The Maryland Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a stay in the murder trial of Lee Edward Stephens, who was charged in 2006 with the fatal stabbing of a Maryland House of Correction officer.
The trial had been scheduled to begin in early May. However, the Court of Appeals is set to argue in April a pre-trial appeal in Stephens' case -- one of the first under the state's new death penalty law – on the trial judge's decision to not hold a hearing on the DNA evidence. The trial has been postponed numerous times since it was first scheduled in 2009.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Paul A. Hackner also denied a request to push back the trial date and told Stephens' attorneys on Jan. 10 that they could go to the Courts of Appeals, where the pretrial appeal on evidence was scheduled to be argued in April, to seek a delay in the case. A ruling on that pretrial appeal was not expected in time for the May 2 trial date.
Stephens and Lamar Cornelius Harris face the possibility of execution if convicted of first-degree murder in the July 25, 2006, slaying of David McGuinn, 42, whose death was a factor in closing the Maryland House of Correction. Stephens, 31, and Harris, 40, were serving life sentences there at the time.
"From a defense perspective, it's a welcome effort," said Gary E. Proctor, one of Stephens' attorneys. "There has not been a single case in Maryland that has gone to trial under the new statute. We feel that the Court of Appeals should provide everyone with guidance as to exactly what it means and what must be litigated, and when it should be litigated, prior to having a trial when a person's life hangs in the balance. We are glad that we will now have some time to thrash out the issue and get some guidance from Maryland's top court so we only have to try the case once."
Assistant State's attorney Sandra Howell declined to comment.