Q: Motion for reconsideration?
I recently went to court against my ex for abusing me. He was sentenced on 4/14, on 5/01 he filed a motion for reconsideration. The case says it is closed, does this mean this motion was denied ? Would there be another case open if they were considering this appeal? As the victim would I be notified if there was a possibly of him winning this appeal?On maryland case search it says the case is closed, and there is no current case open. Would the case say open if this motion was being considered ?
How long does it take for the coirt to decide on the motion? And will it show up on case search if the motion is denied ?
A:
There are a lot of facts missing that would narrow down the answer quite a bit. Which court he was sentenced in (District or Circuit) makes a huge difference as far as appeal rights go. But you do not state that he filed an appeal, which he has 30 days to do. That time has now passed, so if he has not done so already, he has lost the right to appeal. A motion to reconsider sentence may be filed within 90 days of the imposition of sentence, and generally a cour will rule on the motion withn 60 days, but there is no requiremnt that it rule on it that fast; in fact, the rule permits a judge to rule on the motion at any time within 5 years after the date of sentening, after which the court loses jurisdiction to rule on a pending motion for reconsideration. In Maryland, the primary reason a judge would hold off ruling on a motion for reconsideration is when the defendant has been convicted, but requested that the conviction be set aside by granting a "probation before judgment," or PBJ for short. If a court grants a PBJ disposition, that will remove the guilty finding and conviction, but the case record and any sentence or jail or probation remains; however, a PBJ disposition allows the defendant the opportunity to eventually expunge (erase) all evidence of the charge from his record after three years, thereby clearing his record for criminal background checks. In many cases, a judge may decline to grant such a disposition, but state they would be willing to reconsider that decision at a later date after the defendant proves himself worthy. Accordingly, the defendant files a motion to reconsider, which must be fied within 90 days, and asks the court to hold the decision on the motion until a later date (typically after the defendant has successfully completed the terms of the sentence), which preserves the judge's legal authority to modify the sentence to a PBJ. It is of course pure speculation as to why the defendant filed a motion to reconsider in this particular case, as that would require reading the motion, but requesting a PBJ and to hold the ruling in abeyance is a common reason, and it would explain the fact that there has been no ruling in 60 days and the case is marked as closed.
As for your rights as a crime victim to notification, I believe you must request this to receive it. Follow the following link to review what your rights are and what you must do:
http://goccp.maryland.gov/victims/rights-resources/brochures-forms/
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