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Thomas v. Maryland12/6/1993
accidently shot one of the officers and then struck the other officer with the butt of the gun in self defense to keep from being shot himself. This Court held that the two, twenty-year consecutive sentences for the two counts of simple assault did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment without even reviewing the facts surrounding the assault. Roberts v. Warden, 242 Md. at 461, 219 A.2d at 255.
This Court also addressed whether a sentence for assault constituted cruel and unusual punishment in Adair v. State, 231 Md. 255, 189 A.2d 618 (1963). In Adair, the defendant was convicted of assault with intent to rape one victim and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted of common law assault on a second victim and sentenced to a twenty-year consecutive sentence for the assault. Again without any discussion of the nature and severity of the assault, this Court stated simply: "The sentence of twenty years' confinement for assault did not constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment' contrary to Articles 16 and 25 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights." 231 Md. at 256, 189 A.2d at 619. The majority apparently went back to the thirty-year-old briefs to ascertain the nature of the assault even though, when the Adair Court
held that the twenty-year sentence for assault did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the facts were not deemed sufficiently relevant to be discussed by this Court.
In the instant case, the April 2nd assault, giving the judge the benefit of the doubt and taking the testimony in the light most favorable to the State, was a serious instance of spousal abuse. Shirleen Thomas testified that on April 2nd, the police were called to her home and warned her husband against future assaults. In Shirleen Thomas's testimony on the witness stand, she maintained that the description of the incident included in the application for statement of charges was correct. She confirmed that "[Mr. Thomas] got real angry because the police was called. He cussing and destroyed some of the items in the apartment. Then he went in the kitchen to get a knife, which he pulled on me. Then he took his hand and struck on the right side of the face . . . ." At the conclusion of the State's case, in denying a motion for judgment of acquittal, the trial judge stated that "[Mr. Thomas] did cause injury to her face which may or may not have been a scar and may or may not have been a permanent or temporary scar . . . ." It is reasonable to assume the trial judge felt the twenty-year sentence was justified because 1) Mr. Thomas had two prior convictions for assault, one sentence was suspended and he served a jail sentence for his other previous assault; 2) the April 2nd assault was committed immediately after Mr. Thomas was warned by the police; 3) Mr. Thomas subsequently committed another much more violent assault on Ms. Thomas in spite of a protective order; and 4) even after being incarcerated for those offenses, he repeatedly threatened to kill Ms. Thomas. The judge believed these threats would be carried out if Mr. Thomas was ever released.
The legislature has set up a procedure for review of criminal sentences by a panel of three or more trial judges under Maryland Code (1957, 1992 Repl.Vol.), Article 27, §§ 645JA through 645JG. Thomas sought a review of his sentences and after a hearing a panel of three circuit court judges unanimously decided both assault sentences should remain unchanged.
That decision by three experienced trial judges provides some indication that the
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