Silverman Thompson Overturns Twenty-Five Year Sentence on Appeal

In the matter of State v. Theodore Dargan, the Maryland Court of Specials Appeals reversed the conviction of a defendant who had served nearly four years of a twenty-five year sentence without the possibility of parole. Ms. Murphy argued that the police violated the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when they re-interviewed him about the crime six hours later without giving fresh Miranda warnings. The higher court agreed, holding that because the police did not scrupulously honor the defendant’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights, the suppression court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress. The lower court trial was handled by a different law firm.