State v. Payton

State of Maryland v. Brandon Payton, No. 14, September Term, 2018. Opinion by Greene, J. CRIMINAL LAW – CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – REOPENING THE STATE’S CASE- IN-CHIEF The Court of Appeals held that, although trial judges have discretion to permit the State to reopen its case-in-chief, in this case, the trial judge abused that discretion. The trial judge impermissibly weighed the nature of the charges pending against Respondent in reaching the decision to allow the State to reopen its case-in-chief. In addition, he exceeded the bounds of judicial impartiality by allowing the State to correct a…