Maryland Driving Intoxicated Lesser Included Offense Lawyers Attorneys

by

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah

Hrangsote DARRIKHUMA v. STATE of Maryland

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

FACTS:

Mr. Darrikhuma was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and other charges. At trial Darrikhuma moved for

dismissal

alleging that the citation had not been properly served in that it had been served on him by a District Court Commissioner, and that such service was improper. Defendant appealed his conviction in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for driving while intoxicated.

ISSUES:

The issue here is whether error in service is harmless.

DISCUSSION:

The Court states that The denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss the charging document based on improper service under Md. Code Ann., Transp. 26-201, Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc., 2-605(b) and Md. R. Crim. Causes 4-212(h) was not error. Although the process was legally issued by the arresting officer, the error occurred in its actual service because the District Court Commissioner did not have authority to effectuate service. Because defendant appeared to defend against the charge, the trial court had

jurisdiction

over the charge and the person. The court found the error in service to be harmless because it in no way influenced the verdict. The trial court did not err by admitting the results of the breathalyzer test because the police did not affirmatively mislead defendant about his right to a preliminary test, but merely properly advised him of his subsequent test rights. The court did not err by limiting defendant’s cross-examination of a key state’s witness because he was attempting to elicit expert testimony from an unqualified witness.

JUDGMENT:

Accordingly this court affirmed defendant’s conviction for driving while intoxicated.

Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm s unofficial views of the Justices opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah is a Virginia lawyer and owner of the SRIS Law Group. The SRIS Law Group has offices in Virginia,

Maryland

, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina & California. The firm handles criminal/traffic defense, family law, immigration & bankruptcy cases.

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