 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Tu v. Maryland10/25/1994
f a United Airlines Customer Service Representative, Nancy Mulcahy, who recalled telling a detective in August, 1988, that she saw a woman resembling Lisa board an aircraft for Los Angeles in mid-July of that year. The State responded with evidence that the airline seat for the ticket allegedly used by Lisa Tu on July 14, 1988 was empty. There was also other evidence Ms. Mulcahy may have been mistaken."
(Footnotes and record references omitted).
At his initial trial Tu was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prior to that trial Tu unsuccessfully had sought to suppress certain evidence seized in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both the circuit court and, on review of the initial conviction, the Court of Special Appeals considered that (1) the State was justifying seizure by a warrant issued for the search of Tu's hotel room, and (2) that the contested items were beyond the scope of the search warrant. The trial court, however, applied the plain view exception to the warrant requirement. In an unreported opinion (Tu I), the Court of Special Appeals held that the State had not proved the applicability of the plain view exception.
Following reversal, the State determined it would retry Tu. At a hearing prior to retrial the State, over objection by Tu, presented evidence, believed by the trial court, that six of the contested items had not been seized from Tu's hotel room at all. Rather, those six items were obtained from the Las Vegas police, as custodian of the property in Tu's possession when he was arrested. The State also produced evidence showing that a seventh item of evidence seized in the hotel room was indeed within the plain view exception. The circuit court ruled that the seven items would not be suppressed. At the retrial Tu was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to thirty years.
On Tu's appeal from his second conviction the Court of Special Appeals held that "the 'law of the case' doctrine does not preclude reconsideration of an issue decided in an earlier appeal if the evidence on remand is substantially different." Tu v. State, 97 Md. App. 486, 497, 631 A.2d 110, 115 (1993) (Tu II). Tu petitioned, and the State conditionally cross-petitioned, for certiorari. We issued the writ, limited to the following one of the questions presented by Tu:
"Did the trial court err when it held that evidence previously held by the Court of Special Appeals to be inadmissible could be admitted into evidence?"
Addressing that legal question requires understanding the holding of Tu I. That understanding, in turn, requires a more detailed statement of the pertinent facts.
I
The trail leading to the contested evidence begins with a warrant-authorized search by the Montgomery County police of the Tus' home in Potomac on September 7, 1988. While there, the police answered a telephone call from a car rental agency, located in the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, inquiring about an overdue car rental in Tu's name. After a Maryland arrest warrant was issued on September 9 charging Tu with murder, the warrant was teletyped to the Las Vegas police. The car rental agency, if contacted by Tu, was to arrange to have him return the car in person, and the agency was to alert the Las Vegas police of the arrangements. Tu was arrested at the Stardust Hotel on Saturday, September 10. Montgomery County Detectives Michael Turner (Turner) and Roger Thomson (Thomson), accompanied by an Assistant State's Attorney, went to Las Vegas to continue the investigation and to return the arrestee to Maryland.
Personal belongings in Tu's possession at the time of his arre
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Maryland DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|