Jones v. State

BATTAGLIA, Judge.

This case requires us to determine whether a guilty verdict must be orally given prior to a request to have the jury polled and hearkened 1 to its verdict. We conclude a sentence is illegal if based upon a verdict of guilt that is not orally announced 2 in open court in order to permit the jury to be polled and hearkened to the verdict.

I. Background

On November 5, 2001, Kerwin Jones held up Mohammed Shaik at gunpoint as Shaik was walking to the First Union Bank at 1515 Reisterstown Road to make a deposit encased in a money bag from the gas station where he was employed. Shaik…