Annapolis, MD — Maryland’s second highest court has upheld the perjury conviction of a woman during a trial in St. Mary’s County Circuit Court. Maryland Court of Special Appeals, in a unanimous decision filed Nov. 24, ruled against Sharon Mason, 44, (shown at left) who has addresses of Avenue and Owings listed in court records.
Mason was convicted of perjury in a Dec. 6, 2012 court trial presided over by Circuit Court Judge Michael Stamm. Mason was sentenced to one year in jail but all but three days was suspended.
The perjury charge stemmed from Mason’s statements as a witness in the jury trial Feb. 29, 2012 of her boyfriend Jason Winnegar, 43, with the same addresses as Mason. Winnegar was found guilty of driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving while suspended. He received a total sentence of 18 months. Judge David Densford imposed the sentence in his first trial as a circuit court judge
Trooper First Class Edward Mersman of the Maryland State Police testified during Winnegar’s trial that he observed the defendant driving a truck under the influence of alcohol and that the incident was captured on video from a camera mounted in his police cruiser. Mason, on the other hand, testified that she was driving the car and that she and Winnegar switched seats after the truck was stopped. She said her boyfriend didn’t want to get her in trouble because the truck wasn’t licensed
Since the back windows of the truck were darkened, the camera was not able to capture what happened inside. But Judge Stamm based his decision on the fact that the camera and the trooper viewed the man driving the truck and did not detect any movement of the truck until the defendant, who was described as a large woman, exited the passenger side.
Judge Stamm ruled and the higher court agreed that switching seats in a relatively small truck would have caused a visible movement which was not shown.
In upholding Judge Stamm’s decision, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals sidestepped the long-standing “two-witness rule,” which St. Mary’s County Assistanmt State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling called “an artifact of the jurisprudence of the Court of the Star Chamber,” The higher court agreed, affirming that one witness was all that was necessary as long as there was independent corroboration, which in this case was the video record from a camera which was not operated by the trooper.
The court did rule that it didn’t have the authority to overturn the two-witness rule itself, but instead that belonged to Maryland’s highest court or the legislature. But it ruled it did have the authority in that particular case to rule that independent corroboration was sufficient.
Cases appealed from St. Mary’s County to Maryland’s higher courts are somewhat unusual, according to Sterling, who handled the cases locally. The Maryland Attorney General’s Office argued the case before the appeals court..
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thjeaynet.com