Why can’t the Maryland AG kill this stupid case?
Bradley Jardis recently posted..Heika’s Letter to the Editor

Prosecuting this young man is ludicrous. More than likely, the case will be dismissed after the family spends a bundle on legal fees. I was the victim of a countt’y prosecution. In a six week period, they appointed five different attorneys to work the case up until the last day. Then another attorney was assigned the day before the trial. There are a few counties I would feel safe in. Hartford is not one of them Montgomery is another disaster. Forget Prince Georges County. It’s a triple disaster. That’s where the University of Md is located where the cops beat up the college student. I thank God that I don’t live in any of those counties.

The rule of lenity is somewhat like what you were saying. Essentially, that rule says that if there is ambiguity in a criminal statute, the ambiguity must be resolved in favor of a defendant. Take a statute that says:

“Any person who does Y during a work day is guilty of an offense.”

Now assume Joe Defendant does Y on a Friday BUT that Friday was a national holiday that is not recognized by the state. Does Joe get convicted? Nope, because reasonable minds could differ as to whether Y was a “work day,” Joe should be let go due to the rule of lenity.

They are certainly influential, but they are no where near as persuasive/controlling as binding case law. In many court systems (e.g. all federal circuits), courts are bound by their precedent, they cannot overturn previous decisions on their own and must wait for a higher court to do so. Even where they aren’t bound to this level of deference, the courts rarely overturn precedent due to the doctrine of stare decisis.

AG opinions are influential only in the sense that they are typically seen as direct orders by the top AG to lower state attorneys/city attorneys. If your boss tells you not to bring a charge, you’re unlikely to do so. The result? Certain laws may not be interpreted in some ways, but it’s not because the court is bowing to the opinion (that’s a balance of powers issue), but because the AGs just won’t bring cases under those circumstances.

There also have been some cases that suggest that if someone relies on an AG opinion that there is a due process violation if they are convicted in spite of the opinion, but that’s another issue.

-Cheers.

Of course, Maryland is so totally effed up in this matter, who knows?

@enceohalopath
I am not familiar with the laws in Maryland, but generally in a criminal prosecution, attorney costs are not recoverable. That is usually reserved for civil suits, most commonly civil rights against a government entity, as in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005)