggest members of organized crime in Colorado; that Bennett was going to Baltimore to do a job; and that he and Lewis were going to make a lot of money.
As a witness for the State, Rebecca Love (“Love”), the mother of Lewis’s two children, testified that, in Spring 2000, while she and Lewis were in her apartment, Lewis told her that an out-of-State woman owed him money and had “reneged[,]” and that he had sent Bennett to kill her while he watched on his computer via satеllite. Love ran out of her apartment and cried. Lewis followed Love and told her that he had made up the planned killing to impress her.
As a witness on his own behalf, Lewis testified that he and Bennett developed a “silly scam” in which they would accept money for contract killings without following through. Lewis acknowledged that he created an online advertisement for “professional and discreet cleaning services,” and that in response to the online advertisement, Cooke offered to pay $20,000 up front, and another $20,000 upon completion, for a contract killing of Bernadzikowski. Cooke e-mailed Lewis to provide his and Bernadzikowski’s address, and Bennett flew to Baltimore, where he was supposed to collect the up-front payment from Cooke. Once Bennett was in Baltimore, over
A jury found Lewis guilty of first-degree murder of Bernadzikowski and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Bernadzikowski. The circuit court sentenced Lewis to life imprisonment for first-degree murder, and five concurrent years of imprisonment for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Lewis noted an appeal.
Lewis did not allege, pretrial or during trial, that his arrest violated the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without State in Criminal Proceedings.
Subsequent Procedural History
On appeal, for the first time, Lewis raised the exemption from arrest under
The Court of Special Appeals disagreed and affirmed the convictions, holding that the circuit court had subject matter jurisdiction and properly exercised personal jurisdiction. See Lewis v. State, 229 Md.App. 86, 101, 143 A.3d 177, 186-87 (2016). Specifically, the Court of Special Appeals concluded
Lewis filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, which this Court granted. See Lewis v. State, 450 Md. 420, 149 A.3d 547 (2016).
DISCUSSION
The Parties’ Contentions
Lewis contends that the circuit court improperly exercised personal jurisdiction over him in violation of
Lewis concedes that he did not preserve the issue as to the alleged violation of
As to the merits, Lewis argues that an out-of-State witness does not waive the issue of a violation of
The State responds that Lewis forfeited the ability to challenge his arrest and prosecution by failing to raise the issue in a pretrial motion pursuant to
The State contends that Lewis fails to demonstrate that this Court should exercise its discretion to review his unpreserved challenge to his arrest and prosecution, as doing so would not correct a recurring error, provide guidance where there is likely to be a new trial, or offer assistance if there is a subsequent collateral attack on the convictions. The State argues that it would be unfair to allow Lewis to raise an issue as to a violation of
The Standard of Review
“An appellate court reviews without deference a trial court’s interpretation of a statute[.]” Howard v. State, 440 Md. 427, 434, 103 A.3d 572, 576 (2014) (citations omitted). And, generally, an appellate court reviews questions of law without deference. See State v. Callahan, 441 Md. 220, 226, 107 A.3d 1143, 1146 (2015) (“[W]hether the probationer violated the order of probation is a purely legal issue[, and] the appellate court reviews without deference the trial court’s determination that the probationer violated the order of probation.” (Citation omitted)).
CJ § 9-304(a)
Exemption of person coming into State to attend and testify.—If a person comes into this State in obedience to a summons directing him [or her] to attend and testify in this State he [or she] shall not while in this State pursuant to such summons be subject to arrest or the service of process, civil or criminal, in connection with matters which arose before his [or her] entrance into this State under the summons.[6]
Prior to the General Assembly enacting what is now the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, under the common law of Maryland, an out-of-State witness or party in a civil or criminal case was exempt from arrest or service of process while the witness or party was in Maryland for the
In 1936, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. See National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings Explanatory Note at 333, http://www.uniformlaws.org/shared/docs/attendance%20of%20witnesses/attendance%20of%20witnesses%201936.pdf [https://perma.cc/U78L-JCTR]. Afterward, legislatures in all fifty States and the District of Columbia enacted the Unifоrm Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings.
In 1937, the General Assembly enacted what is now titled the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings as
Although the General Assembly has never changed the language of the provision that eventually became
In State v. Breeden, 333 Md. 212, 227, 634 A.2d 464, 471 (1993), this Court held that the State failed to prove that a witness was unavailable because the State did not timely invoke the procedures under the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. In Breeden, id. at 226, 634 A.2d at 471, this Court concluded that the State failed to make efforts in good faith to secure a witness’s attendance because “the State ... sat on its hands with respect to the Uniform Act” to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. This Court noted that the adoption by every State of the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings “create[d] a community of jurisdictions [that] will honor the request of fellow members for the appearance of witnesses at criminal proceedings under the conditions specified in the Act.” Id. at 223, 634 A.2d at 469 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). This Court explained that the Act’s purposes are “to secure at trial the attendance of a material witness residing in another state” and “to promote the enforcement of the criminal laws and the administration of justice in criminal proceedings in the several [S]tates.” Id. at
In In re State of Cal. for Los Angeles Cty., Grand Jury Investigation, 57 Md.App. 804, 806-08, 811, 471 A.2d 1141, 1142-43, 1144 (1984), a case involving the appeal of a trial court‘s issuance of an order requiring a witness located in Baltimore City to appear before a Los Angeles County grand jury, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the issuance of the order and stated:
The principal difference is that in the [Uniform Criminal Extradition Act] the person demanded by the requesting State will be returned to that State to face criminal prosecution, while in the [Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings] the person requested is to testify and is specifically exempted from prosecution for matters that “arose before ... entrance into ... [the] State under the summons.”
(Quoting CJ § 9-304) (ellipses and last alteration in original).
Case Law from Other Jurisdictions
As in Maryland, few courts in other jurisdictions have addressed issues as to waiver of the exemption from arrest or service of process under those jurisdictions’ Uniform Acts to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. In Foster v. State, 372 N.W.2d 468, 469, 470 (S.D. 1985), the Supreme Court of South Dakota held that a trial court had personal jurisdiction over a defendant where the defendant was brought to South Dakota for the purpose of having him testify in a criminal case that was unrelated to his own. In South Dakota, the defendant had been convicted of a felony drug charge, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and given a date to surrender to a county sheriff to begin serving
On appeal, the defendant contended that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over him because he was brought to South Dakota as a witness, and thus was exempt from arrest under South Dakota‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. See id. at 470. The Supreme Court of South Dakota disagreed, and observed that the State of South Dakota “neither intended, nor relied in fact upon,” South Dakota‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings to have the defendant brought to South Dakota for the purpose of prosecuting him for failing to appear before the sheriff. See id. The Court stated that the defendant had not identified any irregularities that would invalidate the waiver of extradition that he signed before being brought to South Dakota. See id. Finally, the Court concluded that any irregulаrities in extradition proceedings would not deprive South Dakota‘s trial courts of personal jurisdiction over the defendant. See id.
In Zeller v. Cumberland Truck Sales, 272 S.C. 558, 253 S.E.2d 111, 112-13 (1979), a civil case involving a dispute over fees for repair of a vehicle, the Supreme Court of South Carolina held that a defendant did not implicitly waive an exemption from service of process by failing to raise the
The exemption or immunity from service of process, afforded under [the exemption provision of South Carolina‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings], is a personal privilege or exemption and may be waived by the person otherwise entitled thereto. [The plaintiff] correctly states that the applicable rules require a prompt assertion of the exemption from service of process and, ordinarily, such immunity should be claimed prior to judgment. The latter, however, is not an absolute rule but must be weighed in the light of all of the surrounding facts and circumstances.
Id. (citations and paragraph break omitted). In Zeller, id. at 113, the Court concluded that it was reasonable to infer that the service of two summonses that had been stapled together without a complaint gave the impression that only one case was pending. The Court noted that a letter from the defendant‘s lawyer to the plaintiff‘s lawyer, apart from South Carolina‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, should have put the plaintiff‘s lawyer on notice that the defendant did not intend for the trial court to issue default judgment in the plaintiff‘s case. See id. The Court concluded that “[t]hese circumstances raise sufficient doubts to justify the refusal to imply waiver from the alleged silence of” the defendant. Id.
Independent of other jurisdictions’ Uniform Acts to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, courts in other jurisdictions have addressed issues as to waiver of an exemption from arrest or service of process under other jurisdictions’ common law. In Bradford v. Nat‘l Distillers & Chem. Corp., 117 Ariz. 244, 571 P.2d 1040, 1041 (Ct. App. 1977), without referring to Arizona‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, the Court of Appeals of Arizona held that an out-of-State witness who is in Arizona to testify in one case waives immunity from service of process in another case by delaying an assertion of that immunity. In Bradford, id., an Arkansas resident came to Arizona to testify at a dеposition. The deposition was cancelled on the day on which it was scheduled, and the parties to the case settled. See id. While he was in Arizona, the Arkansas resident was sued and served with summons. See id. The Arkansas resident took no action, and an Arizona trial court ordered default judgment against him. See id. Five years later, the Arkansas resident moved to vacate the default judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction, contending that he was immune because he was in Arizona for the purpose of testifying in another case. See id. An Arizona trial court denied the motion to vacate, and the Court of Appeals of Arizona affirmed. See id. The Court explained:
The immunity upon which [the Arkansas resident] relies is a privilege extended by the court and not a jurisdictional matter, and in order to obtain the benefit of this privilege, the person served must timely urge the court to extend it. A delay in doing so, especially a delay of five years after entry of the judgment, as here, constitutes a waiver of any possible immunity.
Id. (citations omitted).
In Eaton v. Eaton, 120 Kan. 477, 243 P. 1040, 1040-41 (1926), the Supreme Court of Kansas held that a Texas resident who was in Kansas as a defendant in a criminal case waived the exemption from service of process in a civil case by failing to assert that exemption until after judgment. In Eaton, id. at 1040, the Texas resident‘s wife, who lived in Kansas, sued him for divorce and alimony, and service was made by publication; the Texas resident‘s wife also filed a criminal complaint against him for failure to pay child support. While the Texas resident was visiting his children in Kansas, he was arrested, and he posted bail. See id When the Texas
Maryland Rules 4-252 and 8-131(a)
(a) Mandatory motions. In the circuit court, the following matters shall be raised by motion in conformity with this Rule and if not so raised are waived unless the court, for good cause shown, orders otherwise:
(1) A defect in the institution of the prosecution;
(2) A defect in the charging document other than its failure to show jurisdiction in the court or its failure to charge an offense;
(3) An unlawful search, seizure, interception of wire or oral communication, or pretrial identification;
(4) An unlawfully obtained admission, statement, or confession; and (5) A request for joint or separate trial of defendants or offenses.
(b) Time for filing mandatory motions. A motion under section (a) of this Rule shall be filed within 30 days after the earlier of the appearance of counsel or the first appearance of the defendant before the court pursuant to Rule 4-213(c), except when discovery discloses the basis for a motion, the motion may be filed within five days after the discovery is furnished.
* * *
(d) Other motions. A motion asserting failure of the charging document to show jurisdiction in the court or to charge an offense may be raised and determined at any time. Any other defense, objection, or request capable of determination before trial without trial of the general issue, shall be raised by motion filed at any time before trial.
The issues of jurisdiction of the trial court over the subject matter and, unless waived under Rule 2-322,8 over a person may be raised in and decided by the appellate court whether or not raised in and decided by the trial court. Ordinarily, the appellate court will not decide any other issue unless it plainly appears by the record to have been raised in or decided by the trial court, but the Court may decide such an issue if necessary or desirable to guide the trial court or to avoid the expense and delay of another appeal.
Personal Jurisdiction
Personal jurisdiction is “[a] court‘s power to bring a person into its adjudicative process; jurisdiction over a defen
In Ker, 119 U.S. at 443, 444, 7 S.Ct. 225, where the defendant was kidnapped from Peru and brought by force to the United States for trial, the Supreme Court held that it was not a “valid objection” for a defendant in a criminal case to raise the circumstance of “his forcible seizure in another country, and transfer by violence, force, or fraud to this country[.]” The Supreme Court explained its holding as follows: “[A]bduction is no sufficient reason why the party should not answer when brought within the jurisdiction of the court which has the right to try him [or her] for such an offense, and presents no valid objection to his [or her] trial in such court.” Id at 444, 7 S.Ct. 225.
In Frisbie, 342 U.S. at 522, 72 S.Ct. 509, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its holding in Ker, 119 U.S. at 444, 7 S.Ct. 225, and reiterated that “the power of a court to try a person for crime
[D]ue process of law is satisfied when one present in court is convicted of crime after having been fairly apprized of the charges against him [or her] and after a fair trial in accordance with constitutional procedural safeguards. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires a court to permit a guilty person rightfully convicted to escape justice because he [or she] was brought to trial against his [or her] will.
Id. at 522, 72 S.Ct. 509.
In Clark, 284 Md. at 277, 396 A.2d at 253, this Court stated that the principle set forth by the Supreme Court in Frisbie, 342 U.S. at 522, 72 S.Ct. 509—that an abduction does not deprive a court of jurisdiction—was consistent with Maryland law. In Clark, 284 Md. at 263, 276, 396 A.2d at 245, 252, an inmate escaped from a Maryland prison, and ended up being incarcerated again in an Oregon prison. The State filed a detainer against the inmate, who, in a letter to the Maryland State Police, requested that he be brought back to Maryland to serve the remainder of the sentence that he had received in Oregon. See id. at 276, 396 A.2d at 252. The State treated the inmate‘s letter as a waiver of extradition, had him brought back to Maryland, and prosecuted him for escaping from prison. See id. at 276, 396 A.2d at 252. In the trial court and on appeal, the inmate contended that his prosecution was illegal under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. See id. at 277, 396 A.2d at 252. This Court rejected the inmate‘s contention, and noted that the inmate correctly conceded that he was properly before the trial court because the forcible return of a person to a State does not deprive a court of jurisdiction. See id. at 277, 396 A.2d at 252-53.
Analysis
Here, we conclude that an out-of-State witness who enters Maryland to testify at a trial in a criminal case pursuant to a summons under the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, and who is then arrested and charged with a crime in Maryland, waives any issuе as to a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) by failing to raise the issue pretrial as required by
In agreement with the Court of Special Appeals, we conclude that
Independent of the requisites of
Generally, in order to “preserve” an issue for appellate review, the complaining party must have raised the issue in the trial court or the issue was decided by the trial court.
Md. Rule 8-131(a) . In other words, if a party fails to raise a particular issue in the trial court, or fails to make a contemporaneous objection, the general rule is that he or she waives that issue on appeal.
(Footnote and some citations omitted).
The purpose of
It is fair to require a defendant from outside Maryland to assert an issue as to a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) before trial. Given that such a defendant would have entered Maryland pursuant to a summons for an out-of-State witness and then been charged with a crime, the issue of whether the defendant was arrested or served with process in violation of CJ § 9-304(a) would have been known, оr should have been known, to
At oral argument, Lewis contended that the circuit court had the burden to sua sponte raise the issue of a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) because the same circuit court judge issued the Certificate for Attendance of Witness from Colorado State and presided over Lewis‘s trial. We do not accept the notion that a trial court has the burden to sua sponte raise the issue of a violation of CJ § 9-304(a). We see no valid reason, even where the same judge issues the summons and presides at trial, to treat an alleged violation of CJ § 9-304(a) differently from any other defense that a defendant, not a trial court, is obligated to raise prior to trial under
Notably, in contending that the circuit court improperly exercised personal jurisdiction over him, Lewis relies on two cases from оther jurisdictions, Wright v. State, 500 P.2d 582 (Okla. Crim. App. 1972) and State ex rel. Forte v. Ferris, 79 Wis.2d 501, 255 N.W.2d 594 (1977). Aside from being case law that this Court is not bound to follow, each case is distinguishable because the defendant timely raised an issue in the trial court. In Wright, 500 P.2d at 586, the defendant filed a pretrial motion to dismiss on the ground that his prosecution was instituted in violation of Oklahoma‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma rejected the defendant‘s contention that the charges against him were invalid due to a failure to adhere to Okla
In Forte, 255 N.W.2d at 595, a case involving Wisconsin‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, the defendant served a sentence in Wisconsin and then was placed on parole; the defendant later went to Illinois and was permitted to remain there pending acceptance of his parole supervision by Illinois authorities. While the defendant was in Illinois, a Wisconsin trial court sought to secure the defendant‘s presence as a witness at a murder trial pursuant to Wisconsin‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings; a summons was issued directing the defendant to appear at the trial in Wisconsin and the defendant obeyed. See id. at 595-96. At the trial, the defendant refused to testify and was jailed for contempt of court; the defendant‘s Wisconsin parole agent then placed a parole detainer on him. See id. at 596. A few days later, while still subject to the parole detainer, the defendant was charged with murder; the defendant petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, contending that his detention violated Wisconsin‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. See id. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin agreed with the defendant, finding that the protections of Wisconsin‘s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings could not be limited after the defendant arrived in Wisconsin, and concluding that the parole detainer was “tantamount to an arrest.” Id. at 599 (citation omitted).
Significantly, however, neither Wright nor Forte includes any discussion of waiver of the issue of a violation of the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, as both defendants timely raised the issue prior to trial. Contrary to the purpose for which Lewis relies on the cases, Wright and Forte illustrate that the proper time at which to raise an alleged violation of the Uniform Act is before trial, not on appeal.
(a) In general.—(1) Any person arrested in this State charged with having committed any crime in another state or alleged to have escaped from confinement, or broken the terms of bail, probation, or parole, may waive the issuance and service of the warrant provided for in §§ 9-107 and 9-108 of this title, and all other procedure incidental to extradition proceedings, by executing or subscribing in the presence of a judge of any court of record within this State a writing that states that the person consents to return to the demanding state.
(2) Before a waiver is executed or subscribed by the person, it shall be the duty of the judge to inform the person of the right to the issuance and service of a warrant of extradition and the right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as provided in § 9-110 of this title.
(b) Action on consent.—(1) If and when a consent has been duly executed, it shall forthwith be forwarded to the office of the Governor of this State and filed therein.
(2) The judge shall:
(i) direct the officer having the person in custody to deliver forthwith the person to a duly accredited agent of the demanding state; and
(ii) deliver or cause to be delivered to the agent a copy of the consent.
(c) Construction.—(1) This section does not limit the rights of the accused person to return voluntarily and without formality to the demanding state.
(2) This waiver procedure is nоt an exclusive procedure and does not limit the powers, rights, or duties of the officers of the demanding state or of this State.
According to Lewis, because CP § 9-124(a)(1) requires an express, written waiver of service of a warrant for extradition,
We disagree. Simply put, Lewis‘s contention is misguided. Entering Maryland pursuant to a summons, and then being arrested or served with process in connection with a crime in Maryland, is not comparable to being extradited to Maryland. Obviously, as a threshold matter, because Lewis was not extradited to Maryland, CP § 9-124(a)(1)‘s requirement of an express waiver does not apply.
And, in actuality, CP § 9-124(a)(1) supports our holding that an express waiver is not required under CJ § 9-304(a). In drafting CP § 9-124(a)(1)‘s language, the General Assembly chose to require an express waiver where another State initiates extradition proceedings of a person who has been arrested in Maryland. By contrast, in drafting CJ § 9-304(a)‘s language, the General Assembly did not include a requirement of an express waiver where the State charges a person who entered Maryland pursuant to a summons. We decline to read such a requirement into CJ § 9-304(a); in interpreting a statute, a court does not “add ... words to a clear and unambiguous statute to give it a meaning not reflected by the words that the General Assembly used[.]” Bottini v. Dep‘t of Fin., 450 Md. 177, 188, 147 A.3d 371, 378 (2016); see also id. at 206, 147 A.3d at 389 (“[T]he General Assembly could have identified a bank account and the funds contained in a bank account as a separate classification of property subject to forfeiture, or as a specific form of tangible or intangible personal property distinct from money, had it desired to do so.” (Citation omitted)).
We find no merit in Lewis‘s contention that the circuit court‘s exercise of personal jurisdiction over him was improper in light of the Doctrine of Specialty, “under which a person who is extradited to a country to stand trial for certain criminal offenses may be tried only for those offenses and not for any other pre-extradition offenses.” Doctrine of Specialty, Black‘s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014); see also United States v. Rauscher, 119 U.S. 407, 424, 7 S.Ct. 234, 30 L.Ed. 425 (1886)
The rule of specialty “stands for the proposition that the requesting state, which secures the surrender of a person, can prosecute that person only for the offense for which he or she was surrendered by the requested state or else must allow that person an opportunity to leave the prosecuting state to which he or she had been surrendered.” The rule is grounded in concerns of international comity. As we have explained, “[b]ecause the surrender of the defendant requires the cooperation of the surrendering state, preservation of the institution of extradition requires that the petitioning state live up to whatever promises it made in order to obtain extradition.”
(Citations omitted). Grounded in concerns of international comity, contrary to Lewis‘s contention, the Doctrine of Specialty involves policy considerations that are not at issue in this case.
We are also unpersuaded by Lewis‘s argument that, unless we require an express waiver of the issue of a violation of CJ § 9-304(a), trial courts will be “unaccountable” for violations of law, and an out-of-State witness will lack a remedy on appellate reviеw. There is a simple way for a defendant to ensure that an appellate court will consider an issue as to the protections afforded by CJ § 9-304(a), which is: raise the issue in a pretrial motion. That way, the trial court will have the opportunity to address the matter, which will be preserved
Applying our holding to this case‘s facts, we conclude that Lewis waived the issue of a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) by failing to raise the issue pretrial in the circuit court. Pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, the State secured Lewis‘s presence in Maryland to testify at Bennett‘s trial. On the day on which Bennett‘s trial was to begin, Bennett entered into a guilty plea agreement, and made a proffer in which he inculpated Lewis. At oral argument, Lewis‘s counsel acknowledged that “there is no evidence that the State knew in advance, prior to the proffer, that [] Bennett was going to give the proffer that he did.” Lewis‘s counsel acknowledged that “[t]here is no evidence of bad faith” on the State‘s part. In short, before Bennett‘s proffer, the State had no reason to treat Lewis as a suspect or a potential defendant. As a result of Bennett‘s proffer, an investigation occurred, and Lewis was arrested and charged with crimes. Lewis never asserted an issue as to a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) in the circuit court, whether in a motion pursuant to
Lewis asks us to exercise our discretion, pursuant to
We usually elect to review an unpreserved issue only after it has been thoroughly briefed and argued, and where a decision would (1) help correct a recurring error, (2) provide guidance when there is likely to be a new trial, or (3) offer assistance if there is a subsequent collateral attack on the conviction.
None of the circumstances that are described in Ray exist here. There is no indication that there are recurring violations
Having held that Lewis waived the issue as to a violation of CJ § 9-304(a), we conclude that the circuit court had personal jurisdiction over Lewis by virtue of his physical presence
Indeed, in his brief, Lewis notes that he does not dispute that the circuit court had personal jurisdiction over him, but instead contends that the сircuit court should have refrained from exercising personal jurisdiction over him because he was arrested in violation of CJ § 9-304(a). As discussed above, Lewis waived the issue of a violation of CJ § 9-304(a) by failing to raise it pretrial as required by
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS AFFIRMED. PETITIONER TO PAY COSTS.
Notes
If a person in any [S]tate, which by its laws has made provision for commanding persons within its borders to attend and testify in criminal prosecutions ... in this State, is a material witness in a prosecution pending in a court of record in this State, ... a judge of the court may issue a certificate under the seal of the court stating these facts and specifying the number of days the witness will be required.... This certificate shall be presented to a judge of a court of record in the county in which the witness is found.