Smith v. State

During voir dire, counsel for Gary Smith asked the Circuit Court for Montgomery County to include a mandatory Defense-Witness question to the jury panel. The court did not ask the question, but as the court and parties recapped the questions after the court read them, the prosecutor told the court that it had in fact asked it, and Mr. Smith’s counsel did not correct him. The State agrees with Mr. Smith that under Moore v. State, 412 Md. 635, 989 A.2d 1150 (2010), the failure to ask the mandatory Defense-Witness question requires us to reverse his convictions for involuntary manslaughter and…