Alston v. State

JOHN C. ELDRIDGE, J.,

(Retired, Specially Assigned).

This Court in Harris v. State, 406 Md. 115, 129-132, 956 A.2d 204, 212-214 (2008), held that where a criminal defendant was convicted by a jury which had never been sworn, the failure to swear the jury was a “structural error” requiring the reversal of the conviction and the award of a new trial. Because the error was “structural,” it could not be cured by anything occurring at the original trial, and principles of waiver and harmless error were inapplicable. With regard to the situation “where the jury was sworn, but where the administration…