Alexander v. State case brief

Alexander v. State case brief summary
447 A.2d 880 (1982)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant was charged with assaulting a corrections officer in the state penitentiary. The Criminal Court of Baltimore (Maryland) entered judgment, upon a jury verdict, convicting defendant of assault. Defendant appealed.

CASE FACTS
At the trial of defendant and a fellow inmate on assault charges, the state's witnesses contended a corrections officer was attacked by the inmate, who was subsequently assisted in assaulting the officer by defendant. Conversely, defendant and his witnesses alleged that another officer apparently grabbed the inmate from behind, without provocation, and then the other officer came to the scene and started hitting the inmate. Defendant then intervened to aid the inmate. The trial court provided an instruction to the effect that if the inmate did not have the right of self-defense, then it necessarily followed defendant was unable to claim self-defense.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal of defendant's conviction, the court held the trial court erred in not correcting its instruction, which linked defendant's fate to the inmate's culpability, because defendant's right to react pursuant to Md. Ann. Code Article 27, § 12A was not strictly coterminous with the inmate's right to self-defense.

CONCLUSION

The judgment was reversed and the matter was remanded for retrial, with costs to be paid by the mayor and city council.

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