State v. Payton

Petitioner, the State of Maryland, asks this Court to determine whether a trial judge's decision to allow the State to reopen its case-in-chief to recall an expert witness, after the defense moved for judgment of acquittal, was a proper exercise of the trial judge's discretion. We shall hold that there may be circumstances when a trial judge in the exercise of his or her discretion may allow the State to reopen its case-in-chief after the prosecutor has rested. In the present case, however, the trial judge abused that discretion. The trial judge impermissibly weighed the nature of the charges…