Gary v. State

In Gary v. State, 341 Md. 513, 671 A.2d 495 (1996), Morris Gary was alleged to have been one of several participants in a drive-by shooting that left two people dead and several more injured. The shooting was a gang-related attack intended to avenge a previous killing. Immediately prior to the shooting, a "scout" was sent to ensure that members of the rival gang would be on the street. Thereafter, several men in a van, evidently including Gary, opened fire on supposed members of the rival gang. Gary was charged, inter alia, with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. Although the jury deadlocked on the murder charges, it convicted Gary of conspiracy to commit first degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, Gary challenged the legality of the sentence. In responding to this claim, the Court of Appeals explained: The relevant statutory provision is Md. Code, Art. 27, 38, which provides: "The punishment of every person convicted of the crime of conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for the offense he or she conspired to commit." There can be no dispute that the statute, by its plain language, limits the maximum penalty for conspiracy to the maximum penalty for the substantive crime that was the object of the conspiracy. Hence, any sentence up to and including the maximum penalty for the substantive crime is permissible. In the instant case, Gary was charged with and convicted of conspiracy to commit first degree murder. The penalty for first degree murder in Maryland is set out in Md. Code, Art. 27, 412(b), which provides in pertinent part: "A person found guilty of murder in the first degree shall be sentenced to death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole." Thus, a sentence of life imprisonment for conspiracy to commit first degree murder is the lowest of the statutory penalties for first degree murder. Therefore, Gary's sentence does not violate the maximum penalty for conspiracy to murder set out in Md. Code, Art. 27, 38, and is not illegal. (Gary, 341 Md. at 517-18.)