James Skrivanek III V. State of Maryland, No. 146, September Term, 1998
James Skrivanek III v. State of Maryland, No. 146, September Term, 1998. [Criminal Procedure - Prosecutor, in order to avoid complete dismissal of case for insufficient evidence, agreed to trial court's suggestion that case be submitted to jury on uncharged, lesser included offense. Held: Case properly submitted despite prosecutor's unsuccessful insistence that charged offense had been proved.] Court for Cecil County Case Criminal # 97790C IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 146 September Term, 1998 _________________________________________ JAMES SKRIVANEK III v. STATE OF MARYLAND _________________________________________ Bell, C.J. Eldridge Rodowsky *Chasanow Raker Wilner Cathell, JJ. _________________________________________ Opinion by Rodowsky, J. _________________________________________ Filed: October 12, 1999 *Chasanow, J., now retired, participated in the hearing of this case and conferencing while an active member of this Court, but did not participate in the decision and adoption of this opinion. This is an appeal from a drug conviction. The appellant contends that the trial court erred by submitting the case to the jury on lesser included, but not expressly charged, attempt offenses. The appellant also argues that the police violated due process by the manner in which they conducted the reverse sting operation leading to the appellant's arrest and that the court improperly admitted evidence of other crimes. For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm. Corporal Robert Shelley (Shelley) of the Maryland State Police was working in an undercover capacity with the Cecil County Narcotics Taskforce on August 17, 1997. At that time, Shelley told confidential informants to give prospective buyers of marijuana his pager number so that he could be contacted to conduct a controlled sale of the drugs.
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