Gillis v. State
Gillis v. State
Opinion of the Court
Petitioner, Ronald Gillis, was tried in the Superior Court of Kent County, Delaware for the murder of Byron Parker. He was acquitted of the Delaware offense in April of 1990. Subsequently, Gillis was charged in Maryland with the first degree murder of Byron Parker pursuant to Maryland Code (1957, 1992 Repl.Vol.), Article 27, § 407.
Although Gillis challenges the Maryland prosecution solely on full faith and credit grounds, we believe it helpful to begin our analysis with a brief overview of double jeopardy
Most recently, in Heath v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 82, 106 S.Ct. 433, 88 L.Ed.2d 387 (1985), the United States Supreme Court reached the “inescapable” conclusion that the dual sovereignty doctrine permitted separate prosecutions for the same murder by both the states of Georgia and Alabama. The Court noted:
“The dual sovereignty doctrine is founded on the common-law conception of crime as an offense against the sovereignty of the government. When a defendant in a single act violates the ‘peace and dignity5 of two sovereigns by breaking the laws of each, he has committed two distinct ‘offences.5 United States v. Lanza, 260 U.S. 377, 382, 43 S.Ct. 141, 67 L.Ed. 314 (1922). As the Court explained in Moore v. Illinois, 14 How. 13, 19, 14 L.Ed. 306 (1852), ‘[a]n offence, in its legal signification, means the transgression of a law.5 Consequently, when the same act transgresses the laws of two sovereigns, ‘it cannot be truly averred that the offender has been twice punished for the same offence; but only that by one act he has committed two offences, for each of which he is justly punishable.5 Id., at 20.”
Heath, 474 U.S. at 88, 106 S.Ct. at 437, 88 L.Ed.2d at 394. Recognizing that “[t]he States are no less sovereign with respect to each other than they are with respect to the Federal Government,” Heath, 474 U.S. at 89, 106 S.Ct. at 438, 88 L.Ed.2d at 395, and acknowledging the importance of allowing each state to create and enforce its criminal code, the Court observed that “[t]o deny a State its power to enforce its criminal laws because another State has won the race to the courthouse Vould be a shocking and untoward deprivation of the historic right and obligation of the States to maintain peace and order within their confines.' " Heath, 474 U.S. at 93, 106 S.Ct. at 440, 88 L.Ed.2d at 397 (quoting Bartkus, 359 U.S. at 137, 79 S.Ct. at 685, 3 L.Ed.2d at 694).
This Court adopted the dual sovereignty principle as a matter of Maryland common law in Evans v. State, 301 Md. 45, 481 A.2d 1135 (1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1034, 105 S.Ct. 1411, 84 L.Ed.2d 795 (1985). The Court in Evans rejected the defendant’s argument that, even if the Double Jeopardy Clause permitted a Maryland prosecution subsequent to a federal conviction based upon the same acts, the common law should prohibit it. 301 Md. at 58, 481 A.2d at 1141. See also Bailey v. State, 303 Md. 650, 660, 496 A.2d 665, 670 (1985) (“This Court has adopted, as a matter of common law, the dual sovereignty doctrine. Offenses against separate sovereigns are separate offenses for double jeopardy purposes even if the successive prosecutions are based upon the same acts.”). In light of this case law, Gillis apparently recognizes the futility of challenging the Maryland prosecution as a violation of common law or constitutional double jeopardy.
With the double jeopardy door slammed tightly shut, Gillis looks to the Full Faith and Credit Clause in an attempt to escape the Maryland prosecution. We decline Gillis’s invitation to use the Full Faith and Credit Clause as a means to circumvent the previously foreclosed double jeopardy challenge. Full faith and credit cannot be used to deny Maryland the power to enforce its criminal laws and thereby thwart this State’s obligation to “maintain peace and order within [its] confines.” Bartkus, 359 U.S. at 137, 79 S.Ct. at 685, 3 L.Ed.2d at 694. We hold that, with respect to successive criminal prosecutions by different states, the dual sovereignty rationale is applicable to the Full Faith and Credit Clause as well as the Double Jeopardy Clause.
Article IV, Section 1, of the United States Constitution provides that “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.” Title 28, Section 1738, of the United States Code, implements the Full Faith and Credit Clause as follows: “Such Acts, records and judicial proceedings ... so authenticated, shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States ... as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State ... from which they are taken.”
“The purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause is to require a state court to recognize judgments of courts of other states,” Weinberg v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 299 Md. 225, 234, 473 A.2d 22, 27 (1984), and to “preclude dissatisfied litigants from taking advantage of the federal character of the Nation by relitigating in one State issues that had been duly decided in another.” Kovacs v. Brewer, 356 U.S. 604, 611, 78 S.Ct. 963, 968, 2 L.Ed.2d 1008, 1014 (1958) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting). Historically, the Clause primarily has been applied in the context of civil disputes. See Allan D. Vestal, Criminal Prosecutions: Issue Preclusion and Full Faith and
Although the United States Supreme Court has not ruled on full faith and credit in the context of successive state criminal prosecutions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has addressed this issue, albeit, with limited discussion. In Turley v. Wyrick, 554 F.2d 840 (8th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1033, 98 S.Ct. 765, 54 L.Ed.2d 780 (1978), the Eighth Circuit considered whether full faith and credit foreclosed a subsequent robbery prosecution by the State of Missouri after the defendant was acquitted in a federal court of violating a federal bank robbery statute. In
In essence, Gillis argues that the Delaware judgment determined that he did not murder Parker, and thus Maryland cannot relitigate the issue. We recognize the general principle that, to satisfy the mandate of full faith and credit, courts must give the same preclusive effect to another state court’s judgment that the judgment would receive in the state from which it emerged. See Underwriters Nat’l Assurance Co. v. N.C. Life & Acc., Etc., 455 U.S. 691, 704, 102 S.Ct. 1357, 1365, 71 L.Ed.2d 558, 570 (1982); Weinberg, 299 Md. at 234, 473 A.2d at 27. Regardless of that effect, however, an accepted principle is that estoppel will not be invoked against an individual or his privy who was never afforded the opportunity to be heard on the particular issue or cause of action. See Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 95, 101 S.Ct. 411, 415, 66 L.Ed.2d 308, 313 (1980); Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 327 n. 7, 99 S.Ct. 645, 649 n. 7, 58 L.Ed.2d 552, 559 n. 7 (1979); Blonder-Tongue Lab., Inc. v. University of Illinois Found., 402 U.S. 313, 329, 91 S.Ct. 1434, 1443, 28 L.Ed.2d 788, 800 (1971). See also Standefer v. United States, 447 U.S. 10,
Since the State of Maryland has not yet been afforded the opportunity to litigate whether Gillis violated its criminal laws, that opportunity ought not be denied on the basis of a misplaced application of the Full Faith and Credit Clause. As recognized by the Court of Appeals of New York in People v. Reisman, 29 N.Y.2d 278, 285, 327 N.Y.S.2d 342, 348, 277 N.E.2d 396, 400 (1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 1041, 92 S.Ct. 1315, 31 L.Ed.2d 582 (1972), “[i]dentity of the prosecuting party is an indispensable precondition to the invocation of ... estoppel....”
Our conclusion that full faith and credit does not bar the Maryland prosecution finds further support in those cases discussing collateral estoppel. Collateral estoppel “means simply that when [an] issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 1194, 25 L.Ed.2d 469, 475 (1970). This Court discussed the impact of collateral estoppel on successive prosecutions of the same defendant by different states in Bailey v. State, 303 Md. 650, 496 A.2d 665 (1985). In Bailey, the defendant was first convicted in New Jersey of receiving stolen goods and was then charged in Maryland with robbery involving the same goods. 303 Md. at 660, 496 A.2d at 670. The defendant argued that the New Jersey conviction established that he was only a receiver, not the robber. Id. This Court, however,
III.
Ultimately, we must agree with the Eighth Circuit’s comment in Turley — Gillis’s full faith and credit argument is “as unpersuasive as it is novel.” Turley, 554 F.2d at 842. Using the Full Faith and Credit Clause so as “[t]o deny [Maryland] its power to enforce its criminal laws because [Delaware] has won the race to the courthouse ‘would be a shocking and untoward deprivation of the historic right and obligation of the States to maintain peace and order within their confines.’” Heath, 474 U.S. at 93, 106 S.Ct. at 440, 88 L.Ed.2d at 397 (quoting Bartkus, 359 U.S. at 137, 79 S.Ct. at 685, 3 L.Ed.2d at 694). Notwithstanding the Delaware acquittal, the Maryland prosecution may continue.
JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR KENT COUNTY AFFIRMED. COSTS IN THIS COURT TO BE PAID BY APPELLANT.
. All future references are to Maryland Code (1957, 1992 Repl.VoL), Article 27, unless otherwise indicated.
. Both parties addressed in their briefs whether an interlocutory appeal lies from the denial of a motion to dismiss on full faith and credit grounds. We granted certiorari only to decide whether the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the Maryland prosecution on full faith and credit grounds, and we will not dwell on the appealability issue.
We note, however, that this Court summarized the standards for immediate appealability in Huff v. State, 325 Md. 55, 599 A.2d 428 (1991):
"There is a narrow class of orders from which this Court permits immediate appeals even though the orders are not final judgments. Generally those orders must conclusively determine the disputed question, resolve an important issue, be completely separate from the merits of the action, and be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.”
325 Md. at 61, 599 A.2d at 431. Cf. Parrott v. State, 301 Md. 411, 483 A.2d 68 (1984) (discussing immediate appealability under collateral order doctrine).
In this case, it is undisputed that the order is conclusive, that the full faith and credit issue is important, and that it is entirely separate from the merits of the action. Since we have resolved Gillis’s full faith and credit challenge by borrowing principles applicable to a double jeopardy challenge, we should afford Gillis the same right to appeal under the collateral order doctrine as a defendant who raises double jeopardy challenges. Based on our holding in the instant case, this should not unduly burden appellate courts. We also note that other states have permitted interlocutory appeals of full faith and credit claims under a variety of state procedures. See, e.g., Storer v. Storer, 305 So.2d 212 (Fla.App.), cert. denied, 346 So.2d 994 (Fla. 1974), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 955, 98 S.Ct. 482, 54 L.Ed.2d 314 (1977); Cobb v. Willis, 7 Haw.App. 238, 752 P.2d 106 (1988); Struebin v. State of Iowa, 322 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1087, 103 S.Ct. 570, 74 L.Ed.2d 933 (1982); Belosky v. Belosky, 97 N.M. 365, 640 P.2d 471 (1982). The order in the instant case, therefore, is properly before this Court.
. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, in relevant part, provides: “[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb....” U.S. Const. amend. V.
. At least one commentator has recognized that "the prosecuting authority exists in only one forum. If it loses, it may be bound in that forum, but there usually is no full faith and credit effect against it in a second forum, since the prosecuting authority normally is not found there. A victory over the prosecuting authority by the defendant in forum I generally cannot be carried into a second forum and presented as preclusive against a second prosecuting authority. The prosecuting authority in forum II has never had his day in court on the issue and cannot be precluded.” Allan D. Vestal, Criminal Prosecutions: Issue Preclusion and Full Faith and Credit, 28 Kan.L.Rev. 1, 23 (1979) (emphasis added). But see Marc Martin, Heath v. Alabama: Contravention of Double Jeopardy and Full Faith and Credit Principles, 17 Loy. U.Chi.L.J. 721 (1986) (arguing that full faith and credit principles should preclude dual sovereignty prosecutions despite judicial "obstacles” that might suggest a contrary result).
. The limited doctrine of nonmutual collateral estoppel has been recognized in some civil cases. See, e.g., Blonder-Tongue Lab., Inc. v. University of Illinois Found.., 402 U.S. 313, 91 S.Ct. 1434, 28 L.Ed.2d 788 (1971); Parklane Hosiery Co., Inc. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 99 S.Ct. 645, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979). Under that doctrine, an adverse determination against a party in prior litigation may preclude that party from relitigating issues in a subsequent case involving a different adversary. Notwithstanding the abandonment of strict mutuality, that doctrine has no relevance here because Maryland obviously was not a party to, and did not participate in, the Delaware prosecution. Thus, although issues may have been determined adversely to Delaware, no issue has been previously resolved against the State of Maryland upon which Gillis may rely. Additionally, nonmutual collateral estoppel has been deemed inappropriate in criminal cases because of the government’s important interest in the enforcement of its criminal laws. See Standefer v. United States, 447 U.S. 10, 100 S.Ct. 1999, 64 L.Ed.2d 689 (1980); Carbaugh v. State, 294 Md. 323, 329-30, 449 A.2d 1153, 1156-57 (1982). See also Butler v. State, 91 Md.App. 515, 532 n. 9, 605 A.2d 186, 194 n. 9 (“Nonmutual collateral estoppel, whatever its future elsewhere, will not apply to criminal cases.”), cert. granted, 328 Md. 35, 612 A.2d 897 (1992); United States v. Espinosa-Cerpa, 630 F.2d 328, 331 (5th Cir. 1980) (noting Standefer’s rejection of “the applicability of nonmutual collateral estoppel to criminal cases”). The Supreme Court in Standefer rejected the defendant’s argument that a prior acquittal of the alleged perpetrator of an offense prevented the federal government from relitigating the perpetrator's guilt which was an element of the offense with which the defendant was charged (aiding and abetting). Standefer, 447 U.S. at 21-22, 100 S.Ct. at 2007, 64 L.Ed.2d at 699. The Court reached this result even though the issue (the perpetrator’s guilt) had been determined adversely to the federal government in the prior
We need not decide whether there are any conceivable circumstances when there might be issue preclusion as the result of a criminal prosecution in another state. See Vestal, supra, 28 Kan.L.Rev. at 9-24 (discussing interjurisdictional issue preclusion in the context of criminal prosecutions). We note that, in the instant case, it is unclear what issues were resolved against the State of Delaware by Gillis’s acquittal. In the agreed statement of facts, Gillis and the State concede that "[tjhere was no indication by the Delaware jury that Gillis’s Delaware acquittal occurred because Delaware lacked subject matter jurisdiction to prosecute Gillis for Parker’s murder.” Since Parker's body had not been found at the time of the Delaware prosecution, the jury may have acquitted Gillis because there was either insufficient evidence of Gillis’s criminal agency or insufficient evidence that any crime occurred in Delaware. See Del.Code Ann. tit. 11, § 204 (1987).
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
In my view, the Maryland murder prosecution was precluded by common law double jeopardy principles and Article 5 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. See my dissenting opinion in Evans v. State, 301 Md. 45, 58-61, 481 A.2d 1135, 1141-1143 (1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1034, 105 S.Ct. 1411, 84 L.Ed.2d 795 (1985), with which I continue to adhere. See also Bailey v. State, 303 Md. 650, 664, 496 A.2d 665, 672 (1985) (Eldridge, J., dissenting).
Because I believe that the motion to dismiss should have been granted on double jeopardy grounds, I do not reach the defendant’s argument based on the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the federal constitution.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ronald GILLIS, v. STATE of Maryland
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published