A Maryland man convicted of the sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced to 50 years in jail recently convinced an appeals court that his sentence was illegal, although the convictions were upheld.
The plaintiff was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County after a two-day trial for the sexual abuse of his 11-year-old stepdaughter, including rape. After a two-day trial in 2010, the jury convicted him of the sexual abuse of a minor, second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree sexual offense and third-degree sexual offense.
He was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment, including 15 years for child sex abuse, 10 consecutive years for second-degree rape, 10 consecutive years for each of the two second-degree sexual offense convictions and five consecutive years for third-degree sexual offense. The court did not refer to extended sexual offender parole supervision at the sentencing hearing.
The man ’s convictions were affirmed on direct appeal in 2012.
In 2018, the man filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing that the circuit court failed to include in his sentence a term of extended parole supervision as required under Maryland law. The circuit court denied the motion without a hearing.
Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals, the state’s intermediate appellate court, however, vacated the trial court’s decision and sent the case back to the circuit court with instructions to include in the man’s sentence a term of extended parole supervision as required by the plain language of the statute at the time.
Extended parole supervision offender includes a person who has been convicted of a violation of the state’s criminal laws for commission of a sex act involving penetration of a child under the age of 12, the court said.
When the plaintiff was sentenced, Maryland Criminal Procedure Sec. 11-723, provided that a “sentence for an extended parole supervision offender shall include a term” of supervision, that the term would start after the end of the offender’s term of imprisonment, probation, parole or other mandatory supervision and that the term must last for at least three years up to a maximum of life, the appeals court said.
The appeals court also noted that an extended parole supervision offender includes a person who has been convicted of rape in the second degree, a second-degree sexual offense and a third-degree sexual offense.
An Ocean City criminal defense sex crimes lawyer can help you with your Ocean City sex crimes charge. An experienced Baltimore sex crimes attorney can go over the facts of your case to determine the best defense, including whether the Baltimore sex crime charges can be reduced or dismissed. The consultation is free.
The Law Office of Thomas J. Maronick Jr. is open during the pandemic and will continue to meet your Ocean City and surrounding areas, Baltimore city and Baltimore county legal needs. We can meet with you remotely if you have access to Zoom. You can contact Thomas Maronick on his cellphone at 443-351-6657, the law office at 443-351-6657 or via our website for a free consultation.