Arguments to be heard in Wicomico death penalty case

Attorneys for Jody Lee Miles, on death row since 1998 in the murder of a Wicomico County man, say his death sentence is illegal.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler says otherwise, though he agrees it's not possible Miles could be executed.

Both sides in the case of Jody Lee Miles v. State of Maryland are set to state their positions during oral arguments at the Court of Special Appeals, Maryland's lower appellate court, in Annapolis on Monday morning.

The parties will head to court on Miles' third motion to correct illegal sentence, according to the appellant's brief, filed by Miles' defense. A Queen Anne's County Circuit Court judge denied the motion and a motion for reconsideration, the brief states, and Miles appealed the case.

The trial was held in Queen Anne's County Circuit Court in 1998, though the April 2, 1997, shooting death of Edward Atkinson happened in Wicomico County. The body of the musical theater director was found off Old Bradley Road in Mardela Springs, the town in which he lived.

Gansler said in November the state's position is that the judge must impose a life without parole sentence. But defense attorney Robert Biddle said in November the defense plans to seek a sentence of less than life without parole.

He said Jody Miles' defense –– which consists of Biddle and Erika Alsid Short, who are of different firms, and Brian Saccenti of the Office of the Public Defender –– will be asking for a sentence that would allow Miles to leave prison before he dies.

"Mr. Miles looks forward to having an opportunity to pursue a just, fair, and appropriate sentence other than death following the removal of the death sentence," a November statement from the defense on Biddle's letterhead read.

Both sides agree that Maryland does not have the authority to create protocols to use for the death penalty, and that Miles wouldn't be able to be executed, according to a legal stipulation.

Although Attorney General Doug Gansler and the defense agree on that point, Wicomico County State's Attorney Matt Maciarello voiced his opinion in November that by not executing Miles, the state "is letting the family down."

The defense, according to its brief, believes the act that repealed the death penalty on Oct. 1, 2013, is retroactive because, for one, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services can no longer execute the death penalty legally.

The state in its brief, written by Attorney General Doug Gansler and Assistant Attorney General James E. Williams, disagrees, saying that even the language of the statute brings an "unavoidable conclusion" that it is not meant to be retroactive.

The defense argues in its brief that "Mr. Miles' sentence is illegal as it is unenforceable and therefore must be vacated." The defense also argues that it is illegal because it exceeds the maximum sentence, and that it would be cruel and unusual to have Miles held under a death sentence when that can't happen.

While the state writes in its brief that the sentence is not and was not illegal, it feels the death sentence should not be kept because of due process –– without the death sentence being dropped, Miles would continue to be held for a death penalty that would not happen.

The state's brief says that because Miles' sentence is not illegal and related to repeal legislation, his sentence should be changed to life without parole.

"Life imprisonment, instead of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, was only available to Miles if: (a) the State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Miles was a principal in the first degree murder; (b) that Miles did not commit murder in the course of a robbery; (c) that aggravators did not outweigh the mitigating circumstances," the state wrote in its brief.

The jury did find those things were met in this case, according to the state's brief. The state also cites part of the death penalty repeal legislation.

The defense writes in its reply brief that it wants a new sentencing hearing for Miles. The defense brief states that the jury wasn't allowed to consider whether a life sentence should be with or without parole.

Additionally, the defense writes that Miles has much remorse about taking Atkinson's life and that there are at least 11 letters from correctional officers that speak highly of Miles. The defense brief also discusses how Miles was sexually abused as a child and the effect that had on him with post-traumatic stress disorder and in how that impacted his actions on April 2, 1997.

A decision in the case is not expected Monday.

vjunkin@dmg.gannett.com

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