Smallwood v. State

Panel: Wright, Beachley, Fader, JJ.

Fader, J.

*393 The appellant, Robert P. Smallwood, presents us with the question of whether an incarcerated individual whom a circuit court has determined is imprisoned on an illegal sentence, and thus must be resentenced, has a right to counsel for the resentencing. We hold that he or she does.

BACKGROUND

In 1982, a jury sitting in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City found Mr. Smallwood guilty of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. After a dialogue in which the court made clear its intent to provide Mr. Smallwood…