Silverman Thompson Wins Dismissal of Murder Charges Against Client

In an opinion issued June 18, 2025, the Appellate Court of Maryland agreed with Silverman Thompson that the first- and second-degree murder charges against our client were barred by double jeopardy and reversed the trial court’s refusal to dismiss those charges.

Our client was tried by jury in September 2022 with murder and other charges related to an alleged shooting. After several days of deliberations, the jury told the court that it was unanimous on one count but unable to agree on others. The court, at the State’s request, accepted the partial verdict.

Background on the Initial Trial

In open court, the foreperson announced a verdict of not guilty on second-degree murder, which was then confirmed by all twelve jurors in a poll. The State then argued that the verdict was inconsistent with the directions on the verdict sheet and asked that the jury be sent back to resume deliberations. The trial court agreed to the request, and after further deliberations failed to yield any verdict, the court granted the State’s request for a mistrial on all counts.

When the State sought to re-prosecute Silverman Thompson’s client, trial counsel Creston Smith moved to dismiss the murder charges as barred by double jeopardy, arguing that the jury had returned a valid acquittal on second-degree murder and that the verdict further required an acquittal on first-degree murder. The trial court denied the motion, leading Mr. Smith’s team to file an interlocutory appeal.

Appealing the Mistrial

On appeal, Mr. Smith teamed with his colleague Todd Hesel, an appellate specialist, to argue that the foreperson’s announcement of an acquittal on second-degree murder, coupled with the confirmation of that verdict by polling all 12 jurors, constituted a final verdict that the trial judge had no discretion to reject. Thus, there was no valid basis for the trial court to declare a mistrial on the second-degree murder charge.

Additionally, because the jury could not have acquitted our client of second-degree murder without necessarily finding that he was not guilty of first-degree murder, our client could not be retried on that charge either.

The Appellate Court agreed in full with Creston Smith and Todd Hesel’s arguments and held that the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause barred their client from being retried for first- or second-degree murder.

Read the opinion here: https://www.mdcourts.gov/sites/default/files/unreported-opinions/1689s23.pdf