In Martinez v. State, 416 Md. 418, 7 A.3d 56 (2010), Eduardo Martinez was accused of stabbing two men with a screwdriver multiple times, resulting in the death of one of them, Carlos Humberto Castro-Ventura. Martinez, 416 Md. at 421. The individual who survived that attack, Santos Lorenzo Mejicanos, was interviewed by police while recuperating at a hospital. Mejicanos identified Martinez as the man who stabbed him and further indicated that he had been attacked by a second assailant, whom police were able to identify as a "Roberto Nicholas." Id. After obtaining a warrant to search Nicholas's dwelling, police recovered, from that location, two screwdrivers believed to have been the murder weapons. Id. At the ensuing trial of Martinez, Nicholas, "a self-described MS-13 member," and Mejicanos, who denied membership in that gang, were "the State's key witnesses." Id. at 421, 422 & n.1. Nicholas testified that he, Martinez, and others, were out at night drinking beer in a park, when they encountered a rival group that included Mejicanos as well as Castro-Ventura and that, during the melee that followed that encounter, Martinez stabbed both Mejicanos and Castro-Ventura with a screwdriver. Id. at 422. Although Mejicanos failed to appear, initially, for Martinez's trial, he was arrested the next day, pursuant to a writ of body attachment, and produced by police to testify on the second day of trial. Just before Mejicanos took the stand, defense counsel requested the permission of the court to ask Mejicanos about his unrelated charges of felony theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and possession of drug paraphernalia, charges which had been nolle prossed by the State six days before Mejicanos testified at a pre-trial motions hearing in the Martinez case. Id. at 422-23. The trial court denied that request, relying upon Maryland Rule 5-403, which permits a trial court to exclude relevant evidence "if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence." Martinez, 416 Md. at 425. During direct examination, Mejicanos corroborated Nicholas's testimony and further identified Martinez as his assailant. Later, during a bench conference, defense counsel observed that the State had not brought out that Mejicanos was then incarcerated and asked the court's permission to raise that issue during cross-examination, citing Maryland Rule 5-616(a)(4), which permits cross-examination of a witness through "questions that are directed at proving that the witness is biased, prejudiced, interested in the outcome of the proceeding, or has a motive to testify falsely." Martinez, 416 Md. at 426. The trial court denied that request, and Martinez was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter, first-degree assault of Castro-Ventura, and attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault of Mejicanos. Id. at 427. The Court of Appeals reversed. The Court noted that the State's nolle prossing of charges against Mejicanos, just six days before he testified at the motions hearing in Martinez's case, and its incarceration of him pending his testimony were evidence of "bias, motivated by self-interest." Id. at 431. As Mejicanos may have believed that he would receive a benefit from the State in exchange for his testimony, there was a "solid factual foundation" for the defense's inquiry into Mejicanos's motive for testifying, an inquiry which "was not outweighed at all, much less substantially so, by the danger of confusion to the jury or unfair prejudice to the State." Id. The Court concluded that Martinez's right of confrontation had been violated, reversed his convictions, and granted him a new trial. Id. at 432.